The rate at which people are leaving the Churches of Christ denomination accelerated markedly over the past 3-4 years.
The denomination was already losing members and congregations at an astounding rate.
The Churches of Christ shrunk by an average of over 930 adherents a month every single month over the past 18 years.
And about 5 Church of Christ congregations dissolved every month, on average, during that time frame.
Fig. 1: U.S. Church of Christ Congregations, 1990-2017 (Data Source: 21st Century Christian)
New Bad News
The news gets worse: Data released earlier this year by 21st Century Christian, a publisher that tracks Church of Christ demographics, indicates the rate of decrease greatly accelerated over the last 3 years. In that time, the number of Church Christ adherents decreased approximately 5% — by far the largest decrease in Church of Christ history that I could find.
That is over 2000 people departing and over 9 congregations dissolving each and every month, on average, for the last 3 years.
Fig. 2: U.S. Church of Christ Members, 1990 – 2017 (Data Source: 21st Century Christian) (see note re error in 2000 membership number in Notes)
Not in the Same Boat or Even the Same Pond
It is not true that all Christian denominations are shrinking and that the Churches of Christ are simply going through the same thing as others. A great deal of decline in Christian numbers in the United States is due to the decline of the Catholic Church in the wake of sex-abuse and other scandals and of several mainline denominations.
Christianity Today reports that evangelical church numbers, on average, have stayed steady recently. Some have grown long term. The US Assemblies of God (Evangelical), for example, has experienced over 27 consecutive years of growth in adherents.
Good News if You Like Bad News
The news gets even worse: The Christian Chronicle, in an August 2018 article titled “Can Churches of Christ be saved?,” reports that Heritage 21, a foundation established by members of Churches of Christ to help dying congregations achieve renewal or secure a legacy, compared the Churches of Christ to national benchmarks that a denomination should have at least 16% of their congregations as new launches or young congregations (2-10 years) in order for the denomination to be healthy. The Churches of Christ has less than 4% in these categories, with a barely registrable number of church plants and new congregations.
And worse: The number of unbaptized children and youth in the church has likely shrunk by more than 20% since 1990, even more than the overall decline. This means even fewer young people growing up in the church to replace those members who pass away.
Still worse: A traditional source for new Church of Christ members is the colleges affiliated with the Churches of Christ. The Christian Chronicle reports that freshmen in those colleges who identify as part of the Churches of Christ has dropped by over 50% since 1990.
Conclusion
Congregations thus cannot depend on children “born into” the church or on people from Church of Christ colleges to maintain their congregation’s size, much less grow it.
Inviting and recruiting people from outside the Church of Christ tradition is necessary if Church of Christ congregations are going to survive.
What is holding them back?
I am relatively confident that people will join a church that does not have a piano or an organ. We are one of only a tiny number of denominations that completely prohibit women from speaking in the worship assembly — more than 90% of U.S. Christianity does not completely restrict women from speaking in the assembly.
In the 21st century, will people from outside (or even inside) the Church of Christ tradition want to join a church that prohibits women from speaking in the assembly?
No.
Will they want to join a church that discriminates against women based on their sex, prohibiting them from teaching Sunday School to adults and high schoolers?
No.
Will they want their daughters to sit there Sunday after Sunday after Sunday watching and being trained to accept discrimination?
No.
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Postscript
Departing from this tradition of completely prohibiting women from speaking in the worship service, a growing number of Church of Christ congregations, after closely studying scripture in which God asks women to speak to, teach, lead, and have authority over men, in an assembly and elsewhere, no longer completely prohibit women from speaking—from reading scripture, from leading singing, from leading prayer, from helping at the communion table, some from preaching, etc. Most of the colleges affiliated with the Churches of Christ relatively recently lifted their prohibition on women speaking in their chapel worship services, too, and have women preach, etc., there.
An article introduced 10 of those Church of Christ congregations and their published resources. Another article introduce 10 more (there are many more). These congregations saw that it was relatively straightforward to see after studying the Bible that the 2-3 sentences that many rely on to demand women not speak do not, in fact, mean that women are not to ever speak in the worship service.
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Sources and Notes
For a discussion about the relevant scripture, see Steve Gardner, “20 Scripture Passages Telling Women to Speak, Teach, Lead, and Have Authority Over Men in the Assembly and Elsewhere,” AuthenticTheology.com (September 3, 2018).
21st Century Christian: https://www.21stcc.com.
21st Century Christian publishes “Churches of Christ in the United States” approximately every three years. It publishes data sheets at other times, too.
Most all of the data mentioned comes from 21st Century Christian, some directly and some indirectly (see source cites below).
The 930 and 5 are net numbers. For example, if 500 people began attending in a month, 1430 departed.
Base data gathered:
Year Congregations Members Adherents Attendance
1990 13174 1284056 1684872
1994 13013 1260838 1651101
1997 13080 1255834 1647078
2000 13032 1264152 1645645 **
2003 13155 1276621 1656717
2006 12963 1265844 1639495
2008 12846 1255149 1622101 1238766
2009 12629 1224404 1578281
2010 12625 1230391 1585966 1211864 (build date 12-2010)
2011 12447 1209259 1554579 1185781 (build date 12-2011)
2015 12297 1183767 1519251 1159563 (build date 04-2015)
2016 12251 1178976 1511500 1153613 (build date 12-2016)
2018 11961 1126347 1443738 1105498 (build date 06-2018)
Updated 10/30/19: 2018 11955 1125518 1442285 1104486 (build date 12-2018)
Updated 10/30/19: 2019 11926 1116216 1429092 1096301 (build date 10-2019)
** Updated 10/28/19: There was an error (typo) in the 2000 membership number that I listed above until 10/28/19. It duplicated the 1990 membership number (1284056) until then. It thus is wrong on the graph shown in the body of the article. This does not make any material difference to the analysis. I regret the error.
** Updated 10/30/19: Added build-date notes, Updated 2018 numbers, and 2019 numbers for reference. The information in the article is based on the original 2018 number, not the updated 2018 number. Also note that several of the old data sheets are available on the wayback machine at, e.g., https://web.archive.org/web/20150419025817/https://www.21stcc.com/pdfs/ccusa_stats_sheet.pdf
The calculations based on these numbers are approximate — the build month is not consistent for each year.
Congregation, Member, and Adherent data is from these sources:
Bobby Ross, Jr., “Church in America marked by decline,” The Christian Chronicle (Feb. 1, 2009)
Bobby Ross, Jr., “165,000 fewer souls in the pews: Five questions to consider,” The Christian Chronicle (March 2, 2015)
Erik Tryggestad, “Can Churches of Christ be saved?,” The Christian Chronicle (Aug. 29, 2018).
Bobby Ross, Jr., “Christian universities feeling the pinch as Churches of Christ shrink,” The Christian Chronicle (Dec. 26, 2017).
Jay F. Guin, “The 2015 Churches of Christ in the United States, Part 1,” OneinJesus.info (February 2015).
21st Century Christian: https://www.21stcc.com/pdfs/ccusa_stats_sheet.pdf (newest data)
WayBack Machine – 21st Century Christian (https://www.21stcc.com/pdfs/ccusa_stats_sheet.pdf)
Calculations:
| 2018 minus 2000 |
Per year (/18) |
Per month (/12) |
| 1071 |
59.5 |
4.958333 |
Congregations |
| 201907 |
11217.05556 |
934.7546 |
Adherents |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2018 minus 2015 |
Per year (/3) |
Per month |
| 75513 |
25171 |
2097.583 |
Adherents |
| 336 |
112 |
9.333333 |
Congregations |
Christianity Today reports that evangelical church numbers are, on average, have stayed steady. https://www.christiantoday.com/…/is-the…/55989.htm; Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra, “Pew: Evangelicals Stay Strong as Christianity Crumbles in America,” Christianity Today (May 11, 2015). See also https://www.sociologicalscience.com/download/vol-4/november/SocSci_v4_686to700.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3pizmPvmPSseQAU2i2K04lyGc01Cto3PzeC5t7k4-drZKoJxzKNn2OgOk (see Fig. 5 showing evangelical numbers staying steady) (added 5/12/19).
The US Assemblies of God (Evangelical) “has experienced 27 consecutive years of growth in adherents,” up 14.6% 2006 to 2016: https://ag.org/About/Statistics.
The Southern Baptist denomination has seen such decline that Christian Today asks if the denomination is in “terminal decline”— that denomination fell by 2.6% from 1995 to 2017 while Churches of Christ fell by 10.7% from 1994 to 2018 (the closest comparable time frame I could find): Mark Woods, “Is the Southern Baptist Convention in terminal decline?,” Christian Today (June 11, 2015).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Baptist_Convention#cite_note-100
“The Christian Chronicle, in an August 2018 article titled “Can Churches of Christ be saved?” reported …”: https://christianchronicle.org/can-churches-of-christ-be-saved/
“the number of unbaptized children and youth in the church has likely shrunk by more than 20%”: I calculated this number by subtracting the number of members (baptized) from the total number of adherents and calculating decline rate, and I assumed that all the non-baptized adherents are children and youth (I know that not all of them are, but I think it is a reasonable assumption to assume that nearly all of them are).
Calculations: Difference in adherence and members for 1990 is 400816 and for 2018 is 317391. Assume 90% are children and 10% are adults and youth who have not been baptized. , so use 360734 and 285652 for 1990 and 2018 respectively for the number of children. 360734-285652 is 75082, which is 20.8% less than 360734. The percentage decline of children stays the same if assume 70% are children. The decline rate in adherents from 1990 to 2018 is (1684872 – 1443738) / 168482 = 14.3%.
“The Christian Chronicle reports that enrollment at these colleges has fallen by 15% since 1990 and their freshmen who self-identify as part of the Churches of Christ has dropped by over 50%.”: https://christianchronicle.org/christian-universities-feeling-the-pinch-as-churches-of-christ-shrink/
90%: See, e.g., Steve Gardner, “David Lipscomb, Church of Christ Foundational Leader: ‘All the Teaching of the Bible is Against Women Speaking in Public’ (It Gets Worse),” AuthenticTheology.com (April 12, 2018) (discussing evangelical denominations in the main body and in the notes); Pew Research’s religious landscape study, http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/(includes percentages reflected by various denominations). It appears that, of the sizeable evangelical denominations, only three others (the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (1.1%), Presbyterian Church in America (0.4%), and Independent Baptist (2.5%)) begin to approach being as restrictive as the general Church of Christ (1.5%) approach. But, with the possible exception of some Independent Baptist churches, they are not as restrictive a the Churches of Christ (they generally do not prohibit women from leading singing and reading scripture in the assembly, for example.) Notes and sources regarding the larger evangelical denominations are in the David Lipscomb article cited above.
Updated: Fixed typo in opening to say over 930 and about 5 rather than over 1000 and about 6 and made the acceleration clearer by comparison by noting that the denomination has decreased by over 2000 people and over 9 congregations each and every month, on average, during the last 3 years. Noted that CT’s report relative to numbers staying steady is recent (2007, 2015) and that growth in some denominations has been long-term; added postscript and made minor clarifying edits 5.11.19.
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This breaks my heart! I was baptized in the ICOC in 2003 and stopped being a disciple.
By God’s grace I found revival in a group of Sold Out Disciples that called me back to discipleship and to being discipled by a prayer partner.
The answer is in Total Commitment and being Fishing for men by EVERY MEMBER.
The denominational church practices will not save the CoC.
I am a lay minister that was asked to start a remnant group in Johannesburg, South Africa. A trained evangelist with a lot of resources will arrive in July 2019. Please pray for us!
The good news is that we are baptizing disciples and by 31 disciple we will be 10 disciples after starting with just 4 on 1 Jan.
In Him,
Jacques
Hi Jacques, Thank you for your comment. It breaks my heart, too. I think it can be turned around, but it will take willingness to change and work. And thank you for serving as a minister. I will pray for you, as you asked, and may God bless you and your work on God’s behalf. That is great to hear about you all baptizing. Great to hear!
I as a chrisitian woman adhere to the bible and its teaching that i am to be silent during worship. I do not feel discriminated against. It is the way God wanted it to be, how dare you say other wise and we as the church of christ are not a demonination either, by the way! Get your facts straight!
Hi Amy, Thank you for your comment.
Do you not sing during worship? I have not run into anyone who believes that 1 Cor 14:34-35 has its “plain meaning” when read in common English translations.
I hope you can understand that lots and lots of women do feel discriminated against even if you don’t.
You can read the scripture in which God asks women not to be silent in this article, for example: https://authentictheology.com/2018/09/03/20-scripture-passages-telling-women-to-speak-teach-lead-and-have-authority-over-men-in-the-assembly-and-elsewhere/
The (small c) church of Christ is not a denomination but the (big C) Churches of Christ is a denomination. The article on which you comment discusses statistics for the (big C) Churches of Christ denomination.
Thanks again for commenting.
The Church of Christ absolutely IS a denomination, one that made my life a living hell for 20 years. I’m glad I got out of that nightmare of a denomination. These people wonder why their churches are shrinking and dying away. The arrogant, elitist attitudes push people away, not to mention how any slight disagreement is met with, “You CLEARLY don’t read your Bible, I KNOW I’m right and you’re wrong!”
You’re right. I was born into COC and left due to bring treated horribly, and discriminated against because I am a woman. I have PTSD so bad from the things I faced. They claimed to love everyone, but there was no evidence of that. I went Pagan for a while, just because I wanted to be as far from COC as possible. But then I met the Pastor of an Assembly of God church who gave me $20 for gas when my car ran out on the road on my way to work, no questions asked. He just said “Come visit me at BLC sometime! I would love to have more time to know you!” I now have been a member there for 4 years! They’ve done many good works in our community (Thanksgiving meal every year on Thanksgiving that is free to the community, free school supplies/clothes/shoes to the community, and Christmas gifts for needy to name a few). Not a single COC in my state has so much as lifted a finger to help anyone outside of the COC belief. Hmmm… see the trend anyone?
You have no idea what you are talking about. It is evident first because you call the church of Christ a denomination and secondly because you apparently have no idea what the Bible teaches about the role of women in the church. Your lack of respect for Biblical authority is truly sad (Gal. 1:6-9). If you would like to leatn some Bible please contact me at ed.stover4193@gmail.com. i would love to teach you the truth. Ed Stover – Gospel Preacher in the LORD’S church. P.S. Learn the Bible before writing articles like this.
Hi Ed, Thank you for your comment.
The (small c) church of Christ is not a denomination, but the (big C) Churches of Christ (or (big C) Church of Christ) is a denomination. The article discusses the latter.
You, holding yourself out as a gospel preacher, asserting that I (Steve) “have no idea what the Bible teaches about the role of women in the church” and that I (Steve) lack respect for Biblical authority are good examples of why people are leaving the CoC in droves. Minutes– perhaps seconds! — of you looking at my other articles cited in this article would plainly show that neither of your assertions are true. Yet, you hurl them anyway.
People don’t put up with that kind of nonsense anymore. They leave.
And let’s say, Ed, that I don’t know what the Bible teaches about the role of women. Do you think that your approach above is the proper one for someone who doesn’t? Your comment would get an F in any pastoral-care class on the planet.
Don’t get me wrong, there are lots of good, kind, and thoughtful gospel preachers in the CoC, but for some reason there are many too that do as you’ve done here.
And 2000 people left the CoC this month.
Respectfully, I encourage you to rethink the way you are approaching things.
Here’s an article I wrote pointing out what the Bible teaches about the role of women in the church.
Take care, Steve
https://authentictheology.com/2018/09/03/20-scripture-passages-telling-women-to-speak-teach-lead-and-have-authority-over-men-in-the-assembly-and-elsewhere/
Steve, In one way, your article was a comfort to me. First, because we are a congregation that has experienced an uncharacteristic decline in this century. However, we recognize that our stability over the years (our church began in 1951) has come from “Church of Christ” people moving into our area and choosing our church as the best of the tribe. I think that relocation is a big factor in people making the break from our (or any) denomination. A couple of years ago, we finally ended discrimination against women and introduced intstrumental music – both at one service. The other service has remained traditional. I will add two observations to what you have written: Adding instruments will not create growth. There is a question of quality present; just as getting a new preacher won’t change much if he lacks integrity or ability. Second, while discrimination against women may send a negative message to guests, including women in leadership etc. will not make the unbeliever fall down and praise God (1 Corinthians 14:25). We are just removing a barrier (and one that biblically and morally must be removed) so that people will give us a fair assessment. It’s a bit like offering a worship experience in Spanish might increase the number of Latinos who attend one’s church.Finally, I say let’s get rid of the term “role of women” once and for all. It is certainly not biblical, and I think offensive.
Hi Dan, Thank you for your comment.
Congratluations on ending discrimination against women in one of your services.
I agree with you that ending discrimination against women alone “will not make the unbeliever fall down and praise God (1 Corinthians 14:25).
I just have to point out that the context of 14:25 is this: “23 So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and inquirers or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind? 24 But if an unbeliever or an inquirer comes in while everyone is prophesying, they are convicted of sin and are brought under judgment by all, 25 as the secrets of their hearts are laid bare. So they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!””
Note that here it is when the *** whole church *** (men and women) comes together and *** everyone (men and women) *** speaks that an unbeliever falls down, worships God, and says “God is really among you!”
There is more work to do beyond stopping blocking women from actively and fully serving God and others in the assembly, but that is a necessary step to conforming to what God asks in scripture (see link below) and to recovery from our membership decline.
I agree with you that removing that barrier is “one that biblically and morally must be removed.”
Thanks for commenting.
https://authentictheology.com/2018/09/03/20-scripture-passages-telling-women-to-speak-teach-lead-and-have-authority-over-men-in-the-assembly-and-elsewhere/
Yes Dan… let’s change what we believed yesterday for the convenience of today. Who gave you the authority to make those changes? Is it ok with GOD according to CoC interpretation to have two types of services? Which one would GOD go to? Sounds like any other denomination that changes rites & traditions to meet the needs of retention. It is like marketing a product… when buyers wain from a brand a new marketing plan with small (relative) changes to the product. When leaders can no longer control the escape numbers, changes in strategy (interpretation) are run up the flag pole to accommodate retention. GOOD JOB. GOD IS GOING TO LOVE THIS NEW SPIN.
Hi Kyra,
Thank you for your comment.
I would not say that changing one’s belief from “these 2 sentences in the Bible mean we are supposed to discriminate against women” to (a) realizing that those 2 sentences do not mean that we are supposed to discriminate and (b) realizing that lots of scripture tells us not to do so is a change “for the convenience of today.”
The vast majority of people have NEVER themselves actually studied this issue in depth, including closely considering those who have different viewpoints.
The vast majority just went along with it and find it disturbing that they and their congregation might have been doing something very wrong for a very long time.
Sometimes one realizes that one is wrong. This is one of those times.
Which service would God go to? Both of them.
Kyra,
First of all, you misread or misinterpreted my comments. We made changes based on what the Bible really says instead of going with man-made COC traditions. This sentence of yours is very telling: “Is it ok with GOD according to CoC interpretation to have two types of services?” To this question, I say, Who cares?
Second, we did not make the change to reach more people. We made the change because it was the right, biblical thing to do. We kept a traditional service (which I attend, by the way) to honor those who have disagreement on this issue, but wanted to stay with this church. We value unity over uniformity. It’s not really a new spin.
Third, your sarcastic tone does not enhance your argument. Why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? Each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.
Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.
Good points Dan. No amount of change is any guarantee that our churches will grow. Even Jesus acknowledged that some towns would reject the apostles teachings (“shake the dust off your feet and move on”). There is something to be said for making the gospel appealing, and for being culturally sensitive (Titus 2:10 and Acts 17). A return to small house churches along with a return to I Corinthians 14:26 would possibly have a greater impact on “equipping the saints for works of ministry”. Our current system is designed for a few to participate while everyone else sits and observes. If you haven’t read “The Open Church” by Jim Rutz, I highly recommend it.
This is not surprising. As an exer of the Church of Christ denominations for over 10 years now, and founder of many exer groups on Facebook, our numbers increase daily.
The spiritual abuse present in so many of these congregations push people out. Many members are forced out, and then shunned by family and friends still inside of it. In essence, they are killing themselves and yelling at everyone else that it’s all their fault.
I’ve seen numerous members claim the COC does no wrong. That it is “the one true church”. That we (as Exers) “just can’t follow God’s rules and desire sin more.” This is simply NOT true.
These churches are full of corruption, legalism, and man made rules that change at a whim.
Women Exers outnumber men exers 3:1. It’s not just the issue of women inequality in leading the COC, but also men favored when divorce occurs, even when the man is the guilty party in the divorce….that helps drive the women out as well.
The attitudes of members also don’t do it any favors, as are apparent in the comments here. Arrogance, pride, rudeness, dismissal, condemnation, etc…you can see these by visiting MOST COC pages on Facebook or the web. Just read the comments. See how they react to ANY criticisms. (Note: not every member acts this way but it is pervasive and common. Usually the ones who don’t act this way, don’t speak up.)
I highly doubt if the COC will ever recover. And hope it doesn’t. I know so many Exers with PTSD because of what has happened and how they continue to be treated as Exers, by the members who promised they would always love them.
I was told that their love was as deep as the ocean and would always cover me. Once I jumped, I found it was merely a shallow mud puddle and it broke my legs on the way down.
If you’re an exer, there are resources out there to help you heal and start a new journey in life, no matter where that leads you. Come find us.
Hi Amber,
Thank you for your comment.
I’m fortunate to attend a great CoC congregation. Lots of high quality people. Despite that, we currently bar women from speaking in the assembly or from teaching Sunday School to a mixed group (from middle school to adult), though. It is wrong but we do it anyway. It is a puzzle. It is a tradition. I hope we change soon.
I am aware of and have seen what you are referring to elsewhere, though, with the legalism, shunning, etc. I know it happens in other denominations, too, but I am most familiar with it in relation to the CoC since I’ve been a part of it for a long time. And I know what you are referring to re CoC pages on FB or the web, too, re criticism. I’ve been kicked out of several for expressing even relatively moderate views and asking scriptural questions.
Your note that women Exers outnumber men exers 3:1 is interesting. I’m not as familiar with the divorce issue as I ought to be. I am aware of the sort of thing to which you are referring, both in the CoC and elsewhere. Witness Paige Patterson’s (sp?) recent experience at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
I’ve criticized a lot but there are a ton of really good CoC members and CoC congregations. I just returned from the opening session of ElderLink NC, a CoC conference put on by ACU, and it was encouraging. They are out there.
To me, your point that resonates strongest is this one: “Note: not every member acts this way [my note: referring to bad behavior, etc.] but it is pervasive and common. Usually the ones who don’t act this way, don’t speak up.”
This is the real need, I think: We need thoughtful CoC folks to speak up and be courageous. It matters and a lot of good can be done.
Thanks for your response Steve.
In regards to having others speak up more, in my experience with the COC for over 25 years, those that did had a target put on their back and we’re beat down into submission and or silence by the louder voices in control. The few that continued to speak up we’re considered threats and either left on their own (for various reasons, but the most common reason being intimidation) or we’re forced out in a practice known as “disfellowship”.
The very few that were ever able to speak freely and reamin untouched we’re favored person’s, i.e. an elders son or member of a well respected family in the church.
You were taught not to cause division. To be at peace with all men. You were forced into submission, and told what to think and how to interpret the scripture to support their view. If you still disagreed, you were mocked, told things like, “the scripture is very clear….this is God saying this, are you disagreeing with God? You’re twisting scripture! Do not add to or take away from scripture…” Etc. All of which were meant to intimidate you into agreement and silence you.
Yes it is a real problem, and widely ignored, dismissed, or unknown in many congregations. Most members don’t know it happens unless they are involved. They implicitly trust the leaders to tell them the truth about all situations and ask no questions. “If they say bob refuses to repent, he is wrong” the shift of blame always lies on the person and the church is blameless.
If it we’re as simple as the good voices overpowering the bad voices, then that is a minor thing.
There are very serious reasons these churches are dying, and it is much more than a few bad eggs.
Thanks for taking the time to have a discussion and allow me a chance to add my voice to it.
Edit to add: when disfellowship officially occurred, you could not come back until you did as you were told (repent) and until then, the entire church shuns you, including your own flesh and blood. You are told how horrible you are with pleas to return because otherwise you’ll burn in hell for all eternity without them. You’re told that you “know better” because you were “taught the truth”.
What you’re taught (brainwashed with) is that there is no salvation outside of the COC. And leaving means you lose everyone you know as well as your soul. You’re thrown to the wolves and told it is “love”.
Members go out of their way to avoid you in public. They fear you. They can’t eat with you. You can’t maintain friendships. They will lose their salvation if they do. They are told to “follow scripture”. And if they are found to eat with you, or hang out, they will face disfellowship as well. It’s a never ending cycle meant to control everyone.
Not all coc’s practice disfellowship. And not all coc’s are as legalistic about adherence to it’s practice either. I’ve been in congregations that do, and those that don’t. I am a victim of disfellowship, and speak from experience.
There’s no more holidays, weddings, birthday parties, graduation, school pics, phone calls…only being preached at, prayed for, and told I know better and how hot hell is.
Those that practice it are told they are acting in love as a warrior for Christ. That doing this will make the exer miss them and want to come back. This is scriptural, and unconditional love.
In reality, it tears apart families. It tears apart friends. It shatters people on the inside. It causes suicides. It triggers PTSD. It causes depression, anger, bitterness, and mental breakdowns.
It rarely ever “works” and they claim it will (by bringing back the brother or sister into the fold) and usually backfires. It makes the exers resolve even more strong to stay away and find others that care about them no matter what.
Most don’t know the ugliness of this, or claim it doesn’t exist because they’ve never seen it. I only speak of it to educate and reveal the truth.
Once again, thanks for allowing me to speak on it.
Hi Amber,
I appreciate you joining the conversation.
I’m sorry you had to go through that. Awful.
I am familiar with what you are describing. I’ve even seen letters from CoC congregations “marking and disfellowshipping” other congregations and individuals. My impression is that it is done much, much less now than 15-20 years ago, but I know it is still sometimes done now.
There are lots of good CoC congregations that don’t have those toxic elements. I spent time with folks from several of them tonight at ElderLink NC.
I think lots of traditions of the CoC are right, good, beautiful even …. — I like the independent governance of each congregation (and no central HQ or convention), the concept of avoiding creeds, a capella music, weekly communion, Sunday/Wed night classes, scriptural emphasis, no man-made, formal, multi-step ordination requirements, relative plainness, and having the elders in charge rather than the preacher, for example.
I would like to see those toxic elements you mentioned fade away from the denomination as a whole and the good parts survive and thrive. Some part of the problem is a branding problem – too many people associate the toxic elements with the CoC name and so even the good congregations often get lumped in with what you are describing.
But even most all of the “good” congregations are set up to bar women from speaking, and young families (and even many old families!) simply aren’t going to go to a church that prohibits women from speaking these days if they have a meaningful choice.
Unfortunately, a lot of folks within the church now think that making changes can be put off until later, but not making changes renders lots of pain, like you described, has a lot of young women (and men) sitting there being trained not to be too bothered by discrimination, and as a congregation shrinks without having made itself into a place where others wants to be, too, the congregation goes below the critical mass needed to make a recovery.
Again, thanks Amber.
Hi again Steve.
While I was a member, a lot of emphasis was put on “tradition” and not having our worship become “entertainment” to bring in new members. (Like those heathen denominations do!) We must push “doing what God says instead of pleasing men.” And anything that went outside of what they’ve done the last 50+ years was “unscriptural”.
They took pride in using only the KJV and denouncing other versions as liberal. They were focused on nit picking what legalisms should be adhered to without disagreement. They were also grossly inconsistent in which parts were to be kept and which could be overlooked. For instance, instrumental music…can’t have it in worship….but you can listen to secular music, go to concerts, and even learn to play an instrument. But at the first mention of God…no.no.no…and disregard the verses in scripture that say everything is of God (including secular lyrics talking about mundane things of life, like green grass or love…) Consistency is not their strong suit. Nor is logic and reason.
They kept preaching the same old things, year after year. For instance…you would always have the “why we don’t celebrate jesus birth at Christmas” on the Sunday before Christmas every year. Same with Easter sermons on why we don’t celebrate Easter. Throw in why we don’t use instrumental music every couple months, and a few why denominations are wrong and why we aren’t a denomination…and that’s a typical year. Put it on repeat.
The focus is on black and white. Following the rules. Keeping with tradition. They claim setting themselves apart in this manner makes them “the one true church”, because they are the only ones that “follow the bible, and only the bible.”
They denounce being popular in favor of being “godly”. They mock the liberals that favor men instead of God. They block themselves off to anything new and repeat what they were told was truth. They mock doubters of their truth to force compliance. Then wonder why people leave.
They blame the decline on “men being lovers of worldly things instead of heavenly things”. It’s always everyone else’s fault. If the world wasn’t so wicked, they would see how righteous the COC is. And they will regret it on the judgment day when they see us going in while they beg for a drop of water to cool their tongues.
SMH….
They rarely, if ever, look inward. They are too busy pointing the fingers at everyone else and pushing or kicking people away calling them all fools.
Are there good people in the COC’s? Of course there are. Are some COC’s better than others? Of course there is. Can spiritual abuse happen in a “good” COC? Of course it can. Can a “good” COC become corrupt without members taking notice? It happens all the time, little by little. Is there a perfect church? Of course not. Can they change into something that welcomes all men and women and pleases god? Not a chance.
Younger members are leaving. Older members are dying and it can’t replenish at a sustainable rate. Those not born into it, are not interested in joining it. And those born into it are leaving in droves, for more accepting and loving churches, or non belief. They see the damage it has caused to those around them in various ways. Preachers leave it. Preachers kids leave it. Women are 3 times more likely to leave it. They take their kids with them.
Numbers will continue to decline. Churches will continue to dissolve. People will continue to be affected by spiritual abuse. And the ones that truly try to improve things, will not have enough of an impact to make a difference before it’s too late.
Does it deserves death by suicide? There’s no stopping it. No one is doing outside harm to it. It’s all internal. It is killing itself.
I can tell you love your church and have hope for a revival. I understand this desire, I once felt the same. Serious conversation on a national scale need to happen for this to even have a chance. And we’ve seen what this has done in the past. It doesn’t go well. Causes splits and more division. Compromise never happens. Responsibility for their actions are never taken. Blame is always assigned to others. And nothing actually happens for the better.
Should you give up hope? I think taking a realistic look at church history and the state it is in, and how it got there, needs to be a first priority. Glossing over the bad because of hope only blinds you from the inevitable. Don’t be afraid to find something you don’t like, or dismiss it in favor of saving face. Stop allowing excuses to get in the way. (My COC is good! Not all of them are like this!)
All of this is the tip of the iceberg. There’s so much more. I don’t know how far this conversation will go here, but I enjoy this civil exchange of ideas with you Steve. Thank you.
Hi Amber,
I am so sorry for missing this comment when you first made it. I was scrolling through my admin page and noticed this tonight. Very sorry! I appreciate you taking the time to write such a comment, and it was a meaningful one, and then I missed it. Urg! I feel bad about that. My WordPress functionality was glitchy at the time; still is a bit.
In any event, thank you for your reply.
Those problems-with-the-CoC themes you criticized all sound familiar, and I don’t disagree that those things are bad; in my direct experience, though, they are from about 20 years ago, but I see them prominently on some of the CoC Facebook groups. I recognize those are a bit skewed towards comments from “old retired dudes with too much time on their hands” as a good friend puts it, so those are more representative of older stuff than the average CoC today, but I acknowledge that CoC elders tend to be older.
I see a great deal of departure from those themes in lots of places, particularly from several of the CoC universities — Lipscomb, Abilene, Pepperdine, Lubbock Christian, York, and Rochester in particular, and somewhat from Oklahoma Christian. It is a bit mysterious to me why Harding is behind in this regard, but it appears to be pretty far behind the pack of leaders in the CoC on better treatment of women, etc. And there are a lot of congregations who have departed from those themes, too. You can see some of them listed here: http://www.wherethespiritleads.org/
I’m not so pessimistic as you are on it. I agree it will be challenging. And the change needs to pick up pace.
My take is that the change on women’s roles needs to lead the way. All the talk about “a new hermeunetic” and whatnot is too abstract. Excluding girls and women from speaking in the assembly is obviously wrong under scripture and is obvioiusly harmful, and I think people of goodwill will see this easily if someone will just cause them to pause and think a bit.
You wouldn’t select these answers on the SAT or any test, btw — too categorical –when you say “Compromise never happens. Responsibility for their actions are never taken. Blame is always assigned to others. And nothing actually happens for the better.” Never Ever Ever!?! 🙂
That is, the seeds are there.
My take, too, is that there is a lot of pent up energy within the CoC generally, so I could see it catchinig fire, so to speak, and doing exceedingly well for the kingdom of God. The evangelical Pentacostal church has done very well over the past 30 years, for example, growing every year and doing a lot of good, and there are lessons to be learned there.
Again, very sorry for my delay, and thank you for the conversation.
As an exer myself, it’s no surprise they numbers are dwindling. I was judged, not loved, yet they claimed they loved me. As a teenager, I was judged for liking Christian hard rock music and wearing black; or asking questions like why do women submit and just sit and be quiet; for standing up to the preacher’s wife when she said “a woman’s job in life and the church is to submit, have babies and raise the kids, and cook and clean.”; and for praying out loud with the other teens when our friend was in the hospital from vomitting suicide. By 16, I was drifting away. The last straw was I got pregnant when I was 21, and the guy and I planned on marrying. When I told the church friends about it, I was told by 2 elders that I should adopt the baby to a loving COC couple and they gave me 2 families, and when I said “No, nobody else is raising my child. I am.” They said “Well, you know our stance on abortion. But honestly, it’s be better to abort that baby than to bring a bastard child into the world, where he or she doesn’t have both parents.” At that point I got up, said some obscenities, and left. I was shamed, they aired out all my business, and my parents, who were divorcing at the time, were treated horribly as well. This is not how a church continues to grow. In fact, this is not even close to Jesus’ first church that the COC claims to follow. If they want to expand and grow, they have got to get with the times!!! Quit preaching fire and brimstone. Quit worrying so much about not going to hell, and focus on getting into Heaven!! “THEY WILL KNOW WHO YOU ARE BY YOUR LOVE!!!” or as I would always add: or lack thereof.
“Better to abort that baby than to bring a bastard child into the world”? Sorry, I don’t believe that was said. As bad as some churches of Christ are, not all of them are rotten and some are very loving and kind.
This comment — if it was said — would be very atypical for a church member and certainly would not come from the mouth of an elder. I think a lot of people on these ex-church lists have just as many problems as the churches they say they’ve left and sadly many of those have an ax to grind.
Hey. Ozanark. You don’t get to tell people how to feel, or to be judgmental and dismissive of their comments + experiences. I hope if you were ever in a position where you were hurting that someone doesn’t say to you what you just said about exers.
People in the churches of Christ–which, sorry, OP, is a denomination whether or not church is spelled with a little c or a big C–absolutely say and do horrible things. (Does your congregation not preach that people are imperfect and we are all sinners? Can you say that anybody in the church has never said one thing that really cut you?)
And then people “in the church” don’t listen when we speak up.
Kelsey: what was said to you (here and at church) was horrible.
So, yeah. We leave. And we’re better for it.
Hi Kella,
Thanks for your comment. You’ve been through a lot. I’m sorry that you went through all that. That abortion remark is particularly awful. I’m very confident none of the CoC folks I know personally would say something like that. You are right that what you described are not the actions of the church of Jesus.
I think that change on the women’s role issue is necessary in order for the CoC to recover, but various other things need reconsideration, too, and it varies a great deal, congregation to congregation. The women’s role issue impacts 99%+ of CoC congregations.
Again, thanks for commenting.
Take care, Steve
I am 5th generation Churches of Christ, and raised my daughters in this Brotherhood. Sadly, they have both left. Would it be easy to say, “let’s change our understanding of Scripture to bring back the girls”? You bet. I miss terribly worshipping with them, but my husband and I both stand firm in our convictions. I personally have never felt “descriminated” against…..rather I have accepted what Scripture says and sought ways to make my voice and influence heard. Women today are not willing to put their desires aside, rather demanding their “rights”.
My question is….. what’s next? Accepting homosexual ministers? Abortion? Doing away with congregational autonomy? How do you stop accepting what Scripture says in order to become “current”? Has Scripture changed? How arrogant are we to decide now is the time based soley on modern culture…….
Hi Amy,
Your comment breaks my heart. How sad for you and your daughters and your husband.
Scripture does not prohibit women from speaking in the assembly. Around 96% of Christianity does not completley prohibit them like the Churches of Christ does, and most of the Church of Christ colleges recently changed to allow women to speak in their services, and more and more Church of Christ congregations, after studying scripture, have changed as well.
Once you study it, and not just with someone who is trying to reinforce what you are already doing, it is clear it does not prohibit them.
Did you know that the Church of Christ interpretation of the Bible less than 100 years ago was that women should not speak or teach or have authority over men anywhere in public? — not in the church, not in the workplace, not in government, not in public, not in voting for political office, …..
Did Scripture change? No.
But people’s understanding of scripture improved. So people don’t claim its a sin for women to vote anymore. And they don’t claim its a sin for a woman to be the boss at work or to teach high school boys at public school or to serve in the military or to be a mayor ….
And people’s understanding of scripture can continue to improve.
The whole what’s next, …people can marry pineapples?, doesn’t have anything to do with figuring out whether scripture completely bars women from speaking.
Time is short. Good luck to all of us.
Hi, I was a full time minister in several places, and over seas……and I went to Bible College. I have to say this as I know I will be upsetting lots of folks; I know my bible I’d say pretty good……I have read it many many times cover to cover in other languages – plus I studied Greek NT , and I must say the premises you take for granted are worth a discussion. 1) How many churches of christ groups are there? Can someone answer this? One cup, music, supporting colleges, kitchens, holidays, men baptizing, etc…you knw what I am getting at? 2) Why can’t they “unite”? 3) whats the root cause of the division within “regligious establishment over all? Let me start with this?
Hi Alex, Thank you for your comment and for your service as a minister. Those are good questions. I wish I knew the answer! I saw a video a few months ago in Sunday School in which a CoC minister used empty chairs to illustrate divisions via one cup, instrumental music, etc. It was well done. His talk was on unity or, at least, non-division. Thanks, Steve
This article is very alarming and yet, I believe to be accurate. I have served two churches over the past 15 years in student and family ministry in Texas. In my experience, the number of students who graduate and return to a “church of christ” is very low. Most of my students are faithful followers of Jesus, where they attend a non-denominational church and they are connected and want to make a difference in their city. I think the COC heritage has to take a very good look at itself and rethink some of our practices. We live in a mobile and fast paced world. We cannot think that our practices from the 1950’s will work today. Data has revealed this over the past 20 years.
It saddens me to read and hear of churches (leaders and members) who have shunned people for past mistakes/choices. People make mistakes, I make mistakes. God has given me and everyone else grace throughout our life, and in turn we should plan to live a grace and Spirit filled life. Please put aside your judgements and rejections. That is not your role in His kingdom. “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”
Hi BB,
Thanks for your comment and for serving those two churches over the past 15 years.
What you say about students is reflected in the anecdotal coments I received and observations generally — it sounds like a super-majority of kids growing up in the CoC continue to be Christians and stay in church or return to it very early in their college/adult life, but the vast majority of them these days are going to a different kind of church — a community church, a Baptist church, Presbyterian, …. — one that is making a difference and in which they can help others.
And, yes, agreed on God giving grace and us needing to do the same.
Take care, Steve
I am also an exer. Discrimination against women is huge, but so is discrimination against those with disabilities. I am autistic, and never did I feel like I could be who I was born to be. I have an auditory processing disorder and do not learn or worship well auditory, and yet all of CoC worship is language centric. I felt guilty for years because I could pray like other people because words are not my first language…pictures are. I was surrounded as a child by CoC people (church, school, friends) and all I ever was told was that “I just have to work harder!” So it is my job to be just like yall and stress myself to the max trying to “work harder” to be someone I was not made to be?!? I kept doing this until a few years ago when it affected my health so badly that I ended up homebound for a year for my health. The last time I went to a service was my grandfather’s funeral, and I ended up on anti-anxities and anti-nauseas just to get through it. Both of my kids have autism as well. We are soon visiting a synagogue that offers free babysitting during service where my kids can take their tablets. They will be MUCH more comfortable with that as it means they can connect with a faith community on their own terms as they are ready…hopefully seeing a faith community as a place that loves them enough to allow them to really come as they are. And hopefully with the service being so different, I wont have a panic attack. I grew up in a liberal coc (although my parents grew up in conservative cocs), and I know in recent years some cocs have gotten better about not telling you “You just need more faith!” when someone is depressed. But they are still SERIOUSLY lacking in understanding the needs of families with special needs (some of the churches we have been in are death traps for kids with autism and we spend the whole time just trying to keep our kids alive).
Hi Amy,
I am sorry to hear that you went through that.
I was part of a trio that gave a presentation two weeks ago on “the disability lens”—looking at the gospels with sensitivity to how they are read and apply to disabled persons, including how traditional interpretations are off because of people forgetting to consider the context of disabled persons. It was eye-opening for me to do the research and thinking related to it.
You—and other folks—might be interested in some of the readings. The primary books we used were Nancy Eiesland’s “The Disabled God” and Amos Yong’s “The Bible, Disability, and the Church: A New Vision of the People of God.” I recommend them both.
Really, any elder or anyone who teaches Sunday School ought to read and think about the disability lens for viewing scripture. A large percentage of any church is dealing with some form of disability, including many of the children, and many of them are not visible.
Take care, Steve
Thank you very much Steve for analyzing, organizing and sharing the data. It certainly fits our congregation, and too many others. I do not think, however, that the unbiblical restriction of women and the use of A Cappella music alone are the primary causes of our decline, though these obstacles have to be addressed to allow growth. The primary concern, I think, is getting out into the community and serving the community as the church. While we have been an a cappella congregation, we did address a more Biblically consistent view of women’s service some 20 years ago. In spite of this it recently came to our attention that our attendance had been dropping over the the past 25-30 years, dropping rather steadily. Now at 60 members, what would we do? Informal assessment suggested this congregation composed of almost exclusively persons over 60, and many well over, did not have the spiritual, physical, financial or emotional energy, nor the time (meant as life expectancy, not hours in the day), to turn the situation around. We have now merged as of December 9 with a large Christian Church that was the second fastest growing congregation in the nation the last year for which there is data. I have very mixed feelings about the merger, but given the circumstances I think it was the best available choice to avoid death, Based on the rate of decline, we had only eight years left until death, and we now have an infusion of new life which addresses all the concerns you have mentioned. No matter what we put on the sign outside, we will always be a church of Christ, and we have also always been a christian church. And the same can be said for Eastside Christian with whom we have merged. Thank you for the kind and gracious responses you have made to the commenters. Blessings to you.
Hi Bruce, Thank you for your comment. I am sorry to hear about your congregation’s need to merge. Sounds like the Christian Church you all joined is a dynamic place. I wish you all well! And I appreciate your comment that you all and the church you are joining always have been a church of Christ and a Christian church. Strong.
On causes CoC wide, I do not think that the restriction of women and the use of a cappella music alone are the primary causes of the CoC’s decline, either. There are a lot of causes.
Not lifting the restriction on women immediately, though, makes it *** impossible to recover *** from our decline.
In other words, while the restrictions on women was only one of many things that contributed, the issue of discrimination against women has risen tremendously in prominence recently in our society such that failure to change ***on that one issue*** will accelerate the decline even more and make it impossible to recover.
That is, the CoC could do * everything * else well—-[insert all other solutions anyone could possibly come up with right here!]—-and if we don’t lift the restriction on women, we will still rapidly decline and will not recover.
At some point, we lose critical mass and hit the point of no return. The issue of discrimination against women and equal treatment of women is so high profile now and young adults have it in full view.
People do not want to raise their daughters in a place that will train their daughters it is OK for folks to discriminate against them because they are female. And most young women don’t want to go to a place like that, either.
And men and women don’t want to participate in a place that is going to train girls and young women—and boys and men—that sex discrimination is OK. There is a *** sin and immorality *** dimension to participating in, being complicit in, and being around prohibiting women and training girls and young women this way, one that repels good people.
Just imagine it as racial discrimination instead.
If we lift the restriction now and do the other stuff well, I think we have a good chance. Regardless, we ought to make the change simply because it is the right thing to do.
I know you didn’t ask me anything that called for all of this response, but hearing of your church closing, too, got me going. Blessings to you, too, Bruce. Again, thank you very much for commenting. I hope and pray that the energy from your new environs invigorates you all.
We still meet in our building but are becoming a part of a multi-campus congregation. The “receiving” church (as opposed to us, the “joining” church) in this merger has sent us about 40 or 50 members to work with us. Some will be with us 3, others 6, and others 9 months as we begin to build here, and some will move here and live here if they are not already living in our town, and will be a part of the campus here. There is a lot of change involved in this, including “name” and some of this requires a lot of conceptual stretching for me. There is a sense of “closure” in what is happening, but I (and others who are in the leadership) consider us to be reuniting with our brothers and sisters in the Restoration Movement.
I’m really struggling with the use of the term “discriminate/discrimination”. Why does everyone feel the right to do whatever they want, and when there is a reason they can’t, they are suddenly being descriminated against? We have SCRIPTURE telling us that everyone part has a function….that all our parts work together for the whole and the glory of God! If I am not to serve as an Elder, so be it. Move forward, find another area to serve. This attitude of entitlement is damaging to the body……
Thank you for your comment.
Telling a female person that they cannot do something while telling a male person they can do it, and the only difference is their sex, is textbook sex discrimination. You might think it is God-ordained sex-discrimination, but it is sex-discrimination nevertheless.
It is no different than race discrimination. Some people thought the Bible said white people must have authority over black people and that black people are lesser people. This is textbook race discrimination. That they thought it was God-ordained did not make it not race discrimination.
A lot of folks make the: Oh, women can go do other things besides speak in the assembly. You are not entitled to tell someone else to move on, do something different. That’s up to them and God. It is wrong to block someone else from what God asks or even might ask them to do in this regard.
I am not going to pile on. I did not agree with their stance on women though a lot of women were very influential through other means. I am not surprised by the numbers reported here. That said, the cofC has a problem with Jesus. I never heard him preached or mentioned. That was my biggest issue. I learned a whole lot about Christianity from the Jews and the rest from the Anglicans. Jesus taught more of an ancient Judaism than anything. Paul was the hero of every Sunday sermon. All sermons started out the same way, and it was somewhere in Paul’s letters. Palm Sunday and Easter were rough as the gospels describe them in great detail and yet they could not be mentioned. I was quite envious of the Methodists as they got to hear the gospel account.
Is the “fine point” of your message about church growth and women …
to IGNORE or to FORSAKE what the Scriptures teach, in order to gain those that won’t accept what the Scriptures teach ??
Thank you for your question.
Prohibiting women and girls from speaking in the assembly is ignoring and forsaking what the Scriptures teach.
In the Scriptures, God asks women to speak to and teach men about God, in the assembly and elsewhere. There are 20+ scripture passages set out here that do so: https://authentictheology.com/2018/09/03/20-scripture-passages-telling-women-to-speak-teach-lead-and-have-authority-over-men-in-the-assembly-and-elsewhere/
Prohibiting women and girls from speaking in the assembly is a man-made doctrine based on ignoring these 20+ scripture passages in favor of a misperception of 2-3 sentences that people cite to justify the exclusion of women and girls from speaking in the assembly. This article begins a series discussing the misperception and the actual meaning of the 2-3 sentences: https://authentictheology.com/2018/05/16/part-2-most-church-of-christ-colleges-no-longer-exclude-women-from-leading-in-worship-services-scriptural-and-a-college-visit/
I say misperception instead of misinterpetation because the vast majority of people who insist or say that women and girls ought to be excluded have never actually carefully studied the scripture for themselves with sources that point out why the 2-3 sentences do not exclude. Instead, they’ve either never looked at them much at all (besides a quick read) or they’ve only studied them with someone or a source whose intent is to reinforce their preconceived view, that women should be excluded.
It is surprising that people do not care enough about their daughters to take a harder look at this, but the overwhelming majority in the Churches of Christ have not. 90%+ of U.S. Christianty is less restrictive on this issue—that is, the CoC are the extremists on excluding women in this way.
Studies have indicated that the practice Churches of Christ use — all-male congregational leadership, like excluding women from even speaking during the assembly — harms the young girls in the congregation for the long-term. See this article (and part two of it):
https://authentictheology.com/2018/11/28/church-of-christ-practice-harms-girls-long-term-suggests-2018-study/
Several Churches of Christ, after studying scripture, have recently lifted their exclusion of women and girls from speaking and now allow women and girls to speak and otherwise serve in the assembly, teach adult Sunday School, etc. See the links at the end of this article:
https://authentictheology.com/2019/01/30/part-2-church-of-christ-practice-harms-girls-long-term-suggests-2018-study-negative-reactions/
It is way past time for us to stop discriminating against women and girls in this way. I hope folks will ask their elders to reconsider and change.
Thanks, Steve
Steve, Thank you for you posts and your support for women in the Churches of Christ (yes, the denomination). I grew up in the CofC, went to a CofC University for undergrad, am in my 7th year of full-time ministry, and am currently pursuing an M.Div. at a CofC school. I can attest that the use of scripture to keep women quiet and subservient has been a personal wound in my own life. I am only now discovering gifts within myself which have been endowed to me by our creator because of limited mentors, platforms and imagination. However, the gap between many universities and churches is wide. Women are being equipped to do congregational ministry with few prospects upon graduation. The need for movement is great and thankfully there are (some) churches who are seeing this and making the necessary changes.
Hi CML,
Thank you very much for your comment. It made my night. I appreciate the positive feedback.
Thank you for serving in ministry. I admire your dedication and courage in pursuing it, sticking with it, and seeking your M.Div. when the number of employment opportunities for women ministers is so small in the CoC.
I am sorry to hear that the use of scripture to keep women quiet and subservient has wounded you. It is a way-too-common story. I am amazed at the number of people who reject and deny the possibility that the CoC practice relative to women can harm girls and women.
I hope people ask their elders to reconsider their policy of prohibiting women from speaking in the assembly. I suspect there are lots of elders who have never really
thought about it or studied the scripture in depth on this issue (particularly besides looking at a source that aims to defend the status quo). Most of them want to do the right thing, and I think (hope) that if asked and they consider it closely they will be mortified at what they’ve been doing and will do the right thing and change the policy.
It is definitely way past time to stop all this discrimination against women.
I’ve wondered how slavery, race discrimination, and segregation hung on for so long when Christians were so heavily involved, but now I can see how it happened.
Interesting perspective! Women, instrumental music, leadership, and many more issues are all related to hermeneutics, which is the issue. Change the glasses we use to read scripture, then you change much more than just the women’s issue. Are you still considered a church of Christ if you use instruments? Many Churches of Christ are growing, but they have at least one instrumental service. Of course they are using women in their praise team along with the instrument.
Hey Steve,
First, could I tell you how much both this article and the spirit with which you reply to commenters means to me? The article was insightful and convicting. In your replies, you are patient, gracious, and non-defensive … yet you also make a stand and explain your position. I find that so rare and so refreshing. You have a great ministry here and I hope people are experiencing both freedom of expression and healing as they interact with you. God bless you as you do his reconciling work of peace.
Second, I am publishing a paper on “Demographics of 50 Congregations of Churches of Christ” this winter that is based on the responses of almost 10,000 current CofC members. I think you would be interested in how these people answered three questions: 1) How old are you? 2) How long have you been a Christian? and 3) How long have you been a member of your congregation? The trends support the assertions you make in this article and indicate the declines we are presently experiencing are not temporary or reversible. The declines will increase. Just wanted you to be aware of this article in case you would be interested in having a copy. I think you’d find it helpful.
Hi Tim,
Thank you very much for your comment. I appreciate the encouraging words and the blessing. It is kind of you to take the time to do that.
Your paper sounds fascinating. Thank you for bringing it to my attention. Yes, I am definitely interested in having a copy. Just let me know. I look forward to reading it.
Comparative religion-wise, seminaries are interesting economic concentration data nodes for denominationalism (I use the term sociologically here). Here is a contemporary issue listing of representative responses https://auburnseminary.org/voices/all-rights-for-all-without-borders/ | The US has 200+ seminaries. The “business case” of seminaries thriving due to adjunct prophessorships is intriguing to me. Pulpits rarely touch upon the economics of the religion educational complex.
Also an Exer here for about 20 years, cofC ran long in my family but with my generation it will end on both sides of the family everybody went to non-denom.
The fundamental problem with cofC theology is that it doesn’t use the nature of Christ as the ultimate question. So as the bible is read and interpreted in an literal fashion conclusions can be a made with the dogmatic statement of “look right there it’s black and white”.
I can just see Jesus hanging there on the cross dying for us thinking “I hope they never bring an instrument to worship or let a woman speak out loud in front of man”. Any idea that is outside the lens of the nature of Jesus regardless of how plainly we think it exists in the bible is wrong.
Hi Joseph, Thanks much for your comment.
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This is a simplistic view to answer a complicated question. You can look at the Presbyterian Church in America (PSA) (and see that it is very conservative, allowing no women as preachers, no women as elders, and no women as deacons) as a comparison to shoot down the theory on why the Church of Christ is dying, because the Presbyterian Church (PCA) is not dying and losing membership. They are probably just as strict regarding women in the church as the Church of Christ. I think there are other issues, e.g., absolute refusal to use musical instruments, that are turning off young people from staying in the church. There are more, but space and time do not permit. I would like to hear you response as to why the PCA is not dying when they take the same stance regarding women in the church as the Church of Christ.
HI Gary,
Thank you for your comment. It contains misinformation, though.
The PCA is not as strict relative to girls and women as the Churches of Christ.
The only religious groups of size that *** completely *** prohibit girls and women from speaking, leading, and actively serving in their worship assembly, for example, are the Churches of Christ and Islam.
While the PCA does discriminate against women in some roles, like the SBC does, the feel of a worship service in which women do not speak, lead, or actively serve at all is very different from one in which women lead singing, make announcements, play piano, read scripture, help with offering, etc., as takes place in many PCA churches.
So, it doesn’t “shoot down the theory,” as you claim.
The PCA has done a nice job with recruitment and growth. It is about 1/3 the size of the Churches of Christ and is ethnically diverse (many Korean congregations) and is very aggressive with church planting.
The PCA, though, is the only denomination of any size that refuses to ordain women in the U.S. but grew over the past 20 years. All the others — the SBC, Churches of Christ, Lutheran Missouri Synod, etc. — that refuse to ordain women shrunk.
All the evangelical denominations that ordain women pastors — e.g., Assemblies of God — grew. And mainline denominations, all of which ordain women, had been shrinking due to their demographics (they started older, fewer children, based in the rust belt that was shrinking, etc.), but saw an uptick in membership over the last few years, per Christianity Today.
You can read more about it here: https://authentictheology.com/2019/11/13/church-of-christ-decline-worsens-2400-a-month-depart-treatment-of-women-girls-factor/
The Churches of Christ is a denomination founded in the early 19th century by a Presbyterian minister named Alexander Campbell.
I currently attend a coc. I go because my husband does and I know I need to serve God.
I am, tho, unhappy before, during and after service. It is mostly because even in service they can’t leave out each service about those false teachers. If I don’t go I know I will be shunned. There are wonderful since persons there who are not as severe. I’m trying to hold out. Why does God permit this agony within God’s people?