‘The Missionary who Stayed Home’
With unbridled enthusiasm, Olan Hicks launched into the first front-page…
Reaffirming a 75-year-old promise
The Christian Chronicle exists to inform, inspire and unite Churches of Christ with stories about our fellowship at home and around the world.
The Chronicle has a long history, thanks to readers who have supported it since Olan Hicks published the first issue 75 years ago.
After Hicks, the Chronicle was led by Christians including James Walter Nichols, Ralph Sweet, Haskell Chesshir, Clark Hicks and John Beckloff. Each struggled to rally financial support to sustain the paper. By 1980, Beckloff and his wife, Dottie, realized they could not continue to produce the paper, so they offered the Chronicle to Oklahoma Christian College, now University, in Oklahoma City. Howard Norton, longtime missionary to Brazil, became the editor in 1981. In the years since, numerous dedicated souls have labored to make the Chronicle the best it can be.
At every landmark in the paper’s history, we have reaffirmed the policy that Olan Hicks wrote in the first issue. Following are excerpts.
• The Christian Chronicle was begun with the purpose of publishing all the news of the Churches of Christ that is worthy of being published.
• The Chronicle will at all times maintain a firm and vigorous editorial policy for all that is in the best interest of New Testament Christianity. It will not become a mere gossip column; it is not going to go into a coalition with any special interest nor be exploited by any special group. It means to serve all alike, fairly and faithfully.
• The Chronicle will not be used as a clearinghouse for scandals or petty rivalries. It will steadfastly refuse to publish any news that may seem to be detrimental to the person or church about whom it is reported until its truthfulness has been verified. Even then, if its publication will not serve any good purpose, it will not be published in the Chronicle.
• The Chronicle is not published for the purpose of making money but for the good it can do. If you like this policy and want to help achieve the goal we have set, we solicit your patronage. We promise today to do all in our power to spread the Gospel of Christ into all nations. Here we take our stand.
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