Disciples Identity: A second century Church Part Four of Four

In our final installment of our Disciple Identity series, we have struggled through the various changes in culture and how best the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) might meet these challenges. Change is inevitable. Whether or not the change is slow as new chapters are written in our history and identity or fast as some would support a more radical approach to identity and culture, it happens often when we do not even know it. As a movement that finds much of its identity in the traditions of the early church, our contemporary movement can learn much from a focused look back.

Throughout the first and second centuries, the know world power began to loose ground. As the Empire deteriorated, the structure of Christianity gained strength in the third century, as it moved away from the looseness and democratic administration of the first and second centuries. Christianity began to appeal to the entire spectrum of society. Prior to this transition, except for a few, most Christians identified with the suffering servant as they struggled against their own problems of poverty and persecution. Soon, the aristocracy as well as the peasant and merchant classes, sought a more personal relationship with the God they had heard so much about as revealed in Christ Jesus. Up until that point, congregations were rather autonomous with elders appointing one of their own who would serve a coordinator for a geographical region. The role of bishop was crucial to Christian administrative reform: bishops were still chosen by the community in the second century, but assumed more authority as they served as leaders, with elders and deacons subject to the bishop's authority. The Church had created a hierarchy for several reasons. The spiritual overseers defended the teachings of the church (contained in the universally accepted creeds), attended to the ministries of the church beyond local congregations and mentored those who would eventually take their place.

The Roman Empire was changing. New religions were crossing paths more and more as travel became easier. The economy was much less oriented around the village and was beginning to find its growth in a global market. Trade in spices, silk and precious metal would lead to the first “world bank” run by monks. Universities were being founded as those in education were looking for new methods to prepare young people for the changing world.

Does any of this sound strangely familiar? Maybe its not an issue of writing a new chapter or a new book. Perhaps, it is simply the changes that must take place as we, like the first and second century church, changed to meet the needs of a changing world with the unchanging message of God’s love through Jesus Christ. Perhaps that is the Disciple identity. The ability to model what it means to be a true community with all of the challenges in diversity, doctrine and service. As Disciples, the issue isn’t so much how we are different from other denominations doctrinally or in practice, but how we allow for adaptation and change. We model a church that is true church, aware of our sectarian history and our universal call. The bottom line is not that we believe different things ABOUT Jesus, but that all of us, no matter our opinion, recognize that we are FOLLOWERS of Jesus…Disciples.

Disciple Identity: Writing a New Book! Part Three of Four

Disciple Identity Part Three: Writing a new book

In 1933, Herbert Armstrong started a movement that would be later identified as the Worldwide Church of God. The primary publication was The Plain Truth, sent free to every household that requested one. At one time the movement boasted 147,000 members with over 1,400 ministers. Due to its unusual doctrinal beliefs that served the church very well throughout the early part of the 20^th century, the church grew numerically and financially. It had started colleges, seminaries and educational institutions throughout the world. As it grew, many of its beliefs came under scrutiny by other denominations and by the late 70’s it had been designated by most denominations as a “cult” due to its unusual beliefs about the Trinity, observance of Jewish festivals and views of salvation. Armstrong died in 1986 and after a weak leadership by his replacement; the church selected Joseph Tkach, Jr. as the new Pastor General in 1995. Over the next few years, the church made over 40 changes in its doctrine and practices and no longer is viewed as a cult, having recently joined the National Association of Evangelicals. In his book, Transformed by Truth, Rev. Tkach Jr. states simply that it was not an issue of growth or finances that prompted the changes, but a clear revelation of what was true and the need to embrace a biblical, orthodox faith. The Worldwide Church of God has suffered. With a current membership of 67,000 and over 850 churches, it has had to sell assets to survive, but reports that its financial and membership number have begun to stabilize. One result of this radical change was dozens of new denominations were founded in response to this “across the board” re-definition of the identity of the Worldwide Church of God.

Rev. Tkach Jr. may have thought writing a whole new book was what was necessary in order to be what he viewed as a faithful church. Unfortunately, in the process of “writing this new book,” figuratively and literally, he lost over 80,000 souls for whom the changes were to fast and without explanation. These changes, which in my mind were the right things to do, were done in a fashion that was neither pastoral nor wise. What is the goal? Is the goal to prove oneself correct and demand everyone adhere to the new thought? Is the goal to bring about true conversion? My goal is always to bring conversion. I don’t want people to follow Christ out of compulsion, but conversion. My desire is for a change of heart and mind, not rules and regulations. There is much that we Disciples of Christ can offer to the rest of Christendom. There is also much we could “re-member” from other families and other times of Christendom.

I pray that the Worldwide Church of God’s new book will bring great success to the mission of Christ, but I don’t think a new book is the answer. Maybe there is another option…

Disciples Identity: Writing a New Chapter Part Two of Four

The only thing constant is change. Dr. Robert Cueni, President of Lexington Theological Seminary, once remarked that successful change occurs when organizations write a new chapter, not a whole new book. When the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) was founded, it was strongly rooted in Enlightenment philosophy and was strongly committed to not waiting for the Kingdom of God, but actually “building” the Kingdom of God. Campbell’s vision was that the world needed only the Gospel rationally explained to it, and humanity, as rational beings, would receive the Gospel and join in the transformation of our world into one of peace, justice and goodwill. He was committed to an isolated reading of the New Testament and wrongly appropriated his 19^th century worldview onto the writers and compilers of the New Testament. At one point, he even argued that a remnant church like the Christian Baptist movement he was leading had existed in isolation throughout the 19 centuries since Christ. Of course, as scholarship, archeology, and translations of ancient second and third century writings became available in English, our movement began to retain the teachings of Campbell that still worked and adapted the teachings which wee obviously contrary to newly revealed information. Much like most denominations, the founders and leaders of these movements are human and therefore subject to error. The Stone-Campbell movement began to write a new chapter in its existence. Many of the ideals of the founders simply did not work and many are even less fruitful in the 21^st century. Along the way, symbolically, “new chapters” of our history and identity were written. Musical instruments, baptisteries, stained glass, an organized clergy, and mission structures all became new chapters in the story of our identity. Of course, not everyone liked the new chapters, as our movement split, organized and realigned itself to meet the needs of being the one church in a diverse world.

The problem with this method is that as new chapters are written, the story becomes more and more complicated and sometimes contradictory. Can new chapters fix our identity issues in a constantly changing culture? At some point, do we not need to take a step back and re-read the whole book and re-assess the story? Are we simply writing new chapters to avoid finishing the book and closing it forever? Is it really so bad to simply begin a new story? We know who Disciples were in the past, but our denominational leadership seems reticent to cast an identity for today, perhaps because, as stated last week, the demographics are so vastly diverse. Has “diversity” become the new paradigm and the sole basis of our unity? What would a new book really look like?

Disciples Identity: New Chapter? or New Book! Part One of Four

Part One: “Right or Wrong, Demographics Decide”

Every year, the Office of the General Minister and President requests that a report be filed by all Congregations for publication in an annual Yearbook of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Generally, the congregational Minister is responsible for seeing that the report is completed and filed. In addition to information such as attendance, membership, local mission giving and group participation, we are asked to complete a demographic form of our membership. It includes items such as the number of ethnicities, levels of education, types of occupation, etc., that help the General Church identify certain trends nationwide.

During a recent visit, our Regional and District Ministers shared some interesting trends with my wife and me. Our denomination continues to grow in congregations that are identified as minority congregations. The numbers of Latino/a, African-American and Asian congregations are growing and those particular congregations are experiencing the largest growth locally. Although I haven’t studied this phenomena, I would suspect that there are different reasons for this growth and that the Disciples of Christ offers particularly unique abilities that meet their needs. For example, our focus on Communion may attract a large number of the Latin population, many having grown up in a Eucharistic-centered Roman Catholic Church.

In addition to this trend, these various groups tend to be much more socially conservative than the mainline membership of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) over the past thirty years. On issues of abortion, marriage and family, these congregations tend to reflect values that stand in stark contrast with many of the resolutions that were passed in the last three decades at our General Assemblies.

I received emails last week from two different groups asking our congregation to reassert herself on positions that have been typically identified as in agreement with General Assembly resolutions for fear that these resolutions may be reversed in the near future. I don’t think these resolutions are in danger of being reversed anytime soon, but what an exciting world we are entering.