Count thy many members
As a data collector, Carl Royster said he and his colleagues at 21st Century Christian strive to define Churches of Christ in a way that…
Big Questions
Believers under 30 question fellowship’s nondenominational claim
The New Testament took precedence when Christians under age 30 — the smallest demographic of respondents to The Christian Chronicle’s survey — defined Churches of…
Baby boomers see fading sense of family in Churches of Christ
Baby boomers used a broad range of terms to describe Churches of Christ — “Bible,” “God,” “Jesus,” “baptism” and “New Testament” being the most prominent…
Generation X seeks compassion, not politics
'Is it a museum, or is it a hospital?” Amy Whitaker asked — displaying the tongue-in-cheek cynicism of Generation X — as she responded to…
A fellowship’s true founder
Regardless of where they stand on the issues that divide congregations, the survey respondents and reviewers agreed that Churches of Christ should be defined not…
The faith that moves a Mountie
'I don’t think you will like it there because they have some weird ideas.” That’s what a preacher told me right after he recommended I…
A call for civil disagreement
Temple Terrace, Fla. — Given our history of biting and devouring one another, we in many wings of the Churches of Christ tend to avoid controversy.…
‘We often speak of ourselves denominationally’
'Establishing a corporate identity is a difficult thing. I preach to multiple audiences each Sunday — they just happen to be sitting in the same…
‘We’re not quite sure who’s in and who’s out’
'Our mission was very simple at one time: convert the lost. And ‘the lost’ was everybody who’s not Church of Christ,” said Bobby Green, minister…
‘Which distinctives do we cling to?’
“Given the apparent decline in the number of congregations and in total membership, I can certainly understand why some would characterize what’s happening as an…
