Christian Standard | May / June 2023

The Need for Unity

Unity is central to the biblical message. Something special rises up when people from different circles get to know each other by learning, sharing, playing, and worshiping together. Sociologists call it “emergence.” It’s when a group becomes more than the sum of its parts. The Holy Spirit works in that unity, that oneness.

We are called to be one. The church is the hope of the world, and we can do far more together than we can apart. God has repeatedly shown us how unity can empower us to accomplish things that seemingly are impossible for individuals. Some examples might include building a building, launching a church, establishing a mission, impacting a city . . . you name it!

That’s awesome for a church, but on a personal level, unity carries the fingerprint of God. In Genesis 2:18, God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone.”

To help us understand the power of unity, God emphasized that something wasn’t good in the perfect world he created. When God created marriage, he showed the power of two becoming one flesh. He created the family . . . the nuclear small group and the most basic pattern of discipleship.

Sin destroys that unity. We saw fellowship with God broken in the Garden of Eden. We saw it when Cain killed his brother Abel. We’ve seen it in war, in greed, in envy, and in anger. But in unity, we have peace, harmony, and love.

Unity happens when we are at peace. I know words such as peace and harmony are cliché, but they also are powerful. Do you have a friend with whom you have things “in common”? The root word for that in Greek describes all the things we do in worship. To be “in common” is fellowship, Communion, prayer, and worship.

Unity brings us peace with our beliefs and behaviors. (See Ephesians 4:3-6.) Unity brings us peace with our differences. (See Ephesians 2:14-16; Galatians 3:26-28.)

Unity happens when we are in harmony. (See Romans 12:16.) Harmony isn’t sameness; rather, it’s when all the beautiful differences work together according to God’s amazing plan. (See 1 Corinthians 12:12-13.) When someone in a band plays or sings a wrong note, it creates discord. Consider where there is discord or dissonance in our lives.

Are there areas where there are sour notes? We need harmony.

Unity happens when we are infused with love. Love is the mortar that holds the bricks of unity together; love is the catalyst of everything in the Christian life. (See Colossians 3:14.) When Jesus was asked to share the greatest commandment, he said all the commandments are bound up in this one thing—to love God and each other. To be unified with God and one another requires love, and so love is something for which we must fight. Fighting for love is necessary because sin is always pulling us apart from God and each other. So, we live in this tension, this never-ending battle between love and selfishness. (See 1 Corinthians 1:10.) We must all assess where we fall in the spectrum between love and selfishness.

Unity must be built on a strong foundation. Jesus connects us to the Father; our unity with him is what draws the world to its only hope. We connect to Jesus when we accept him into our life and he becomes our basis for unity. (See John 17:23.)

Unity is made possible through the gospel. Actually, the whole story of God and his creation is built on his desire for unity. He formed us with his hands and filled our lungs with his breath. He walked with us in the garden, but sin separated us.

He wasn’t willing for that unity to be broken, so he crafted a plan to bring us back into unity. That plan was to walk among us again by becoming human, and by teaching, healing, and loving his people. But these things still didn’t bring us close enough. So, he became the perfect sacrifice for sin through his death; and through his resurrection, the promise of the Holy Spirit came. He would always be with us, inside us, guiding us. But that still wasn’t close enough.

God’s plan has always been to bring us back—all the way back. (See Romans 6:5; Ephesians 1:9-10.) This is the greatest thing of all. God reversed the irreversible, redeemed the unredeemable, and healed the unhealable. No matter what we’ve done or how big a mess we’ve made, Jesus can make us whole again. He can cancel our debt, set us free, and bring us into complete unity!

I was completely vulnerable when I was born. “Needing” was all I knew, but God provided people to fill those needs for me in ways that I could not comprehend. I was powerless! To come to Jesus is to realize you are powerless and vulnerable—only knowing you need something that you can’t provide for yourself. This is why Jesus says the only way to come to him is as a little child; that’s when we recognize who he really is. He is the Gift I need the most! 

Jerry Harris is publisher of Christian Standard Media and teaching pastor at The Crossing, a multisite church located in three states across the Midwest.

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Humility, Unity . . . Revival

“Jesus loves this. He loves humility. He loves unity.”

A leader at Asbury University spoke these words amid what some have called revival

I visited Asbury in February and witnessed what I would call a gentle moving of God’s Spirit among people both young and old—but led by the young (Gen Z). Several things were noticeably missing at the college, however. Not once did I hear anyone refer to the denomination or tribe they belonged to or the name of the preacher at their church. I heard no arguments about worship style, Bible versions, or any other matters of preference. The focus was on Jesus and worshipping him. There was a sense of humility and unity . . . and I agree: Jesus must love this!

As I write, something similar has occurred over the past several weeks at the church where I serve. I’ve noticed among many people a hunger and thirst for God to move and to experience his presence and power. Our leaders haven’t tried to force anything, but they have made room

for the Spirit to move. And God is doing what only he can do. This past Sunday, in a service focused on worship and prayer that was scheduled months ago, adults and teens and children streamed to the front of the auditorium and knelt to worship, pray, and repent. About eight high school boys came forward together—during an old hymn—and knelt, put their arms around each other, and praised God together. Older saints came forward to kneel and worship, and then they ministered to the youth, and vice versa. God’s sovereignty, truth, and grace were on display through humble and broken hearts as tears flowed down cheeks and we poured out our praise to him.

God generously scatters the seeds of both revival and unity, but they take root and grow in softened, fertile hearts. Unity arises within revival because in revival we focus our attention on Jesus rather than other things, many of which tend to divide us. Both revival and unity call for a commitment to truth and grace and require discernment, but they are better experienced than overanalyzed. They both bear fruit in transformed lives and the advancement of God’s kingdom.

In the history of our movement and God’s church, revival and unity have often occurred in tandem. The early church is our prime example. Read Acts 1 and 2 and note how then as now humility, surrender, common unity (community), prayer, and repentance were the fertile ground in which revival grew.

Many in our movement want and have been praying fervently for revival and unity. But we know we have an enemy who wants neither to happen; he will build barriers to try to stop unity and revival. Hard hearts. Lukewarm faith. A focus on everything other than Jesus—our programs and plans, our politics, our great ideas, our disagreements with others, and more. Sometimes we focus not necessarily on the wrong things or bad things, but just not on the main thing: Jesus.

Why doesn’t revival happen everywhere? Perhaps because we are simply otherwise occupied. And when we do focus on Jesus and revival begins to spring up, the enemy counterpunches. He knows that “if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand” (Mark 3:24). So, he uses this divide-and-conquer strategy to try to destroy our unity and any chance of revival in Christ’s church, individual congregations, and families. Of course, he will ultimately fail and lose the war (cf. Revelation 20–22), but until then, he continues to steal, kill, and destroy.

James asked, “What causes fights and quarrels [disunity] among you?” (James 4:1). Dana Carvey as the Church Lady on Saturday Night Live might ask in response, “Is it . . . Satan?” Well, yes, it is. James tells us what to do: “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (v. 7). The verses that follow sound a lot like revival: “Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. . . . Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up” (vv. 8-10).

In February I wrote in an online article,

We all want to see people come to Christ; we want to see lives transformed, marriages reconciled, people healed, and more . . . but we can’t force God’s hand; we can’t do any of this in our own power, we can’t do it only according to our own schedules, and we certainly can’t manufacture or contrive a movement of the Holy Spirit. Instead, we must come before God in repentance, and then prayerfully, patiently wait on God’s perfect timing. . . .

Be watchful. Stay ready. We never know when God will show up and work in ways we don’t expect and maybe do not even understand.

The Church Report. We have included our annual church report in this issue on unity for a good reason. The survey results are intended to show the state of all our independent Christian churches and churches of Christ.

This report is meant to unite us, not divide us. We do not print these lists as a competitive “ranking” of churches and their leaders for comparison’s sake. But I’m concerned some may see it or treat it that way. My brothers and sisters, this should not be! Rather, we should be rooting for one another; we are one church with one leader and one mission. Let’s humble ourselves and pray for, encourage, support, and serve other congregations and their leaders. That would be a mark of unity and revival among all of Christ’s church! 

@michaelc.mack

@michaelcmack

@michaelcmack

/authormichaelcmack

Divide and Conquer

By Megan Rawlings

I have a problem. My husband has confronted me about it numerous times. It is beginning to affect our everyday lives. Frankly, I am on the verge of addiction. I cannot resist the temptation when it appears. My toxic trait is that I cannot stop clicking on clickbait. There, I said it. The first step to fixing a problem is admitting it, right?

Clickbait is a nuisance that potentially infects your computer with viruses. But I find it tough to resist because it’s a portal through which I gain access to one of my favorite things on earth—fun facts. To prove this, I will share my latest discovery. Before I continue, I did confirm that what I am about to share is true. Also, my husband said it was common knowledge, but we all didn’t go to an Ivy League school.

Divida et Impera

I learned that the idiom “divide and conquer” does not mean what I thought it did. My whole life, I thought this simple phrase meant that your team was to split up and then conquer the problem at hand (think Scooby Doo). However, this phrase, often associated with military efforts and attributed to Julius Caesar, means the opposite. The idea is to divide the enemy so they are easier to conquer.

This method was used against the Jews by enemies that could not be seen. After Solomon’s death, his son Rehoboam became king. He increased taxes, and the people of Israel suffered. This led to the rebellion and eventual split of Israel into two kingdoms, Israel and Judah. You can read more in 1 Kings 11–12. After being divided, Israel and Judah were taken into captivity by Assyria and Babylon, respectively. Division made them weak.

Who Is Dividing, and What Are They Conquering?

I have a second problem. I struggle with comparing myself and my ministry to others. I get jealous, I begin feeling inadequate and insecure, and the vicious cycle tricks me into comparing myself to others again as if I will come out on top at some point. It is a gamble every time I go to social media to see if I am doing better than, equal to, or not as well as my sisters in Christ.

I don’t want to admit this. I don’t want you to know that I struggle with these silly sins, and honestly, I don’t want this to be my burden to bear.

Jealousy is demonic. It leaves us feeling discontented. And evil wants us to stay in this conflicted state. God warned Cain of it in Genesis 4:7: “Sin is crouching at

your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” Cain’s sin caused a divide with his brother Abel. This divide made Cain weak and led to his downfall by killing his brother.

All sin can lead to division, but I believe jealousy is a contender as the worst sin. This feels especially true within the church.

We cannot see our brothers and sisters in Christ as the enemy. We cannot let sin win. We must fight the urge to compare ourselves or our ministries. We must grow in spiritual maturity because we are on the same team. If history has taught us anything, it is that we cannot afford to be divided when we are fighting the same enemy.

heart and wrecked me. Whether I am out front or working behind the scenes, I will get no credit for my efforts to bring souls into the kingdom of God. At the end of the day, that is solely the work of the Holy Spirit, and I remind myself of this daily and am learning to be content with it.

My plea is that you become content in the position God has put you and do not allow the enemy to divide and conquer.

“I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in m ind and thought” (1 Corinthians 1:10). 

All sin can lead to division, but I believe jealousy is a contender as the worst sin. This feels especially true within the church.

How Do We Fight the War?

Usually, soldiers use weapons to win a battle. God gave us the sword of truth. Do you know how to use it? Are you memorizing Scripture to combat intrusive thoughts? Are you using it to fight off sinfulness?

The other day, I had a weak moment. I allowed bitterness and jealousy to creep in until my entire mood shifted and started to change the outcome of my day. My husband lovingly recognized what was happening and respectfully called me out. “Are you training women for your glory or God’s?” Ouch! That will preach.

I immediately texted my prayer warriors and asked for two things: to lift me up in prayer and to toss me a “sword” to fight with. Our group chat was saturated with a copious number of Scripture passages t hat I read and meditated on until my sinful feelings passed. I am not exaggerating when I say I immediately began feeling peace and reassurance that no matter what my audience looked like or the size of my following, God was using me. It was not about me, and I needed the perspective shift.

Gigi (what I call my grandmother) used to say, “You might just be the next Billy Graham’s Sunday school teacher.” I hated that idea. I didn’t want to just be some Sunday school teacher. Then God grabbed my

about the author

president of planned giving with The Solomon Foundation. She is the founder and CEO of The Bold Movement. She is an extrovert, pastor’s wife, and lover of the Scriptures.

@tbm_ministry

@tbm_ministry

@theboldmovement

/tbmministry theboldmovement.com

e 2:effective elders

The Rise of the Nons and the Nearly Gones (and What We Can Do About It)

By Billy Strother

Congregations need one another more than ever. They need a sense of unity for mission in community. As congregational leaders, pursuing a sense of unity in community will strengthen us all and increase our kingdom fruit. Jesus proclaimed, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and no city or house divided against itself will stand” (Matthew 12:25, New American Standard Bible).

Ministering to the Nons

Christianity is in retreat in our culture. We are familiar with the rise of the “nones” (30 percent of U.S. adults now claim no religious affiliation). But despite the challenges, strategic opportunities are revealing themselves. Even as the percentage of “nones” creeps higher, we are seeing a rise in the “nons,” meaning nondenominational Christians. Simply put, an increasing number of Christians are affiliating with nondenominational churches. A recent article noted, “Americans who don’t identify with a specific religious tradition has grown from just 5 percent during the Cold War to around 30 percent today” (Christianity Today, “‘Nondenominational’ Is Now the Largest Segment of American Protestants,” November 16, 2022).

As an increasing number of believers eschew any denominational affiliation, the Christian Churches/ Churches of Christ possess the unique opportunity to expand our Restoration Movement plea for unity and fellowship. Many Christians who have moved from denominationalism are looking for a body of believers with whom to connect, and our churches—regardless of size or geographical location—are well-postured to meet their spiritual needs.

Some may misinterpret my words as advocating sheep stealing. I grew up in denominationalism. I attended Cincinnati Christian University as a denominationalist. I first clearly heard the Restoration Movement plea for unity, to simply follow Jesus based on the authority of Scripture, in Dr. Jim North’s Restoration History class. That simple plea captured both my heart and my spiritual imagination; it launched me on a life journey of enjoying the freedom of nondenominationalism.

I count myself not as a stolen sheep, but as a hungry pilgrim who discovered a healthier, greener spiritual pasture (in the congregations and among people fellowshipping in the Restoration Movement) in which to feed and grow in my relationship with Jesus. In all truth, I will ever argue that you cannot steal a well-fed sheep. Spiritually neglected, malnourished, or even abused sheep should be freed to feed in greener pastures.

So then, as leaders, should we not look to minister to the ever-escalating number of Christians who are

dislocated after disfellowshipping from denominationalism? Should we not also be eager to reach out to congregations in our communities that disfellowship themselves from their denomination? As leaders, we should stand at the forefront to pursue unity, not just in our own buildings, but in our own communities, beyond the church property lines. The growing number of “nons” need us.

Partnering with Struggling Congregations

According to the 2020 Faith Communities Today (FACT) study, 70 percent of U.S. congregations have fewer than 100 persons in worship each week, and 50 percent of all churches have fewer than 65 souls worshipping each week. The smaller the church, the harder it is to find a preacher, minister to families, stretch financial resources, and just stay open on Sundays. Yes, some churches will close; my prayer is that each will have a closing service which celebrates the history and ministry of that congregation, and that the assets remaining will be re-tasked for further kingdom service.

Our healthier congregations ought to consider the opportunity to expand unity by offering to partner with Restoration Movement congregations that are stagnant, in decline, or especially those nearing closure.

I realize that will not always be possible. Struggling congregations suffering from hubris and pride will tragically strong-arm any offer of assistance. Yet, a growing number of our struggling congregations—often in communities with vanishing populations or in urban areas which have transitioned beyond the current membership’s knowledge of how to be relevant— would accept help from another Restoration church.

Not all struggling churches must close or continue as if on life support. Healthy church leaderships might consider expanding kingdom unity by offering meaningful assistance to struggling Restoration Movement congregations in or near their community.

I resolutely believe in the health and goal of church planting. But so much can be said for nurturing small churches. Here are five ways to help that are already happening:

1. Share preachers. Some congregations that are unable to afford a preacher on their own are combining to share a preacher, a sort of 21st-century circuit rider.

2. Share buildings. Two congregations are meeting at different times in one building, especially in multilingual circumstances. Many church buildings are used only one hour a week; it costs no more to put that building in service for a second hour.

3. Adopt. Some healthy congregations are “adopting” a struggling congregation to spiritually parent and to provide meaningful people resources.

4. Unite. Two or more churches are “throwing in” together to be a single congregation.

5. Train elders to preach; these preaching elders can then serve as pulpit supply for other churches. Typically, a healthy congregation trains elders or other church leaders to preach, and then those volunteer preachers rotate a few Sundays a month at struggling churches in the area.

Thom Rainer, in his year-end blog post, “Ten Major Trends for Local Churches in America in 2023,” wrote, “The year 2023 will be a record for church adoptions; an adopted church is a congregation that comes into the family, care, and authority of another, usually healthier, church. Of course, more churches will seek adoption because they are about to die or close.”

When it comes to unity, have you and your leadership team thought beyond the boundaries on your church deed? I know, many of us scramble for unity just in our own congregation. Nothing unifies more than mission beyond the limits of the church property. If you serve faithfully in a struggling church, cast away pride (Proverbs 16:18) and ask for help. Congregations need each other. 

about the author

Billy Strother, PhD, serves as dean of graduate studies and as professor of preaching, New Testament, and leadership with Central Christian College of the Bible, Moberly, Missouri. He also serves as a bench member of e2: effective elders.

Gradations of Unity

By Tyler McKenzie

Arecent Love Thy Neighborhood podcast detailed how fake news spreads in the church. They told a story from the 2016 election as a case study. On November 5, 2016, just three days before the presidential election, the Denver Guardian ran this headline: “FBI Agent Suspected in Hillary Email Leaks Found Dead in Apparent Murder-Suicide.” The article stated that FBI agent Michael Brown and his wife were found dead in their home. The web article looked legit. It included quotes from the local police chief, comments from neighbors, and links to online sources claiming it was a hit job by the Clintons. The top of the news website even had Denver weather information. The story made its way to Facebook and went viral. At its height, it was being shared 100 times per minute.

Later that day, the Denver Post ran this headline: “There Is No Such Thing as the Denver Guardian Despite that Facebook Post You Saw.” The Denver Post is the largest news outlet in Denver and . . . real. The article asserted that the Denver Guardian was not real. The FBI agent was not a real person. The whole story was fake. And just five days later, the Denver Guardian’s website vanished. It was too late though. The article had already been shared 1.6 million times on Facebook. The damage was done.

The story and website were concocted by Jestin Coler, who became known as “The King of Fake News.” The podcast detailed how Coler at one point was making $30,000 a month because he had perfected the art of creating click-bait fake news stories, building a webpage to make it look legit, launching it to the heights of virility on social media, and then selling ads to the highest bidder. This is a cautionary tale. The algorithms on social media are not Christian. They were not designed to promote truth and love. This is why we should not let social media pastor us.

It’s not just fake news royalty like Coler who know how to harness our outrage. The mainstream media knows this power too. They have discovered over four decades that two characteristics grab people: conflict and hate. If you can push both buttons with one story—a conflict involving people your audience hates—then the public can’t look away. Few things capture us at an emotional level like hearing about what sort of devilry those idiots on the other side of the aisle are stirring up now! The more outrageous, the better the ratings.

Many think journalism is dead because truth is no longer guarded and incentivized. Speed to market and scope of reach are now the highest values. You must be the first to break the story (even if it means sloppy reporting, insufficient sourcing, or occasional misinformation), and you must craft the story to get as many eyes as possible.

Politics is another example of an institution designed to feed our darker appetites. I have watched family relationships fall apart over whom people voted for. Commerce is another example. It ranges from companies that incorporate rainbow colors into their logo to those that hire controversial celebrities to represent their brand, to those that sell décor that promote nationalist thought.

That private companies or citizens have opinions isn’t what makes this toxic. That is their right. The toxicity lies in the warfare mindset that colors the news, the campaigns, the ads, and the storytelling. There’s a religious zeal to it all. It’s designed to make us combatants. It’s a zero-sum game over perceived moral imperatives, and you are morally reprehensible if you disagree. Take notice! We are being socialized at almost every level of life to join the fight and be divided. We breathe a toxic but invisible gas. Do you think after breathing this all week, our people are able to just turn it off when they step into their church communities?

I believe the American church has an incredible opportunity to offer the Divided States of America a vision of something it longs for—community with a loyal, knotted, caring, transcendent unity in something beyond us. To build this unity, I suggest three simple steps:

Stop Excommunicating People Over Secondary and Tertiary Issues

“Is what I’m struggling with essential or is there room for differing opinions?” We need to ask this question more and then offer our brothers and sisters a brand of tolerance that declares, “That which unites us in Christ is far greater than that which the world might use to divide us.”

Imagine four concentric circles. In the center circle we put the essential beliefs of our faith. We will call them beliefs to die for. In circle two we put denominational distinctives; that is, core beliefs we see as clearly attested to by Scripture but which denominations have split over because interpretations can vary. We will call them beliefs to divide over. In circle three we put beliefs which are ambiguous enough to not break fellowship over but which still should be wrestled with. We will call these beliefs to debate. In circle four we put beliefs that my dad always called “recreational theology.” We will call these beliefs to delight in. Our churches must do the hard work of prayerfully discerning what goes where.

“ The algorithms on social media are not Christian. They were not designed to promote truth and love. This is why we should not let social media pastor us.

The problem is that too many people are sending others to hell over the issues found in circles two, three, and four. I will admit, it can sometimes get gray on which issues go where. However, most of what we are fighting over are not circle-one issues. They may be serious issues, but they are not unforgiveable or damnable. It makes me sad when we break unity over positions that are essential to man but not to God. Until we become more thoughtful and tolerant about the gradations of unity, our tribes will get smaller and more fanatical, and the evangelistic potential of our unity will remain untapped.

Love Those with Whom We Disagree

In my role as a church leader, I have lots of difficult conversations about biblical matters that I know will end in disagreement. I start every conversation the same way, “I want you to know that if we disagree on this, I will still love you.”

Keep the Gospel of King Jesus Central

I once heard Tim Keller say our positions as Christians should both defy and commend our culture (no matter our time or place). We follow a different King. Submitting to his kingship should lead us to positions that awaken awe but also scorn. We must pursue the former and be courageous in the face of the latter, reminding our children and our churches, “God’s way is the best way, so his way is our way.”  about

the author

Tyler McKenzie serves as lead pastor at Northeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky.

“ God’s way is the best way, so his way is our way.

horizons

HASTEN International Continues a Long Tradition of Medical Ministry

By Laura McKillip Wood

Dr. Dennis Pruett was born in West Virginia, the son of a coal miner. During World War II, he served as a naval aviator and received a Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross. When he returned from the war, he became a surgeon; later he and his wife began serving as medical missionaries in Rhodesia, now called Zimbabwe.

The Pruetts raised their family there and had a productive medical ministry. They were convinced they could most effectively share the gospel by partnering with Christian nationals working in the medical field, so in 1985 they began a ministry called HASTEN International to spread medical ministry to other countries as well.

Dennis Pruett said,

Medical evangelism is the best way in the world to put Christian ideals into action. You see with your eyes, touch with your hands, and feel with your heart the love Christ had for people when he helped them. This is made wonderful when you see the appreciation from a people who now understand that the love God had for all mankind is manifested by his servants.

Since then, HASTEN—which stands for Health And Salvation To Every Nation—has worked tirelessly to provide medical care for people in Zimbabwe, India, Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Mexico.

HASTEN supports Christian doctors who live in the area with their families. They create ministry opportunities through their medical practices, which then provide them opportunities to start churches. HASTEN calls it a merger of medical and ministry.

Zimbabwe

HASTEN’s work began in the country where Dr. Dennis Pruett had already established a ministry. In fact, Christian Standard provided half of the funds for the Mashoko Christian Hospital in the 1950s, with that nation’s government providing the other half.

Built in 1959, Mashoko Christian Hospital is now known as “the hospital in that part of the country,” according to Dr. Darel Pruett, the founder’s son.

The hospital provides medical care to people in the bush, but its doctors and staff do not stop there. They also provide spiritual care to people, praying with them

“ He was excited about the possibilities God would open for him, and he was not disappointed.

and showing them the love of Christ while ministering to their physical needs. HASTEN also supports a school and has a variety of ministries in Zimbabwe.

Dr. Darel Pruett has served as president of HASTEN since his father’s death in 2014, continuing the legacy of service through medical care.

India

In India, HASTEN supports Drs. David and Sunisha Henry and their sons, Drs. David and Dennis Henry. Dr. David Henry Sr. is a dermatologist specializing in infectious diseases. He was inspired by his father, who started a hospital for people with leprosy. His wife is an ophthalmologist.

They now lead several hospitals and have started eight rural churches outside Delhi. They also operate several schools that provide children with education and the skills they need to become productive adults. Some of their students have gone on to work with the ministry, helping provide for the needs of others in their communities.

The Indian government recently has made it more difficult for Christians to minister and evangelize, but these doctors have been able to continue their medical work.

Haiti

Dr. Dan Adolphe has ministered to people in Haiti for years. In the early 2000s, Reggie Thomas of White Fields Overseas Evangelism introduced Dr. Adolphe to HASTEN after seeing his passion for ministering to the physical needs of people as a way of ministering to their spiritual needs. Dr. Adolphe is a general practitioner and has a staff of about 10.

Since the earthquake and during the political unrest of the nation, Dr. Adolphe has been able to continue faithfully ministering to those who need that love and compassion the most.

Mexico

HASTEN supports a medical clinic in Monclova, a city in northern Mexico. In this clinic, Francis Nash coordinates the work with medical professionals, a nurse works in the pharmacy, and the daughter of the clinic’s first doctor, Rosario Fuentes, works as a dentist. A mobile clinic provides care to people living in the desert, driving out to them several times a year. This care is done in conjunction with the 14 Churches

of Christ in the area and care is accompanied by prayer and spiritual support.

Changes and Future Plans

Later this year, Dr. Darel Pruett will retire from his position as president of HASTEN, and Pete Kunkle will become the new CEO. (Kunkle will retire as founding pastor of First Christian Church in Kernersville, N.C.—now T he Crossing Church—in August; see “New Name and Pastoral Transition at N.C. Church” on our website.)

HASTEN is currently working on a new partnership with medical professionals in Colombia, and Kunkle hopes HASTEN will begin supporting that work soon.

HASTEN’S current initiative, 1,000 Friends of HASTEN, seeks 1,000 new partners to support the work of H ASTEN through prayer and financial contributions. Additionally, HASTEN hopes to add a domestic mobile medical unit to provide medical care to impoverished areas of the United States where people do not have access to adequate and affordable medical care.

@woodlaura30

@woodlaura30

For more information about HASTEN International or to become one of the 1,000 Friends of HASTEN, visit their website at hasteninternational.org.  lauramckillipwood@gmail.com

/laura.wood2 lauramckillipwood.com

Laura McKillip Wood, former missionary to Ukraine, now serves as bereavement coordinator and palliative care chaplain at Children's Hospital and Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska. She and her husband, Andrew, have three teenagers.

about the author

Unity: God’s Beautiful Original Intent for Marriage

By Rudy Hagood

God desires so much more for our marriages than just staying together.

God’s original intent for marriage is found way back in Genesis—before sin came into the world, and well before “honey-do” lists and such sayings as “happy wife, happy life.” The secret sauce of Christian marital union is the power of God binding us together in a n intimate union that includes Yahweh. And when two become one, the One (God) empowers the two.

Marital unity is restoration of the paradise God created in the beginning. It’s part of the reconciling work of God. It is the divine birthright of our new birth in Christ.

As I see it, society encourages us to exist in our marriages, but God desires and seeks to inspire us to e xcel in our marriages. Many have been taught not to get a divorce, but how many have been taught to work toward a great relationship? If our only goal in our marital union is not to break up, then we end up living close to the divorce line. When we experience difficulties in our unions or stumble, it is easy to cross the line and break our covenant of marriage.

When I, a Christian kid, married Osharye at age 25, the main thing I knew about marriage was that it was a sentence (yes, I’m using a prison term) that I would live together with one person, and that this union would be presided over by God, and that death was the only way to get out of it. (This may be a slight exaggeration, um, but not really.) I was taught repeatedly that Christians who married did not get a divorce because God hates divorce.

The fear of the Lord is a good thing. God has a burning passion that we do not break his covenants. But i f all we teach about marriage is that we should not divorce, then it’s no wonder marriage quality is low. It’s no wonder existence in marriage is acceptable and excellence in marriage is the exception.

Couples Create Culture

In Genesis 2, God revealed how a wife should care for her husband and how a husband should care for his wife. And he revealed the purpose of marriage in the Bible’s opening chapter:

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground” (Genesis 1:28).

From the beginning, God wanted us to care for and continue the creation that he initiated. In that creating culture, we are to do more than have kids; we a re also to raise up kids in the ways of God. We are to create culture. God’s beautiful original intent for how we are to treat one another is stated in Genesis 2. A wife is to be a helper for her husband, and a husband is to cultivate his wife.

Wives Complete Their Husbands

A helper is not a sidekick; rather, a helper is one who does for others what they cannot do for themselves. Only a wife and the Holy Spirit are blessed with this defining descriptor. Husbands are incomplete—a rib is missing—without a helper for a wife. The wife literally and functionally completes her husband. The root word for helper in the Old Testament is ezer, which means “treasure.” Quite naturally, then, the husband in a blessed marital union is to treat his wife as a treasure.

Husbands Cultivate Their Wives

Husbands are given dominion by God. In the Bible, dominion means “to cultivate, to care for”; in a functional way, dominion means “to cause to grow.”

Wives are not incomplete like their husbands. Wives are neither lacking nor missing anything; in this sense, wives are perfect. So, what does a husband do for his wife? He does not add to her to complete her; instead, he as a husbandman—that is, a gardener—cultivates her and causes her to grow or blossom. Why? Because his wife is his ezer, his treasure. Dominion in marriage is not about dominance; instead, dominion is about the responsibility of caring for a wife. A gardener who dominates his crops destroys them. The same is true for a dominant husband and his marriage.

In the paradise created by God, (1) wives complete their husbands, (2) husbands cultivate your wives, and (3) couples create culture together. All of this is possible through the power of the One. When the two become one, the One empowers the two.

In closing, I’ll admit the Genesis text is beyond our reach. The text describes a pre-sin/Garden-of-Eden world that existed long before a wife lost a remote control or a husband left a toilet seat up. Do not become discouraged if you can’t imagine or achieve paradise in your marriage. If you feel discouraged, I’ll remind you of this description of Jesus.

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile

to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross (Colossians 1:19-20).

And this includes our marriages.

The blood of Christ is the power to return all things back to the beginning. So again, don’t be discouraged if you are not in paradise today, but learn from and rely on God’s view of marital union. Be encouraged that God’s power can take you there, and in time, his power will deliver you into his divine tomorrow. When a husband and a wife pursue oneness, I believe God will empower us with miraculous workings to cause two to be one. It is time to excel in our marriages instead of merely existing! 

about the authors

Rudy and Osharye Hagood have seven children and nine grandchildren so far. Osharye is a women’s minister who is also certified as both a life coach and a health coach. Rudy is a college professor with a background in social work. They love being married and love to bless both married and engaged couples.

@rudy.hagood

@rudy_hagood_

“ A helper is not a sidekick; rather, a helper is one who does for others what they cannot do for themselves.

preach

5 Sources for Illustrations to Enhance Your Sermons

By Chris Philbeck

I n the 1990s, while serving a church in Oklahoma, I took all my elders to the Leadership Conference at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky. During the opening session, our church was awarded a yearlong subscription to SECC’s weekly tape ministry for being the church that came the farthest with their entire board of elders. So, over the next year, I had the opportunity to listen to weekend messages delivered by Bob Russell and Dave Stone.

I still remember many of those messages, including one from Dave about the urgency of reaching lost people. To illustrate the message, he told the story of a child who went missing during a family trip to Deam Lake in Southern Indiana. At one point, to locate the child, several people linked arms and walked step-bystep through the shallow swimming area where the child was last seen.

The good news is the child was found alive, but what stood out to me was the way Dave used that real-life event to illustrate the urgency believers need to feel when it comes to reaching (and rescuing) lost people. As I listened, I had a powerful mental image of what that search must have looked like, and I felt the urgency of the moment.

As a young preacher, instructors taught me that every good sermon contained three things: explanation, illustration, and application. To phrase that in a more contemporary way, in every sermon, you need to tell people what you want them to know, what you want them to feel, and what you want them to do. The “what you want them to feel” part of the message can be challenging. Every preacher knows what it’s like to search for illustrations that enhance the message. So the question becomes, how do we find illustrations that enhance our sermons today? Here are five places to find them.

Real-Life Experiences

Few things are more powerful than our own personal stories. One of my favorite sermon illustrations is the real-life story of my grandmother’s conversion. She and my grandfather owned a bar on the west side of Tulsa, Oklahoma. I won’t go into detail, but she lived a very sinful life.

One day, however, she was in a serious car accident that left her with a crushed pelvis and broken legs. Some men from a local church visited her in the hospital and told her the good news that God loved her so much he sent his Son, Jesus, into the world to die on

“

in every sermon, you need to tell people what you want them to know, what you want them to feel, and what you want them to do.

the cross to pay the penalty for her sins. Her sins could be forgiven, they assured her, if she put her faith and trust in Jesus. As a result, on the Sunday after being released from the hospital, she went to that local church where two men carried her in a metal folding chair into the baptistery because she didn’t want to wait another minute to confess her faith and be baptized.

My grandparents sold their bar, and my grandmother became a church secretary for the next 17 years. There’s so much more to the story, but her dramatic conversion continues to impact our family today.

One word of warning about real-life illustrations. Don’t make yourself the hero of every story. There’s more impact when you do the opposite by revealing your struggles. But be careful and thoughtful about how you use your stories.

Reading Materials

Every preacher needs to be a reader. And every preacher needs to develop a system or method for cataloging stories and illustrations from their reading for use in the future. If you don’t have much time to read, find one or more people in your church who would be willing to read books you give them and then highlight usable stories or illustrations.

Current Events

The news is filled daily with stories and information that can be used for illustrations. Case in point, the story Dave Stone told in his message about a sense of urgency in reaching lost people.

Movies

I’ve always loved movies, and I frequently have used something from a movie to illustrate a message.

A few years ago, I was preaching a series on the family that included a message to fathers stressing the importance of being strong spiritual leaders who protect their wives and children.

On a flight home from vacation, I watched the movie 12 Strong which tells the story of U.S. Army Special Forces sent to Afghanistan immediately after 9/11. In one scene, Colonel Mulholland gives Captain Mitch Nelson, who would lead the team into Afghanistan, a piece of metal from the World Trade Center and says, “The most important thing a man can take into battle is a reason why.”

That became a powerful illustration with the fathers i n my church, as I challenged them to be spiritual leaders in their homes who make it a priority to protect their families.

The Bible

I’ve always believed we interpret the Bible with the Bible, and we illustrate the Bible with the Bible. Most of Scripture comes to us in narrative form filled with powerful stories and characters that can be used as powerful illustrations.

Illustrating the sermon is an essential part of preaching, for it helps us inform, instruct, motivate, and convict our listeners.

It’s been more than 25 years since I listened to the sermon from Dave Stone mentioned earlier. And yet, the image of people linked together arm-in-arm looking for a lost child is just as convicting to me today as it was then. That’s because people are visual by nature. So, using illustrations to create mental pictures as we preach engages our listeners on a whole new level and helps us connect with the mind, stir the heart, and make God’s Word come alive. 

about the author

/PastorCPhilbeck

@cphilbeck

@pastorphilbeck

Chris Philbeck serves as senior pastor of Mount Pleasant Christian Church in Greenwood, Indiana. He has been in ministry since 1980 and has had the privilege of planting a new church, leading a turnaround church, and now leading a megachurch.

2022 church report

This year, in the charts on the following pages, we have included both average weekly in-person and online attendance numbers in separate columns. However, we use both these numbers added together (in-person + online) to determine a church’s size category and how they are sorted within each category.

We focus primarily on in-person attendance because, frankly, there’s nothing quite like participating and experiencing worship in real, side-by-side and face-to-face community. A Lifeway Research study (“Does Online Attendance ‘Count’?”) reveals that U.S. pastors are about evenly split on whether in-person attendance is the only valid option. Authors of a separate study say “in-person attendance could promote improved health through social support and a sense of connection in congregational worship.”

At the same time, we realize that many churches use online strategies to reach people both locally and globally. We believe both in-person and online can be used for different purposes that fit into the mission of the church, so this year we include both numbers.

Of course, the church is more than just attendance numbers. We look at baptisms as a key indicator of health and discipleship. We have

projected a total of more than 70,000 baptisms among all independent Christian churches and churches of Christ last year. We extrapolated that number based on the total number of baptisms reported by churches in our survey. And while the number of baptisms per year has dipped since 2019, we can celebrate how many people gave their lives to Christ in 2022, and we trust they are being discipled to make disciples. Let’s pray for a spirit of revival in our churches and that each of these new disciples of Jesus will mature in their faith and reach their friends and family for Christ.

SPOTLIGHT CHURCHES

Numbers reveal only a part of the story about our churches, of course. So, as in years’ past, we are featuring “Spotlight Churches,” but this year these articles will appear exclusively on our website, ChristianStandard.com. Throughout May and June, we’ll share the stories of how several churches of varying sizes from our survey carried out their mission in 2022.

We will link to these stories of Spotlight Churches in our weekly Wednesday news email. If you do not already receive this enewsletter, please sign up for it today at ChristianStandard.com. See the section, “SUBSCRIBE TO RECEIVE THE LATEST UPDATES!”

2022 A YEAR OF TRANSITION

By Kent Fillinger

When I look back at the last few years through the filter of our annual survey results, I would argue that 2020 was a year of crisis, 2021 was a year of adaptation, and 2022 was a year of transition.

In-Person vs. Online Worship Attendance

One exciting transition churches experienced last year was more people shifted back to in-person worship from watching online. Comparing 2022 in-person worship attendance data to 2021 showed attendance increases for churches of all sizes. The megachurches (with average weekly worship attendance of 2,000 or more) suffered the greatest attendance declines during the COVID-19 pandemic that arrived in March 2020. But the megachurches in our study experienced the strongest bounce back in attendance during 2022, with an average in-person attendance increase of 41 percent—from 2,653 to 3,747.

Overall, in-person weekly attendance for the 370 churches that participated in our study increased from 180,362 in 2021 to 239,864 last year, an increase of 33 percent. The overall average in-person attendance for these churches in 2021 was 496 and in 2022 was 648—an increase of 31 percent year over year.

The in-person worship attendance growth was partially offset by a declining number of online worshippers. Online viewership decreased for churches of all sizes. Emerging megachurches (which average 1,000 to 1,999 in weekly worship attendance) experienced a 31 percent drop in that metric, the largest percentage decline in online worshippers of any church size category. Overall, the average number of online viewers for churches in our

study fell from 669 weekly in 2021 to 430 last year, a 36 percent decrease. The total number of online viewers declined by 12 percent, from 139,470 to 123,444.

As the effects from the pandemic continue to fade, it will be interesting to see if these attendance trends continue. Almost one-fourth of the churches (22 percent) in this year’s survey did not report any online attendance figures. Only 5 percent of the 370 churches reported online attendance numbers that exceeded their in-person worship attendance in 2022.

Among megachurches, 22 percent saw more online worshippers than in-person worshippers, the largest percentage among any church size category. Next came the large churches (averaging 500 to 999 weekly) with 7 percent.

Overall, our survey found 78 percent of people worshipped in-person last year compared with 22 percent online.

Very small churches (averaging 99 or fewer worshippers) had the highest percentage of weekly in-person attendees, 89 percent, followed by medium size churches (averaging 250 to 499 weekly), 85 percent. Megachurches had the smallest percentage of total in-person attendees, 59 percent.

Growth Analysis

The churches in our survey reported record growth rates last year. Overall, these churches grew an average of 12.8 percent in 2022. Small churches (averaging 100 to 249 in weekly worship attendance) reported 13.6 percent growth last year, the highest in our survey, followed by megachurches at 13.4 percent. Emerging megachurches had the lowest growth rate, a still robust 10.3 percent.

To provide context, in the past, no category of churches had exceeded a 7 percent annual growth rate in almost two decades of tracking.

A higher percentage of churches in each size category grew from 2021 to 2022 than from 2018 to 2019 (the last “normal” year):

Another positive—all six church size categories grew from 2019 to 2022. On average, megachurches in our survey grew 28.3 percent from 2019 to 2022, an average of 9.4 percent per year. The very small churches in this year’s survey grew the slowest at 1 percent over that same time span. The overall average growth rate from 2019 to 2022 for these churches was 11.4 percent, which equates to 3.8 percent per year, which is comparable to historical annual growth rates.

It’s encouraging that the pandemic did not negatively impact church attendance over the long haul and that these churches, in fact, managed to grow during a challenging time.

Bottom Line on Baptisms

The number of baptisms in our churches continued a slow recovery from what was reported in 2019. To illuminate, the 50 megachurches in our 2019 survey baptized more people that year than all 370 churches in 2022— 20,897 vs. 19,574, respectively.

In 2019, the 439 reporting churches recorded 32,139 baptisms, for an average of 73 baptisms per church. The number of baptisms plummeted in 2020 (when most churches ceased public gatherings for weeks and months) to a total of 13,502 baptisms in 421 churches—an average of 32 baptisms per church. Baptisms rebounded some in 2021, as more people returned to in-person worship. The 412 churches in our 2021 survey reported 20,387 baptisms—an average of 50 per church. And in 2022, the average number of baptisms inched up again to 53 per church—19,574 baptisms in 370 churches.

Therefore, the average number of baptisms per church increased by 7 percent in 2022 compared with the year prior, but it was still 28 percent lower than the prepandemic numbers in 2019.

The number of baptisms doesn’t correspond to the strong growth rates recorded over the last one to three years. An optimist might argue we are on the verge of a surge in baptisms as new attendees continue to hear the gospel in these churches. But a pessimist might counter that

attendance growth possibly was driven by transfers, as people decided to leave their former church during or after the pandemic. Perhaps it’s a combination of the two.

Church Engagement Trends

Christian Standard wanted to better assess the impact COVID-19 had on church life and engagement beyond attendance, baptisms, and giving. To that end, we asked churches a series of first-time questions to identify whether the level of adult participation in discipleship, service, and special events had increased, decreased, or stayed the same from 2019 to 2022. The survey also explored whether opportunities made available by churches in these areas had grown, shrunk, or remained about the same post-pandemic.

The survey asked, “Comparing 2019 (Pre-COVID) to 2022, did the percentage of adults involved in small groups, classes, or other discipleship opportunities increase, decrease, or stay the same.” Chart 3 shows the results.

A survey question also asked, “Comparing 2019 (PreCOVID) to 2022, did the number of opportunities the

church provided for small groups, classes, or other discipleship opportunities increase, decrease, or stay about the same?”

Overall, almost half of the churches (49 percent) said the opportunities for spiritual growth increased over the last few years, with emerging megachurches (60 percent) leading the way in this category. Very small churches were the least likely to have increased their number of growth and discipleship opportunities, with only 26 percent reporting an increase.

The number of discipleship opportunities offered stayed about the same from 2019 to 2022 in 36 percent of the churches surveyed. The most stable in this regard were the very small churches with 46 percent reporting they maintained the same number of growth opportunities. Among the other five church size categories, “about the same” was the response from 30 to 36 percent of churches.

Only 15 percent of the churches said they decreased the number of discipleship opportunities during that span. Just over one-fourth of very small churches (28 percent) decreased the number of growth options, which was the largest percentage tallied. Emerging megachurches were the least likely to have cut discipleship opportunities, with only 4 percent doing so.

Chart 4 shows data that combines information gleaned in the responses to the first two questions. For example, 82 percent of the churches that increased the number of growth opportunities also experienced an increase in the percentage of adults involved.

Several years ago, the “Simple Church” movement advocated reducing the number of growth options available to increase participation, the theory being that “less is more.” Our survey responses challenged this ministry strategy by showing that sometimes “less is less.” For example, just over two-thirds (69 percent) of the churches that “decreased their spiritual growth opportunities” also saw a decrease in the percentage of adults involved from 2019 to 2022.

Ministry Involvement Trends

We also wanted to gauge what impact, if any, COVID-19 had on people serving and volunteering for ministries inside or outside the church.

The survey asked, “Comparing 2019 (Pre-COVID) to 2022, did the percentage of adults involved in serving, either inside or outside the church, increase, decrease, or stay about the same.” Chart 5 shows the results.

CHANGES IN SERVING INVOLVEMENT: 2019-2022

28%

24% 49%

29%

A survey question also asked, “Comparing 2019 (PreCOVID) to 2022, did the number of opportunities the church provided for serving, either inside or outside the church, increase, decrease, or stay about the same.”

Almost half the churches (49 percent) surveyed said they increased service opportunities, while 38 percent said the number of volunteer opportunities “stayed about the same,” and only 13 percent said such opportunities decreased from 2019 to 2022.

Megachurches were the most likely to increase serving opportunities and the least likely to decrease them (56 percent vs. 3 percent, respectively). Very small churches were the least likely to increase serving options and the most likely to have kept the number of ministry opportunities the same (30 percent vs. 50 percent, respectively). More than one-fifth of the small churches (22 percent) said they “decreased” the number of serving options from 2019 to 2022, which was the highest percentage among all church size categories.

Chart 6 shows the impact of changes that churches made in increasing or decreasing the number of serving opportunities they made available.

Seventy-four percent of the churches that increased serving opportunities had an increase in the percentage of adults involved in volunteering. Likewise, three-fourths of the churches that decreased the number of serving options experienced a decrease in the percentage of adults serving.

Special Event Trends

To assess how the pandemic affected the number of special events churches offered, we asked, “Comparing 2019 (Pre-COVID) to 2022, did the percentage of adults involved in special events (such as marriage conferences, men’s or women’s conferences, prayer events, revivals, etc.) at your church increase, decrease, or stay about the same.” Chart 7 shows the responses.

A survey question also asked, “Comparing 2019 (Pre-COVID) to 2022, did the number of opportunities the church provided for special events (such as marriage conferences, men’s or women’s conferences, prayer events, revivals, etc.) increase, decrease, or stay about the same.”

Almost half the churches (49 percent) reported the number of special events remained “about the same,” while just over one-fourth (28 percent) increased the number of such opportunities, and 24 percent decreased the number of special events offered over that span.

Chart 8 shows the impact of these actions in terms of the percentage of adults involved in special events.

CHART 7

18% 42%

25% 45%

33% 43%

22% 59%

Financial Snapshot

Giving continued a positive three-year trend as 77 percent of churches reported that their total income during the most recent fiscal year met or exceeded the previous fiscal year. Almost one-third of the churches (30 percent) reported giving was up 1 to 9 percent in the most recent fiscal year. This illustrates the faithfulness of God’s people to give and be generous during a pandemic and beyond. 

Kent E. Fillinger serves as president of 3:STRANDS Consulting, Indianapolis, Indiana, and regional vice president (Ohio, Michigan) with Christian Financial Resources.

GIVING

OVER THE PAST YEARLY GIVING CYCLE, TOTAL CHURCH INCOME. . .

INCREASED 30% OR MORE: 6.4% OF CHURCHES

INCREASED 20-29%: 6.3%

INCREASED 10-19%: 16.6%

INCREASED 1-9%: 29.5%

STAYED ABOUT THE SAME: 17.9%

DECREASED 1-9%: 14.7%

DECREASED 10-19%: 6.9%

DECREASED 20-29%: 1.1%

DECREASED 30% OR MORE: 0.6%

GIVING WAS AT THE SAME LEVEL OR ABOVE FOR 77 PERCENT OF THE CHURCHES REPORTING; GIVING DECREASED FOR 23 PERCENT OF THE CHURCHES.

CHURCH LOCATIONS

SURVEYED CHURCHES REPORTED THEY ARE LOCATED IN THE FOLLOWING AREAS:

- AN OLDER RESIDENTIAL AREA IN THE CITY (> 50,000 PEOPLE): 12%

- A DOWNTOWN OR CENTRAL AREA OF THE CITY (> 50,000): 7%

- A NEWER SUBURB AROUND THE CITY (> 50,000): 15%

- AN OLDER SUBURB AROUND THE CITY (> 50,000): 16%

- A CITY OF 10,000 TO 49,999, OR IN AN AREA WHERE A CITY OF THAT SIZE SERVES AS A HUB: 20%

- A SMALL TOWN OR RURAL COMMUNITY (< 10,000): 30%

CHURCH, FLEMING ISLAND, FL

67.4%

SOUTHBROOK CHRISTIAN CHURCH, MIAMISBURG, OH

53.8%

SOUTHEAST CHRISTIAN CHURCH, LOUISVILLE, KY

53.7% THE CROSSING, QUINCY, IL

13.8

FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH, MONTICELLO, KY

11.1

FAIRDALE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, FAIRDALE, KY

11.1

HURON CHRISTIAN CHURCH, HURON, SD

10.5

CLIFTON CHRISTIAN CHURCH, CLIFTON, CO

10.4

PIKES PEAK CHRISTIAN CHURCH, COLORADO SPRINGS, CO

8.6

CORINTH CHRISTIAN CHURCH, LOGANVILLE, GA

10.8

WHITEWATER CROSSING CHRISTIAN CHURCH, CLEVES, OH

9.9

UNIVERSITY CHRISTIAN CHURCH, MANHATTAN, KS

9.8

SUNSET CHRISTIAN CHURCH, SAINT JOHN, IN

14.0

PARKVIEW

CHRISTIAN CHURCH, ORLAND PARK, IL

13.9

COMPASS CHRISTIAN CHURCH, CHANDLER, AZ

12.0

JOURNEY CHRISTIAN CHURCH, APOPKA, FL

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I saw a cartoon that pictures a church membership class. The teacher is showing a diagram titled “Churches and Christian Movements Throughout History.” On the left side of the chart a dot is labeled “30 AD,” representing the first church. To the right of that is a large tree of many successive generations of Christian movements. The teacher is pointing to a place further out on the tree and says, “So this is where our movement came along and got the Bible right.” A student responds, “Jesus is so lucky to have us.”

I'm embarrassed to say that I can remember teaching like this in my early days of ministry.

The historical landscape of Christendom is messy. Clearly, God is grieved to see so many divisions, schisms, factions, sects, and denominations. The problem is not in pointing out the splintering divisions and showing how different denominational groups have emerged from the church founded on the Day of Pentecost shortly after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension. The problem is casually pointing out disunity within the church without having a Christlike passion to pray for and work toward advancing oneness.

To say, “Jesus is so lucky to have us!” is indicative of the kind of pride we far too often have within our hearts. Arrogance prevents us from pursuing oneness with other Christians, and pride blinds us to our need to become more like Christ.

Praying for and pursuing unity should not be a peripheral matter. After all, it was, and is, a big deal to Christ.

Jesus said,

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (John 17:20-23).

Paul similarly emphasized,

Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all (Ephesians 4:3-6).

Flowing Together or Apart?

The natural flow of God’s Spirit will lead us to pursue oneness with God and one another. Conversely, when we flow away from God’s Spirit, the result is disunity and disorder.

Jesus said, “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them” (John 7:38).

Therefore, Paul wrote, “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25).

When a Spirit-filled believer devotes themself to Christ, it’s like they are riding on rivers of living water that flow together and into God’s presence. Our human tendency is not like this, however. It’s more common that we flow apart into separate streams.

It’s like the geographical phenomenon known as river bifurcation or divergent waterway systems. This occurs when a single stream separates into two or more streams that continue downstream. These rivers and streams further divide and form more rivers and streams, which in turn can separate and form even more. Eventually, a complex network of distributaries called deltas is formed.

Interestingly, these complex distributaries and deltas look very much like the diagram in the cartoon I described at the beginning of this article.

The opposite phenomenon, known as convergence or confluence, occurs less frequently within waterway systems. A confluence occurs when two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. Confluences occur where a tributary joins a larger river, where two rivers join to create a third, or where two separated channels of a river, having formed an island, rejoin downstream.

Looking at the divergent reality of Christendom today, and particularly the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement (to which I can trace my spiritual ancestry), it is clear to me our Lord would want us to pray for a confluence to occur within the church of Jesus Christ.

Past Efforts to Pursue Unity

Thomas Campbell—the first leading voice of the StoneCampbell Movement—shared this conviction in his famous Declaration and Address:

1. The Church of Christ upon earth is essentially, intentionally, and constitutionally one; consisting of all those in every place that profess their faith in Christ and obedience to him in all things according to the Scriptures. . . .

2. Although the Church of Christ upon earth must necessarily exist in particular and distinct societies, locally separate one from another, yet there ought to be no schisms, no uncharitable divisions among them. . . . And for this purpose they ought all to walk by the same rule . . . and to be perfectly joined together in the same mind. . . .

In the early 1800s, a major confluence of streams came together to rekindle the fires of back-to-the-Bible, New Testament Christianity. Sadly, this rekindled unity movement succumbed to the pressures of history and later divided into separate branches. (On top of that, the gross error of dehumanizing, enslaving, and mistreating fellow imagebearers who were Black left a legacy of pain and injustice for generations.)

Some say it is best to refer to the different branches of Christian movements as streams rather than branches because branches are more rigid than streams. When branches are bent, they can break, whereas streams do not.

Using waterways as a metaphor to describe the complex divisions within the body of Christ can perhaps renew our faith that Jesus’ prayer for unity can indeed be realized in our day. Jesus still wants oneness. He still desires the many divergent streams of his people flow back together. Christian unity is a great witness to a seeking world.

Because Jesus prayed for unity, so should we.

When we give up praying for unity, we also give up making every effort to pursue unity. That’s why we need to imitate the heart of Christ and pray for Jesus’ church to be one.

Pursuing Unity Today

The good news: Christ followers all around the world have not stopped praying Jesus’ John 17 prayer. God’s Spirit is still moving. The mighty flow of the Spirit is still connecting and reconnecting different streams. The mighty flow of the Spirit is still moving amongst God’s people.

In the past couple decades, I have been an eyewitness to the confluence of separate streams and the convergence of different people groups within the body of Christ. I have too many stories to share for this short article, but I will share one that is dear to my heart.

One of the great honors of my life was to work alongside my friends Ken Meade, Joe Wilson, Jennifer Taylor Johnson, Dyke McCord, and others on the planning committees for the Eastern Christian Conference in Hershey, Pennsylvania, in 2017.

For five decades, the ECC had served as a great rallying point for churches in the Northeast—especially for congregations within the independent Christian churches/churches of Christ.

As in previous years, Christians had come together to share ideas and new strategies and to connect with others for great fellowship.

In 2017 our planning committee settled on the theme “More to Restore.” The big idea of the conference: God was not done renewing his people and restoring his church. God has always been and still is in the restoration business of calling his people to himself and calling his church to represent Jesus’ love to the world.

Our team shared the conviction that we as modernday Christ followers should not be satisfied with our past pursuits of unity and restoration. Instead, we should urgently acknowledge that Christ’s church still

has unfinished kingdom business. Clearly, we have more to restore!

That rare phenomenon of a confluence of different streams would come together at the conference. The conference’s keynote speakers were from several streams of the Restoration Movement: Drew Sherman, Bo Chancey, Brian Jones, and Ben Cachiaras (independent Christian churches), Jeff Walling (churches of Christ and Christian churches), and Kevin and Tracena Holland (International Churches of Christ).

As for me, I had connections with all the streams. I was raised within the a cappella churches of Christ. In college, I was actively involved in ministering to students as an outreach ministry of Macomb Church of Christ. In the 1990s I was ordained and appointed as an evangelist within the International Churches of Christ congregation in Chicago. And, since the mid2000s, when I “discovered” the independent Christian church stream of the Restoration Movement, I have been closely connected with them.

I share the dream of past reformers and restorers for God’s church in our generation to converge into the united flow of his spirit—the Jesus stream.

I want to encourage you to pray Jesus’ John 17 prayer for oneness so that the world may know the love of God and the good news about Jesus.

Jesus is not so lucky to have us . . . We’re so blessed to have Jesus! 

Daryl Reed serves as lead minister of DC Regional Christian Church in the Washington, D.C., area. dcregional.org

/daryl.reed

@DCRCCMedia

Pray for the unity of the church. If Jesus prayed for the unity of all who would believe in him through the apostles’ message (John 17:20-26), how dare we not pray for it as well? Pray for Christians you know from various backgrounds. Pray for the “tribes” other than your own. Don’t pray for them to change but for God to let you love them.

Repent of any “tribal elitism” in your own history and heart. Everyone seeks for and (probably) finds a group of churches where they feel comfortable. So, your tribe believes the solid biblical view is X about the millennium, Holy Spirit, worship, baptism, or female pastors. Excellent. But please don’t think it would be impossible for you to be mistaken. We all have blind spots. And if you are correct on everything, the rest of us will more likely be able to learn from you as a humble person rather than as someone sitting in judgment on us from a posture of perfectionism.

Refuse to caricature or make fun of others. Do you know someone who is “ultrafundamentalist” or “super-liberal”? Know any jokes about Catholics, Baptists, or Presbyterians? Are you good at imitating Pentecostals or health-and-wealth advocates? It doesn’t have to be limited to religion. The act of making fun of males/females, Blacks/Whites, Southerners/Northerners, and gays/lesbians dehumanizes them and drives a wedge between you and them that prejudices them (perhaps forever) against your Savior.

Make Jesus the center of your thoughts. Don’t read the Bible to find a novel argument or to answer someone’s position. Read it to grasp the flow of the great story of redemption that leads to Jesus of Nazareth. The more you learn of his lifestyle, teachings, and way of relating to others, the more the indwelling Spirit will imprint his very likeness on you. Jesus saves you, not your scholarship or ability to play Bible trivia and/or win arguments with your neighbors or family members.

Look for evidence of God’s activity in others. Buzzards fly over thousands of acres of pasture or cropland only to zero in on a rotting carcass. I can fall into that temptation with groups or individuals. If you see what appears to be the fruit of the Spirit in someone’s life, affirm and nurture it with everything in you. Don’t discourage or alienate someone by zeroing in on the wrong in her thinking or the failure in his life. Because you have received grace upon grace, pass it along to others.

Affiliate with a church that exalts Jesus by a strong and healthy focus on Holy Scripture. “Brand loyalty” used to characterize people in buying cars or appliances. Most people now look for the best value. There is not much “tribal loyalty” left in religion either. The issue is not the name on the sign but the consistent call to the Word of God, faithful exposition of its content, and Jesus at the center of all things. Be faithful in supporting that church with affirmation, money, and time.

Study what the Bible says about love, acceptance, and reconciliation. These are “doctrines” of the church—just as baptism, the Lord’s Supper, evangelism of the lost, and compassion for the needy are doctrines. No, love doesn’t cancel your obligation to believe and live the truth of the gospel. But your doctrinal soundness is incomplete without a commitment to breaking down the barriers that have worked to fragment his people. The pursuit of the unity for which Christ prayed begins in love for one’s neighbor that allows respectful conversation that can lead to either agreement or a grasp of the other’s point of view. Difference is not deviance, and diversity is not an alternative word for disunity.

Take “baby steps” toward reconciliation and unity. Ultimately, the unity of the church is not achieved by some sort of institutional realignment or by the establishment of a new, larger entity into which two or more smaller ones may merge. Unity is first and foremost among people. When intelligent and sincere people have an honest disagreement that does not deny an orthodox confession of Jesus Christ, their ability to treat one another as brothers and sisters is a testimony to the power of the gospel to be reconciled to one another. Maybe your “baby step” is to work with Nazarenes, Catholics, and Methodists at a nonprofit homeless shelter or crisis pregnancy center. Maybe you need to cross a racial-ethnic barrier by having a neighbor family in your home for dinner. Find out where a Bible Study Fellowship or Community Bible Study group is meeting and sign up for the next unit of study.

Know that deep convictions are necessary to unity. There is no authentic unity among people who don’t really care about these things beyond what is “true for me.” A relativistic view of truth is simply a don’t-really-care posture. Our diversity of personalities, understandings of Christian doctrine, and worship preferences should not divide us into warring tribes. Even if we grant that denominations form around interpretations of certain primary doctrines (e.g., infant baptism by Presbyterians vs. adult baptism by Baptists, affusion by Methodists vs. immersion by Churches of Christ), surely there is a point at which we must stop the fracturing. The kingdom of God is not one-dimensional, and there are too many evidences in Scripture that wide spans of difference are supposed to enrich rather than destroy us. The dull homogeneity of enforced agreement is a poor substitute for the rich tapestry of color, ethnicity, gender, and interpretation among Christ followers.

Don’t be bullied by others’ narrowness. If you choose to seek peace and pursue it, someone will criticize you for it. You will be accused of compromise, although you have not abandoned a distinctive point of view; you will be called liberal, for you have extended your love to someone with whom you do not agree. Pray for your critic rather than abandon your attempt to “keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” Without condescending or quarreling with your critic, draw your circle large enough to include both that person and those he or she cannot accept. It is God’s will to present the broken fragments of the church to the world in visible unity for the sake of answering the prayer of Jesus. 

This list of 10 practices was adapted with permission of the author from a handout at Harbor: The Pepperdine Bible Lectures.

Rubel Shelley serves as teaching minister at Harpeth Hills Church of Christ in Brentwood, Tennessee, and as Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Lipscomb University in Nashville.

When asked about the key to his success, Dick Clark, of American Bandstand fame, replied, “I don’t set trends. I just find out what they are and exploit them.” Worrying about trends can get you into trouble. So can ignoring them. At the least, it seems wise for church leaders to strive to be like the men of Issachar “who understood the times and knew what Israel should do” (1 Chronicles 12:32). In this spirit, I was asked to consider how we might understand and respond to the rising trends noted in “A ‘Postdenominational’ Era: Inside the Rise of the Unaffiliated Church,” a November 2022 article by Tracy Simmons posted at religionunplugged.com.

The trend is undeniable: Churchgoers are leaving denominational churches, and denominational churches are leaving denominations. One result is that in a time when there is understandable concern about the state of Christianity and church attendance in the United States, nondenominational churches are booming.

Between 2010 and 2020, nondenominational churches expanded by 2 million attendees and 9,000 congregations, according to the 2 020 U.S. Religion Census (www.usreligioncensus.com). Nondenominational churches now constitute the third-

largest religious group in the country after Catholics and the Southern Baptist Convention.

I recently consulted with an Evangelical Covenant Church that for years has operated on its own and is now considering officially cutting ties with their denomination. They are wary of the denomination’s direction and do not think the benefits of affiliation outweigh the pursuit of independence. Hundreds of Southern Baptist churches have changed their names, distanced themselves from the SBC, and pursued unaffiliated status.

A 2015 FACT survey reported a whopping 8,000 churches choosing to unaffiliate and become nondenominational, and another 2,000 considering the switch over a 10-year period. In her article, Simmons reported that longtime religion researcher Scott Thumma contends many denominationally affiliated churches functionally operate as nondenominational. Churches are making decisions about doctrinal positions, preaching and teaching content, worship music, and mission focus at the local level rather than looking to denominational headquarters. As the ground erodes for denominations, Thumma concluded we are officially in the postdenominational era.

As a movement historically devoted to a three-legged stool of evangelism, biblical truth, and unity, what response might we have to the swell of people leaving denominational churches and churches leaving denominations?

Mainline congregations account for much of the migration. Between 2000 and 2016, several denominations saw serious declines, including The United Methodist Church (down 16.6 percent), American Baptists (19.31 percent), Evangelical Church in America (30.47 percent), and United Church of Christ (36 percent). An even worse exodus was experienced by the Presbyterian Church USA, which lost over a million members (a 41.28 percent decline) in that same period. Our Restoration Movement cousins, The Christian Churches (Disciples of Christ), saw their membership cut in half (a whopping 49.88 percent drop).

This was all prepandemic. I’m confident the hemorrhage will continue toward its obvious end.

This trend should be no surprise to people whose movement began with founders fleeing the doctrines and constraints of their denominations. Both Thomas and Alexander Campbell discontinued their affiliation as Presbyterians in favor of an expression of faith unencumbered by denominational bonds. As millions follow this same trend today, we are reaping the benefits.

In his column from the January/February 2022 issue of Christian Standard, publisher Jerry Harris reported his research on our own movement of Independent Christian Churches. In roughly the same period as the above declines in mainline denominations, our churches that average 1,000 or more in weekly attendance more than doubled in size. Other churches in our fellowship also grew. In a recent talk on this subject, Tim Liston, lead pastor at New Hope Christian Church in Houston, Texas, said it’s nothing short of amazing what God is doing in our churches.

“I think it’s fair to say that in this 20-year period,” said Liston, “while many other churches and denominations have been in decline, a large segment of Independent Christian Churches were increasing and experiencing nothing short of a renaissance in growth and evangelism.”

What are we to make of these trends? As a movement historically devoted to a three-legged stool of evangelism, biblical truth, and unity, what response might we have to the swell of people leaving denominational churches and churches leaving denominations? I believe we have cause for caution, a reason to celebrate, and an opportunity to capitalize

Causes for Caution and Concern

I see at least three causes for caution or even concern.

First, some of the “growth” in nondenominational churches is the result of sheep swapping. In his book Triumph of Faith, Rodney Stark noted, “As some churches become secularized and decline, they are replaced by churches that continue to offer a vigorous religious message. In effect, the old Protestant Mainline denominations drove millions of their members into the more conservative [fellowships].”

Disagreement with more progressive political and religious views is behind much of the exodus of people who are filling nondenominational churches. The pandemic era saw a massive reshuffling of Christians, as people shifted into churches better suited to their preferences on masks, vaccines, racial issues, and other hot topics. A concern is that if (and when) things resettle, there will be greater homogeneity of like-minded folk clustered together in our congregations, . . . and that would be a terrible development.

We are a unity movement, not a uniformity movement. If the ties that bind us are merely strands of political agreement, racial sameness, ideological alignment, and sociological conformity, the nature of our fellowship will be impoverished and we will lose much of the breadth and beauty Christ intends for his body.

Second, absorbing parishioners who are leaving denominational churches is not the same as kingdom growth. We are a movement committed to evangelism, but sheep swapping—even if it enlarges attendance—isn’t kingdom growth. In fact, growth of this kind can distract from the real mission of seeking and saving the lost. While we are busy welcoming disaffected denominational Christians, we can easily become blinded to the more important and urgent slide of massive numbers of people away from any church at all. No matter how well we may be doing, the American church overall, at least numerically, is losing ground.

A 2020 Gallup poll found the number of Americans affiliated with a church is under 50 percent. Barna has reported that 30 percent fewer people in Gen Z (born 1999–2015) attend church than baby boomers (born 1946–1964).

What does it profit us to gain the whole world of exiting denominational Christians and lose the souls of the next generation? Swapping fish from one tank to another is not the same as being fishers of men and women. It’s wonderful to welcome unaffiliated people and churches, but the command of Jesus is to make disciples, not merely transfer them.

A third caution is that a glaring common denominator in declining churches is a shifting doctrinal stance on foundational issues. It seems obvious the mainline churches’ dedication to their ideology has contributed to the exodus and weakened their witness.

It is generally unhelpful to apply labels, but the facts are in: Over a lengthy span, churches that are growing and impacting their communities are doing so not just because they are nondenominational. They are doing so because they are holding to timeless truth by conserving scriptural authority. They are providing hope and answers to real-life problems. They are inviting people into Spirit-filled community and providing avenues of meaningful service, all grounded unashamedly in a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.

We are a people of scriptural authority. The strongest churches will continue to adapt creative methods and models of ministry without waffling on the faith once delivered. Watching massive numbers of people flee churches with loosened theological moorings should inspire us to continue to devote ourselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of break and to prayer. (See Acts 2:42.)

Reasons to Celebrate

But we have much to celebrate! As a result of the disaffiliation of congregations from their denominations and people leaving their denominational churches, we are experiencing “an invisible renaissance in our movement.” As Jerry Harris stated in his column from January/February 2022, “I don’t think there has been a time in our movement when we have experienced anything quite like this; the only era that might be comparable was the start of the Restoration Movement during the Second Great Awakening (the early 1800s).” Many people are hungry for a spiritual home that looks exactly like the churches we are trying to be!

A Time to Capitalize

In short, this means it is time to capitalize on the trends. We are precisely the kind of nondenominational church many people are seeking. To capture them for Christ means we must ruthlessly focus on mission, not maintenance.

When I teach on the Restoration Movement, I first assign some reading, and then I ask students to describe the vision in 15 words or less. Students usually say something like, “Basic Christians clinging to Jesus, Scripture, and one another to reach the lost.” Not bad. And that is precisely what people exiting denominations are craving. That is the very expression of Jesus-shaped community that has capacity to connect with disillusioned, deconstructed, disaffiliated Americans. A cultural ripeness and spiritual receptivity exists right now for the simple expression of New Testament Christianity our churches are built for.

As more churches seek to unaffiliate from their denominations, we must be ready to welcome them into the fold of our fellowship, as several have done in recent years. Some churches who pull out of their denomination will mistakenly believe the best alternative is to go it alone, pursuing radical independence with no ties to anyone. But every church is part of “The Church” and needs to be aligned, accountable, and partnered with others in tangible ways. What they need is a tribe. That’s a trend we should capitalize on by entering conversations with churches that will otherwise become lone silos.

I find it deeply ironic when I hear Christian Church insiders who seem down on the Restoration Movement. They have a negative impression or have grown tired of our weaknesses; for whatever reason, they are embarrassed and feel they have “outgrown” us.

And then I speak with pastors of unaffiliated churches whose congregations are truly untethered to a denomination or any group at all. They are almost always lonely, isolated, and frustrated. They are starved for fellowship, fresh ideas, and support. They can find training and seminars, but they struggle with sustaining relationships with Christians who can walk through life with them. They can attend conferences, but they lack colleagues.

When they see the rich fellowship of pastor groups of which I am a part, and witness the wealth of camaraderie in the relational web of our tribe . . . when they see the growth of our churches, the effectiveness of our global missions (like Missions of Hope International in Kenya), made possible by many independent Christian churches voluntarily partnering for greater impact . . . when they see the effectiveness of our church planting, the health of our young people in vibrant CIY gatherings and colleges, I am increasingly asked the same question: “How do I get in?” We need to be ready with an answer . . . and open arms.

The irony reminds me of when Yogi Berra was asked about a popular restaurant. He replied, “Nobody goes there anymore—it’s too crowded.” At the very moment some in our tribe seem to want out, God is bringing many more to the door. They are seeking the very thing our movement offers when we are at our best. Let’s invite them in, as an unexpected but welcome strategy for pursuing the unity and oneness Jesus prayed for.

God is stirring a hunger in unchurched and unaffiliated people. What they need is a tribe. What they need is what we have been at our best: a nondenominational fellowship, a movement of churches bound by relational equity and doctrinal harmony. A tribe providing the benefit of connection with other churches without the bondage of denominational shackles.

We will capitalize on the trend by living the principles of our movement, which offers congregational autonomy on the one hand but missional synergy with others on the other. This means a congregation is free to make its own decisions about how to engage in mission . . . but isn’t left to do it alone. We choose connection, knowing we are truly better together.

We must continue to reward individual creativity and entrepreneurial energy as pastors and churches try new things without being squelched by denominational constraints. At the same time, we must continue sharing innovative “best ministry practices” through opportunities such as Spire Network, ICOM, Exponential Conference, and many other national and local gatherings.

Restoration Movement founder Barton Stone baptized Samuel Rodgers, who rode on horseback to an area near Baltimore and gathered a group of Christians from the region. He urged them to unite as one. The thinking was, “You don’t need all these denominations. Come together as one church.” And they did. The result was the beginning of Mountain Christian Church in 1824. What God orchestrated 199 years ago, he now seems to be orchestrating in our own time. As Tim Liston recently shared in a presentation to a group of pastors, “What a great time to be part of the Christian Church!” 

Ben Cachiaras serves as lead pastor of Mountain Christian Church, Joppa, Maryland.

The unfortunate consensus in the United States demands that our leaders come across as having all the answers. Whether politicians or preachers, we expect them to have perfect wisdom even if we know it’s an impossible ask. I can’t imagine a politician getting elected on a platform of humility and a willingness to learn even from political opponents. When it comes to preaching, we tend to expect more answers than questions from our pulpits. “Give us this day our daily truth, lead us not into contemplation, and deliver us from mystery.”

In such a culture, it is no surprise division is ubiquitous. When opinions must be presented as certainties, there is no room for healthy dialogue. When I must prove my competence by making others appear incompetent, I preclude the possibility of unity. When pride prevails, division is inevitable.

Perhaps this is why Jesus insisted that his followers be people of humility. This teaching is particularly prevalent in the second half of Mark. Throughout the first half of that Gospel, discipleship appeared to be a pathway to power and glory. But after breaking the news that he was leading them to the cross (Mark 8:31), Jesus led them through an intensive course on humility.

The course included lectures, object lessons, and the ultimate demonstration of humility. Topics included denying self (Mark 8:34-35), the last being first (9:35; 10:31), welcoming children (9:37; 10:14), receiving the kingdom as children (10:15), and greatness taking the form of servanthood (10:42-44). All these lessons occurred as Jesus drew nearer to the cross, culminating in the words, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (10:45).

Mark’s Gospel implied that Jesus uttered these words near the Jordan, perhaps in view of the very place he was baptized—nearly the lowest place on the face of the Earth. Even the geography of the narrative seemed to assist in the lesson of humility. Jesus made it quite clear—his followers must be people of humility.

When early Restorationists called for a return to the New Testament for the sake of unity, true unity proved

elusive. We caught glimpses of it when Barton Stone affirmed the activity of the Holy Spirit at Cane Ridge— recognizing a unity that transcended his intellect. We saw it when Alexander Campbell acknowledged, “It is the image of Christ the Christian looks for and loves,” thus conceding a spiritual unity not dependent upon doctrinal perfection.

Unfortunately, these whispers of unity were difficult to hear over the roaring demands for intellectual and liturgical conformity. The water in every stream of the Restoration Movement is murky because of the mudslinging and all-out battles that have taken place upriver. And even now, we muddy the waters for those below.

What we need is not just a return to the New Testament, but a return to Jesus. Not a doctrinal return, but a homecoming of the heart. We need to remember that we are students of the Rabbi. We need to observe his ways and follow. Instead of jockeying for doctrinal dominance, we must seek to serve. We should view every human— whether an uneducated child or an esteemed scholar— as a potential teacher. We need to sit at the feet of Jesus to hear him lovingly rebuke us again:

You’ve observed how godless rulers throw their weight around . . . and when people get a little power how quickly it goes to their heads. It’s not going to be that way with you. Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave (Mark 10:4245, The Message).

The Restoration Movement has much to offer the broader Christian community and the world. But until we learn to sit and eat at the same table with our own family, I’m afraid the Restoration Plea will go largely unnoticed. We can’t be a family until we come to the Lord’s table, take the bread, take the cup, and don’t forget the humble pie. 

Adapted from an article that originally appeared in the Common Grounds Unity newsletter, August 2022.

Drew Baker serves with New Story Church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Why is unity so important in the Restoration Movement and in the global church? To answer this question, Christian Standard spoke with three Christian leaders who are actively working to promote unity among Independent Christian Churches, noninstrumental Churches of Christ, and the broader evangelical world.

Victor Knowles is the founder and president of Peace on Earth Ministries (POEM), an organization he created with his wife, Evelyn, in 1992. He is the editor of One Body magazine and the author or coauthor of more than a dozen books, including Together in Christ

John Teal is president of Common Grounds Unity, a group committed to “creating spaces for Christians to gather, so that God may be revealed in us and among us.”

Jeff Walling is director of the Youth Leadership Initiative at Pepperdine University. He preached at Churches of Christ in California and North Carolina and has spoken to groups representing all branches of the Restoration Movement for more than 20 years.

These three leaders provided their insights and personal convictions on Christian unity, while regularly pointing back to Jesus.

“As we consider that the Stone-Campbell Movement began as a ‘unity effort,’” Teal said, “it is crucial for us to regain and reenvision the dream of Jesus and our founders.”

Answering Jesus’ Prayer

All three leaders agree that unity should be a priority in the church because it was a priority for Christ.

“The founder of the church purchased it with his own blood,” Knowles said. “How can anyone read his prayer for unity in John 17 and just walk away from it? The goal of unity is to be one so that we can present a visible and credible example to the world around us.”

Teal agreed. “Jesus said that unity is part of the mission—so the world may know!”

Walling also cited John 17 as the primary reason for unity in the church, and then he added a unique perspective.

“I’ve asked Jesus for plenty of stuff through the years. The one thing he asked the Father in prayer was that all those who believe in him through the message may be one, ‘just as you are in me and I am in you.’ It’s rare that we get to work on answering a prayer of Jesus, but this is one tiny way to do so.”

Though they have spent much of their lives in ministry pursuing and promoting unity, these three men found their callings in very different ways.

Knowles, who grew up in Christian Churches, married a woman from the noninstrumental Churches of Christ. When Victor and Evelyn were married in 1967, Eddie DeVries, the founder of Nationwide Youth Roundup, told them they had “come to the kingdom for such a time as this.” DeVries’s words were prophetic, as Victor Knowles has spent more than 50 years working for Christian unity.

Walling served as a youth minister in a cappella Churches of Christ and gained popularity as a speaker for rallies and events. Years ago, he unknowingly agreed to speak at a conference hosted by instrumental Churches of Christ and was amazed at the passion he saw in the students as they worshipped.

Teal recalls becoming a Christian in a congregation that “held rather exclusive views of who was in and out.” He adopted those views and continued to do so “even after attending Great Lakes Christian College—which was not exclusive or legalist.” He gained a new perspective when he learned that founders of the Stone-Campbell Movement did not hold those “exclusive” views.

“I began to see the dysfunction that resulted from sectarian views and attitudes,” Teal said. “I saw the damage it did to my soul and the hearts of others. Legalism is and has always been unsustainable and will always collapse. I now believe life and freedom can be found at the center where Jesus is and not at the arbitrary walls we have created to determine who is in and out. That job belongs to God and not to me.”

The Goal of Unity

What, then, is the objective of Christian unity? “The goal,” Walling said, “is that we are able to treat each other like family.” All three men spoke of unity by referencing love, grace, and the heart of Jesus.

“I am less concerned about what it looks like than I am about the thoughts and attitudes of my heart,” Teal said. “I am concerned with the heart of Jesus: ‘I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know,’” he said, quoting John 17:23. “Defining the boundaries of the church universal belongs to God and not me.”

Knowles expressed a challenge to follow the example set by Christ.

“Jesus said, ‘Love one another, as I have loved you.’ Jesus loved his disciples even when they disappointed him. Unity looks like the Father and the Son. Music, of all things, should never divide us.”

It’s very important to avoid legalism and judgment, all three agreed.

“God sits in the judgment seat,” Walling said. “If anything, I’m going to err on the side of grace. I’m going to assume you’re my brother in Christ, my sister in Christ loved by God until somehow you prove I’m wrong.”

Teal shared a similar viewpoint (while also being careful to stress he is not a universalist).

“I have deep convictions about biblical teaching about life and doctrine. There are things I wrestle with deeply, but I have determined to leave my judgmental attitude behind,” Teal said “Twenty-five years ago, I firmly held to legalistic sectarian views. It has taken many of those years to untangle these deeply embedded attitudes. I once heard a sermon in which the preacher said, ‘We have to know who is in and out.’ I’m afraid I have to disagree! Moreover, I am confident that this knowledge belongs to God, not me.

“As to the goal of unity,” Teal continued, “I choose unity because it is central to the heart of Jesus. It is central to the biblical narrative from Genesis to Revelation. We broke unity with God and each other in the Garden, and God’s story captured in inspired Scripture is about his love and patience in calling us back—to be reconciled to him and each other. Therefore, I embrace a concept that Dallas Willard championed, that we ‘abandon the outcomes to God.’”

Working for Unity

The three men interviewed for this article have together spent nearly a century working for unity in the church.

Troubled by the divisions he was seeing in the second half of the 20th century, Knowles wrote an article called “Division—The ‘Acceptable’ Sin” in 1976. It caught the eye of Don DeWelt at College Press, who asked Knowles to edit a new journal called One Body, which features writers “from both sides of the keyboard.” Knowles has been the publication’s only editor since its inception in 1983.

Knowles and DeWelt also worked together on the Restoration Forum, which began in 1984 and continued until 2007. Thousands of leaders from all over the country— instrumental and noninstrumental—attended those three-day forums. Knowles’s book on unity, Together in Christ: More Than a Dream, was published in 2006, the 100th year of the division of the noninstrumental and instrumental churches.

T hrough Common Grounds Unity, Teal helps arrange local and digital gatherings “to bring Christians from the various streams together in closer proximity.” Under his leadership, the organization that started in 2018 has grown rapidly and now supports groups meeting on four continents.

After his first experience speaking to an audience of students who worshipped with instruments, Walling continued to preach to both Christian Church and Church of Christ groups. He eventually worked with Christ In Youth and served on the organization’s board of directors. Notably, Walling spoke at the North American Christian Convention in 2006. On a personal level, Walling encouraged his home Church of Christ in Southern California—a congregation his father started—to relaunch with instrumental worship. Many of his siblings, some of them in their 80s, attend the new church.

The Next Steps

Walling noted that it’s difficult to prescribe specific steps toward unity in the Restoration Movement “because our movement prizes autonomy.” In his view, “some of our institutions need to be taking the lead in helping us— specifically Christian schools and universities.”

Christian ministries, and not just churches, he said, have a responsibility to provide “some influence and opportunities and points of contact just like Common Ground Unity is doing.”

Walling also encourages churches to participate in “pulpit swaps.” He has had positive experiences preaching for churches in other branches of the Restoration Movement. Annual pulpit swaps demonstrate genuine commitment to unity, he said. “It’s one thing to let ‘them’ come to our church. It’s another thing to say, we’re going to give them the pulpit and let them open God’s Word and teach us.”

“Unity begins with relationships that can grow and nurture over time,” Teal added. “I believe the local congregation is indispensable for maturity in Christ. But we need spaces where we can experience Christian unity outside the boundaries of our particular tribes. Something remarkable happens when we break bread or share a cup of coffee!”

Like his co-laborers Teal and Walling, Knowles offers practical suggestions for people or churches committed to pursuing unity, while acknowledging there isn’t just one solution. In Together in Christ, Knowles suggested 10 steps for fostering unity between Independent Christian Churches and Churches of Christ (see sidebar).

Reaching the World

Ultimately, unity in the church is much larger than just the Restoration Movement. In faith and humility, Christian Churches and Churches of Christ can work to truly unite the body of Christ. Walling said, “I believe the Restoration Movement continues to have something wonderful and something especially timely to offer our world today. We’re in a wonderful position to bring a simple Christianity to a generation that is known to be sick of organized religion or ‘big church’ or whatever you want to call it.”

This work of unity, of course, is significant not just in this life but in the life to come. As Knowles put it, “We are all going to stand before God someday. I want to be able to say, ‘Father, I did my best to answer your Son’s dying prayer: That they all may be one . . . that the world may believe.’”

More effective evangelism, deeper discipleship, and greater love continue to drive the men who were interviewed for this article and many others like them who are seeking unity in the church. “Nothing that divides us can be more important than the blood that was shed to make us one,” Knowles said (quoting Dr. Thomas A. Langford). 

Justin Horey is a writer, musician, and the founder of Livingstone Marketing. He lives in Southern California.

Q+A Question

Why is unity particularly important in the Restoration Movement?

Answers

We went from one rolling river to three separated streams. And each of those streams have since branched off and flow apart as who-knows-how-many distributaries. Carl Ketcherside said the main reason we divided is because we stopped loving one another. Love has kept Evelyn and me together for 55 years. Love never fails. Love should never flail, either.

Victor Knowles

The Stone-Campbell Movement had an incredible influence on the church in America. If I am not mistaken, it is the first nondenominational movement in America. Sectarianism only diminishes our impact and influence. Our founding principles give us a unique position to have a significant impact if and when we discard the negative narratives holding back our witness to the broader church and the world. Unity is crucial because it is central to the gospel itself.

John Teal

In the Restoration Movement, we agree on 99.95 percent of the theology, and we’ve spent all of our time talking about the [other] 0.05 percent. The same could be said, quite frankly, about a number of movements and the Restoration Movement. We don’t argue over activism, we don’t argue over the validity of Scripture or the divinity of Jesus or so many other things. When I speak in an Independent Christian Church or an International Church of Christ or a Church of Christ, I can preach the same lesson at any of those three churches without a moment’s concern. If we can’t seek unity within the Restoration Movement, how will we seek Christian unity in the evangelical Christian realm?

Jeff Walling

Question

What do you see as the greatest roadblock(s) to unity?

Answers

Ignorance, isolation, and insulation. I’m still amazed that after all these years, we still don’t know each other. We have so many “myth-conceptions” about each other. We have practiced isolation, which only breeds more ignorance. Pride and fear also enter in. And protectionism.

Victor Knowles

One of the most significant roadblocks to unity is institutional Christianity in place of a transformative relationship with God. Our Western context can distort what Jesus intended and replace it with systems and institutions whose primary purpose is to protect and maintain the organization. To borrow from Dallas Willard, we need “Renovation of the Heart.” We need transforming societies of Jesus! Therefore, I believe Christian spirituality, spiritual discernment, and spiritual formations are crucial to the church’s future. As Robert Carrillo said on our podcast, “The Holy Spirit wants his church back.”

John Teal

Fear. Legalism creates a deep fear that if I make one mistake, my salvation could be gone. People feel that way in a legalistic system about their faith and their relationship [with Jesus]—at least I did, growing up, to be very honest. And right behind fear is pride . . . pride in our heritage, pride in our own family name, pride in our church tribe.

Jeff Walling

STEPS FOR FOSTERING UNITY

1. Get informed. Read each other’s books, blogs, and newsletters.

2. Get acquainted. Start on a friendship level. Invite a friend for lunch. Few people will bite the hand that feeds them!

3. F ind common ground. That which unites us is far greater than that which divides us.

4. Work together. Get your people together and paint a widow’s house or clean up a vacant lot. Neighbors will notice and God will be glorified.

5. Sing together. We sing many of the same songs.

6. Stand together on moral and social issues that affect your community.

7. Respect each other, even if you may not understand or agree on some issues.

8. Pr ay together. On our knees together we will find one essential ingredient to unity—humility.

9. F ind creative ways to worship together. Try meeting together just to read Scripture.

10. Try a joint picnic at a city park. Churches that picnic together will not nitpick with each other!

INERRANCY IS A HILL TO DEFEND TO THE END

My Response

By Jerry Harris

Christian Standard enjoys receiving feedback from our readers. Some of the best comments and letters are printed in our “Interact” section at the back of the magazine. I have personally received both positive and negative comments on articles I’ve written; up to this point, I have never responded, because I believe those viewpoints are also instructive. But when I received this letter from Dr. David Kiger, the librarian at Milligan University, about a phrase I used in a recent column, I knew it was essential I respond. Here is his unedited letter:

Thank you for all [the] work you do to keep the Christian Standard going. It is a flagship publication of our movement, and I am grateful it continues.

I write to voice a concern to the January/February 2023 issue of the Christian Standard. In his “From the Publisher” column, Jerry Harris says, “Doctrinally, the Restoration Movement believes the Bible is the Word of God written by authors inspired by God and inerrant in its original language” (p. 3). The sentiments of this statement are good, but the phrase “inerrant in its original language” is not precise regarding the history of the movement. As such, Harris’s doctrinal affirmation does not represent the ethos of the movement.

Isaac Errett, the founding editor of the Christian Standard, in his Missouri Christian Lectures of 1883, provides a view of Scripture that does not coincide with Harris’s claim. Errett argues against the concepts of inerrancy, infallibility, and even against certain understandings of inspiration. In doing this, he makes the case that human language and capacity to understand are incapable of being inerrant.

Errett says, “Admitting the fact of inspiration, have we in the inspire[d] Scriptures an infallible guide? Are they absolutely free from error? That all truth is infallible needs no proof. But, is the communication of truth, in the inspired Scriptures, absolutely free from error? I do not see how we can answer this question affirmatively, unless we can prove that human language furnishes an absolutely certain method of communication between mind and mind. Nor do I see how this can be proved.”

After Errett gave these lectures, Bro. James McGarvey offered a counter argument, which is recorded in the Missouri Christian Lectures.

In response to McGarvey, Errett noted, “To make this matter unmistakably clear, I ask Bro. McGarvey, Is this volume—King James’ Version—the infallible word of God? He answers, No. Is the Revised Version, or the American Revised Version, or any other English version, the infallible word of God? No. Is the Vulgate, in any of its editions? No. Is any existing Greek text entitled to this distinction? No . . . we affirm infallibility only in the autographs of the inspire[d] writers. My reply to this is twofold: 1. We have none of the autographs, and a discussion of their infallibility is practically of little value. 2. If we had them, I should still insist, from the inability of human language to convey thought from mind to mind with absolute certainty, that any assertion of their infallibility must be subject to the limitations of the imperfections of human language as a medium of communication between mind and mind.”

Throughout the history of the Stone-Campbell movement there have been and continue to be people who explicitly deny inerrancy and infallibility of the Scriptures. This denial is not rooted in being unfaithful to the Truth, but is rooted in faithfulness to the infinite God who communicates to and through finite humans. What is troubling about Harris’s definition of this “doctrine” of the movement, is that it cuts out many faithful Christians from the movement. The inerrancy of Scripture was not, nor should it be, considered a doctrine in the movement.

In addition, in the Millennial Harbinger, Alexander Campbell denies plenary verbal inspiration, saying, “It would be a great reproach upon the four Evangelists to represent them as believing every jot and tittle of the words of the Messiah and of themselves to have been inspired, when not any two of them narrate the same parable, conversation, sermon, or aphorism in the same words. The ideas and leading terms that represent them may be so regarded, but not every jot and tittle” (Millennial Harbinger 1837, page 397).

What I have personally found most discouraging about Harris’s remark is that this definition of SCM doctrine removes a significant number of faithful people from the movement, including both Alexander Campbell and the founding editor of the Christian Standard, Isaac Errett. The spirit of the “restoration plea” is one of unity around the principles of the New Testament. This unity means there is room for diversity of thought, even around the nature of Scripture (which was still in the process of being formed in the earliest church). Perhaps we ought to consider calling Bible things by Bible names and call the Scriptures “God-breathed, and useful” instead of using divisive and imprecise terms like inerrant or infallible.

Grace and Peace,

David Kiger

Barton Stone, Thomas and Alexander Campbell, Walter Scott, and Raccoon John Smith were clear about inerrancy.

Dr. Kiger’s statement that my words do not represent the “ethos” of the movement does not reflect my understanding of how our movement started, how it has traveled through history, or where it is today. The belief in the inerrancy of Scripture wasn’t unique to the Restoration Movement when it took root; rather, it was the common understanding of evangelicals. Barton Stone, Thomas and Alexander Campbell, Walter Scott, and Raccoon John Smith were clear about inerrancy.

Barton Stone in the first issue of The Christian Messenger said, “As the Bible alone is acknowledged by all Protestants to be the only infallible rule, by which all doctrines and spirits are to be tried; so by this rule we will honestly try the various, jarring doctrines and spirits, which have done so much mischief in the world, for so many centuries back. Should we be so happy as to find the error, we shall be compelled by our benevolence for man, and love of truth, to expose it to view; and to endeavor to exhibit the doctrine of the Bible, unsullied by the unhallowed touch of man’s wisdom.”

In the compilation of the Millennial Harbinger ’s first 5 years, Alexander Campbell made his appeal for inerrancy. It is titled “Principles of Interpretation” and runs to nearly 100 pages, divided into 33 chapters. He stated, “We regard the apostles of Jesus Christ, as gifted with a full and perfect knowledge of the Christian institution; which entitled them, without the possibility of error, to open to mankind the whole will of their Master, whether in the form of doctrine, precept, promise, or threatening; and as furnished with such a knowledge of the signs of those ideas in human language, as to express this knowledge clearly, accurately, and infallibly, to mankind. . . .

“The Bible is to the intellectual and moral world of man what the sun is to the planets in our system—the fountain and source of light and life, spiritual and eternal. There is not a spiritual idea in the whole human race that is not drawn from the Bible. . . . The Bible, or the Old and New Testaments, in Hebrew and Greek, contains a full and perfect revelation of God and His will, adapted to man as he now is. . . . The words of the Bible contain all the ideas in it. These words, then, rightly understood, and the ideas are clearly perceived. . . .

“The Bible is a book of facts, not of opinions, theories, abstract generalities, nor of verbal definitions. It is a book of awful facts, grand and sublime beyond description. These facts reveal God and man, and contain within them the reasons of all piety and righteousness, or what is commonly called religion and morality. The meaning of the Bible facts is the true biblical doctrine. History is, therefore, the plan pursued in both Testaments; for testimony has primarily to do with faith, and reasoning with the understanding. History has, as we say, to do with facts—and religion springs from them.”

While I could cite many other examples from those who started this movement, for the consideration of space I will leave it with these and our mottoes that reflect the understanding of infallibility and inerrancy of Scripture in their original language.

In the quotes he offers, I believe Dr. Kiger is referring to the developing schism that occurred in the movement with the influence of Modernism, rationalism, and individualism that

migrated from Europe during the latter half of the 19th century. Dr. L.L. Pinkerton in the late 1860s first applied Modernism to the inerrancy of Scripture in the Independent Monthly, a paper he co-edited. W.E. Garrison called him the first liberal among the Disciples. Robert Cave followed it up in 1889 by denying the inspiration of Scripture and Jesus’ resurrection, portraying Jesus as a myth. He was dismissed from his ministry.

I do not dispute that Isaac Errett had a dubious position later in life on inerrancy, but it was rejected by much of the movement. After Errett’s death, Christian Standard took a stand against this influence by firmly rooting itself in inerrancy. In 1884, a year after Errett’s thoughts, The Disciples of Christ started their own paper, The Christian Oracle, which later became The Christian Century.

As the Disciples of Christ moved away from inerrancy and toward Modernism, they lost all understanding of the deity of Christ, the virgin birth, the bodily resurrection of Christ, and miracles. Dr. Martin Marty, church historian at the University of Chicago, wrote at The Christian Century ’s centennial, “The editors saw fundamentalism as a backwoods, over the hill, jerkwater phenomenon that had already outlived its time.”

I would argue that the opposite is true. From 1965 to 2012, The Disciples of Christ was the fastest declining denomination in America; during those years its membership fell 67 percent, from 1,918,471 to 625,252. By 2017, Disciples numbers were at 411,140. It was expected to decline another 50 percent within a decade, and that estimate was made prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On the other hand, Independent Christian Churches, African American Churches of Christ, and Churches of Christ are flourishing (as I’ve detailed before). It’s not hard to see where the lampstands have gone out.

Many authors have written in detail through the years about the subjects of rationalism, Modernism, and individualism, and I would refer to those writers for individuals seeking deeper knowledge of those topics. Some of those scholarauthors would include Jack Cottrell, J.W. McGarvey, and Roger Chambers. (In September 2022, shortly after Dr. Cottrell passed from this life, Christian Standard reposted a 1982 article by him entitled “Inerrancy—Does It Really Matter?”)

In conclusion, I will say that I not only believe inerrancy is a core belief of the Restoration Movement, but it is also essential to an understanding of Christianity and our movement.

Founded in 1866, Milligan University was renamed in 1881 in honor of Robert Milligan, the renowned RM educator and author. In his last book, Commentary on Hebrews, which was completed but not yet printed when he passed away, Milligan’s good friend and colleague J.W. McGarvey wrote a “Sketch of the Author.” He wrote, “. . . but let any man attack the Bible in his [Milligan’s] presence; let Rationalism dare to show its face; or let him be told of some inroad that infidelity was making on the territory of the Lord, and you would see in the twinkling of an eye that the lion within him was not dead but only sleeping.” 

FROM ‘FRINGE’ TO ‘FAMILY’

BY RANDY WHEELER

“What kind of impact could we have on the city of Milwaukee if we had 1,000 millennials who were on fire for Jesus?” Pastor Ken Lock posed this question to a small group of friends as they dreamed about the kind of church they wanted to plant.

In 2018, Evolve Church was born. One year later, Evolve had 1,000 millennials attending who were on fire for Jesus! Then COVID hit, and for the next 19 months the church was locked out of the high school they rented, services went online, and Evolve began to search for a more permanent home.

It turns out, they found more than a physical home. They found a spiritual home with a new family in a movement they had never heard of—the Restoration Movement.

Evolve Church is one of a growing number of independent, Bible-believing churches that were doing ministry on their own—some very effectively—but discovered the joy and benefit of being part of a larger group of like-minded churches. Their pastors are experiencing the joy of new friendships with RM pastors who have mentored them, encouraged them, and prayed with and for them. They are reaping the benefits of shared ideas and iron sharpening iron in this environment, this tribe, where the Word of God is the primary source of guidance. They are thriving in the soil of the Restoration Movement.

X Church in Columbus, Ohio, is another great example. Since being planted over 20 years ago, the church had always said they were “nondenominational and unaffiliated.” Founding

pastor Tim Moore explains, “It was not because we didn’t want to be, but if we ever did it, we wanted to find people who share our same heart and vision for church and reaching people, and if that ever happens, we are open to it.” It wasn’t until 2016 that his church found such people—in the Restoration Movement.

AN APPEALING VISION

What struck both these pastors, and many others like them, is the simple appeal of the Restoration Plea—a return to New Testament Christianity and a desire to break down the walls that divide churches and be united in the cause of Christ.

Tim Moore sees a shared “heart to restore people to God.” He says,

We’ve always been about trying to remove religion, remove religiosity, to remove legalism and restore people to God. Restoring them to the Bible. I think it’s a fresh sense of a New Testament type of church in so many ways. I think at the heart of it though, what I’m drawn to, is that every Restoration Movement pastor I meet, regardless of the kind of flavor or style, seems to have a shared passion for reaching the lost.

When Ken Lock and his team were sitting in his living room in 2018 dreaming of the kind of church they would plant, they knew what they didn’t want. He says,

When we first started, mind you, we were a bunch of church kids essentially. We were millennials, but we were all born and raised in church. And we really had just become tired, fatigued, and . . . depleted with denominational lines [such as], “We’re over here and we believe this and we do this” and “If a person isn’t a part of your denomination, you don’t fellowship with them.” . . . But we were just at a place of, “Man, let’s just go back to the Bible. Let’s go back to the book of Acts. . . . Let’s remove as much fluff as we can and get back to the grounding principles of following Christ.”

Lock let loose a hearty laugh before continuing,

We were young and we were thinking Man, we’re probably the first ones who ever did this. Nobody’s doing what we’re doing. It sounds funny, but we thought we created it! When we heard about the Restoration Movement, we were like, “News flash. There are thousands and thousands of pastors who’ve been doing it for years. An entire movement. And we’re the only ones who hadn’t heard about it!”

A PLACE TO BELONG

The Restoration Movement’s vision of unity around a return to New Testament Christianity is what drew in both Lock and Moore. In it, they found a place to belong—a supportive network of like-minded pastors who accepted them as brothers and poured into them and their ministries.

“I’m really grateful to The Solomon Foundation, not just for the funding, but for bringing us into a tribe and a network,” Moore says. At a pivotal point in his ministry, at his first RM event, Moore met Tim Liston, pastor of New Hope Church in Manvel, Texas, who was speaking there. Liston was born and raised in the Restoration Movement, the son of a pastor, and is an Ozark Christian College graduate. Liston put his arm around Moore and welcomed him into the family.

“I just resonated with what he was talking about,” Moore says. “I talked to him and he said, ‘Give me your phone.’ And he typed his phone number into it and said, ‘Give me a call.’ And ever since then he’s been like a mentor to me.”

Moore listed Restoration Movement pastors like Matt Merold, Clayton Hentzel, Matt Wilson, Barry Cameron, Shannon Lovelady, and many others who have poured into his life and ministry.

“I feel like I have five to ten different people at any given time I could ring up if I wanted to ask questions and they would take my call,” he says. “I didn’t have that before. Just having someone like Don Wilson message me to say, ‘Hey, I believe in you,’ having people do that who’ve been successful in ministry, that means a lot.”

Ken Lock counts Don Wilson, Chris Philbeck, Jerry Harris, and good friend Mark Weigt as major influences from within the Restoration Movement who have mentored him in areas such as church leadership, effective biblical preaching, multisite campuses, and “staying grounded in the core principles and what it is that we believe.”

X CHURCH

X CHURCH

But Lock says it goes beyond ministry; he feels the support personally.

“I look at my dad and other pastors that I’ve seen struggle, just trying to find community, trying to find belonging, trying to find some trusted spaces. God provided me with such a community. There’s always going be somebody saying, ‘How are you doing? How can I pray?’”

UNITY WITH DIVERSITY

In the church extension fund world, churches like Evolve and X church are sometimes called “fringe churches.” They don’t go back generations in the movement. Their pastors didn’t graduate from “our” colleges. They may not check every box on the RM doctrinal checklist, and we may not agree on every church practice or preference . . . but neither did the founders of the movement, and neither do many “generational” RM churches today. But wasn’t one of our movement’s earliest core values, “In essentials, unity; in opinions, liberty; and in all things, love”?

Since moving into their new facility in early September, Evolve Church has grown by more than 1,200 people worshipping weekly. On one Sunday in December, they saw 78 people baptized into Christ; then, the first Sunday in January, 100 more were baptized. Their worship service might be a little more “exuberant” than most RM churches. They may have a different spin on some things in the “opinions” category. But what is more “essential” than passionately living out the Great Commission with which Jesus left us? There we find powerful unity.

THERE’S MORE!

“There are more pastors who need to know about this,” says Ken Lock. “More churches who need this community. If I could be totally honest, I feel bad for those who don’t have access to what I have.”

“This is an incredible secret that other pastors need,” Tim Moore says. “There are pastors who are like I was, floating along trying to figure out how to reach people with the gospel today, but with no real connection or affiliation.”

Friends, we need to spread the word and extend more invitations. Take a nondenominational pastor to lunch this week. Share the vision of the Restoration Movement. Invite him to Spire or Renew or one of the many other conferences led by RM pastors. Invite him into your circle of RM pastor friends.

A recent Christianity Today article noted, “The number of nondenominational churches has surged by about 9,000 congregations over the course of a decade.” What impact would be possible if we simply got back to our Restoration Plea and invited those congregations to join us in unity based on New Testament Christianity, to bring lost souls to Jesus? 

Randy Wheeler serves as vice president and relationship manager with The Solomon Foundation.

TIM MOORE X CHURCH

EVOLVE CHURCH

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LAMENTATIONS

GOD-GIVEN GRIEF

Not all grief is bad. There are redemptive tears. Sometimes hurting helps. The first word in Lamentations is “How” (ekah) We often ask, “How did this happen?” when we are in pain. Lamentations is attributed to Jeremiah, the weeping prophet. It is a tightly woven poetic piece that is read by the Jews in Jerusalem at the Western Wall every week. It starts with lament (1:1-2) and ends with repentance (5:21-22). Students will learn of God’s discipline and punishment as well as how confession of sins and waiting on the Lord helps his people experience his mercy and faithfulness.

JEREMIAH (PART 1)

WARNING: DANGER AHEAD

We see warnings everywhere. Bridge out. Slow down. Don’t drink the water. Warnings even predate the fall of humankind (Genesis 2:16-17). In the perfect Garden of Eden, God warned Adam and Eve against failing to trust his goodness. For the June lessons we are studying the book of Jeremiah, written by the weeping prophet, who also wrote the book of Lamentations, the subject of our May study. Students will learn how Jeremiah was warned about fear overtaking him, how worshipping anything other than God ends in judgment, how relying on a man-made temple is trusting in the wrong thing, and how liars like Hananiah will meet their doom.

INTERACT

LOOKOUT LESSONS A GREAT TOOL

Mike Hannah, Lakeside Christian Church, Springfield, Illinois I have used The Lookout Bible lessons for years to lead a senior group and now a young adult group. I have never thanked you for your efforts and would like to do so now. I am very grateful for Dave Faust’s and Mark Scott’s commitment to the kingdom and hope you are able to joyfully continue your work. The lessons are a great teaching/facilitating tool for sharing his Word. Thank you so much.

DECONSTRUCTION, NO DOUBT

Scott Jacobsen, Mountain View Christian Church, Hamilton, Ontario I have pastoral friends who are in different denominations: We often discuss [deconstruction] and are all saddened to see people leaving the faith and becoming “nothings” in poll questions regarding their faith [“Preparing for Deconstruction,” by Brent Bramer, January/February 2023, p. 54]. This article reads like so many that bemoan deconstruction.

The truth is, yes, there are churches losing members. In Ontario, the only churches that seem to show positive growth are the ones [that] clearly separated from (i.e., disobeyed) the civil government’s command to cease meeting on Sundays. This shutdown of churches meant no Lord’s Supper, no baptisms, no fellowship—for months. These churches have yet to return to their pre-pandemic levels. Our congregation has more than doubled, some have tripled or more. The same churches [that ceased meeting on Sundays] have also shown themselves very compliant in matters of race and LGBTQ behaviours (and these behaviours are mandated by law in Canada).

How does this relate to deconstruction? To a man, the preachers who refused to close down also were known as expositors of Scripture. They answer questions, but never hold doubt in high esteem. They are clear about the responsibility of every human on earth to answer to God and that man must cease their rebellion. In contrast, men like Brian Zahn (quoted in the article) encourage doubt, and he himself has apologised in a video to the LGBTQ community for holding that their behaviour is sinful. . . . Churches are losing members because they attempt to nuance answers to the hard questions into forms that will keep the enquirer happy, or at least in the pew. In the name of keeping the peace we now have rebellion: women pastors (elders), CRT [critical race theory], LGBTQ tolerance or acceptance, vaccine passports for church attendance, and the submission of the church to the whims of civil government.

We have always had “deconstruction”—we used to call it “apostasy.” Jesus answered questions, but he never tolerated challenges to his sovereign authority. The Bible never holds up doubt as a virtue—when it comes to the things of God, doubt is a sin.

Why do we read so many articles like this one that place all the blame on the church? I have answered many questions, and some dislike the answer and walk away. Ought I have changed the answer to make it more agreeable? Do we not take seriously the obligation we all have to submit to Christ’s authority, even when it is contrary to our manner of life? Are all questions innocent and sincere?

I do not deny that many churches place stumbling blocks before those with questions, but each person will have to answer for their behaviour and thoughts. No one will be excused because of a church’s actions.

For space, length, readability, relevance, and civility, comments sent to Interact may remain unpublished or be edited. We do read them all and prayerfully take them to heart. If we publish your comment, we will try to honestly reproduce your thoughts with those considerations in mind. Where we disagree, let’s continue to keep P.H. Welshimer’s words in mind to “disagree without being disagreeable.”

@chrstandard

UNITY IS MADE POSSIBLE BY THE GOSPEL.