Late last year, I wrote the post below. It was my most read ever. I still receive hate e-mail and blog posts responses about it. I’ve reached out to every negative blog responder I’m aware of. None have responded. What I thought was a simple report of what I was hearing, was interpreted (by some) as an attack on the church. It was anything but.

Enjoy.

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If you worship in a Church of Christ (my tribe), your church might be primed to lose her minister. And the next one. And the one after that. Quickly.

First, a bit of explanation for non-Church of Christ readers. In my “non-denomination,” the local church selects individual men and women to serve as her ministers / pastors / preachers. These folks may be trained or not. Theologically adept or not. Qualified or not. It’s up to the church.

Since each congregation is autonomous, churches can dismiss their ministers at will. Likewise, ministers can pick-up and move at will. I know what you’re thinking, “Wow! That sounds like a lot of turnover.” Congratulations, you’re right. You’re so right that when Church of Christ ministers get together with colleagues, conversations typically begin like this: “Are you still at ________________?” We anticipate moving. What can I say? We’re mobile.

While pastoral (yeah, I just used the “p” word) turnover is high among most Christians denominations, many Churches of Christ, I feel, are at unprecedented risk of chasing away the most gifted and best trained leaders in her midst.

Why am I concerned?

Increasingly, ministers of all stripes are sharing with me their desires to get out of Churches of Christ. I currently serve a non-traditional church, so I suspect I hear more of this than most people. Still, ministers say, “I’m pretty sure my next church will not be a Church of Christ.” Of course, as long as their have been ministers there have been ministers complaining about ministry — the pay, the stress, the feelings of inadequacy, lack of recognition, and unfair expectations, but this is different. People aren’t talking about leaving ministry, they’re talking about leaving ministry in Churches of Christ.

As young men and women break-up with Churches of Christ, they are not saying, “It’s not you, it’s me.” They’re saying, “It’s you!” The hidden distress inside the church is not merely that she is losing younger people, we are also losing younger ministers – if we are developing them to begin with. More and more, universities are reporting fewer and fewer young men and women training for ministry, most opting, instead, to work with or begin non-profit charities.

I’ve tried to listen closely, without bias or reading into their reasoning. And here’s what I think I’m hearing about why they’re flirting with exits ( in rank order):

1. Women’s Roles. You may be shocked to find this the #1 reason, but nearly every minister I speak with believes churches of Christ are dead wrong on our limitation of women’s roles. A friend told me recently, “I have a daughter who is gifted and I’m not sure how much longer I can tolerate a church that treats her as second-class.” I hear this sentiment nearly every week.

Yet the irritation is not primarily borne from having female children. As advanced education becomes the norm in churches of Christ, ministers are better educated regarding all the issues present in the Biblical text regarding both the gospel and the role of women. While disagreements persists, no educated Bible reader relies on the handy, but intellectually faulty, ground of “The Bible says what it says…” rationalizations. These men and women know more is going on in scripture than flat, thoughtless readings will allow. Again, disagreements remain between people equally educated, but at least all the educated understand that the other side has a good argument to make.

At the same time, our female ministers have zoomed passed frustration to the point of exit with restrictive roles, male-dominated imagery and language, and a church that limits not just the public voice of women, but demeans their perspective and gifts altogether. To be sure, these convictions aren’t birthed from culture or liberalism, but a dedicated dwelling in and study of the Scriptures. These folks have come to different conclusions than their predecessors and while they love their non-denomination, they are not willing to re-erect the dividing wall they believe Jesus’ death tore down. I mean just this week, I heard someone blaming the decline in masculinity (which is not a problem in the first place), on too much support (Pink!) for breast cancer awareness. People have grown excruciatingly weary of that kind of thinking.

2. Leadership. Churches of Christ are technically “elder-led.” In many places, this is a misnomer. The congregation selects elders; they are not appointed by a pastor or apostle. This “election” coupled with the deeply adopted American sense of representation means that church leadership is congregational and often partisan. While there are no congregational votes, per se, not much can happen without the consent of the congregation. Problems arise because less spiritually mature Christians know they are in charge. They understand that should they raise enough stink, cause enough pain, withhold enough funds, or hurt enough feelings, they’ll get whatever they want, regardless of it’s righteousness or wisdom.

Strong, spiritually formed elderships navigate this well. However, many elderships tend to only listen to the will of the people. “We don’t want to upset people.” The result? Olive Garden, safe, palatable, unchallenging, churches. Success becomes measured only by uncomplaining butts in well-grooved pews. Nothing new or challenging ever happens; the status quo always holds. Frustration arises, then, for leaders – as ministers tend to be – become stuck in a cycle of both never being freed to change nor accomplish anything while simultaneously being judged for their lack of effectiveness or progress. This is not ministry; it’s plate-spinning.

3. Traditionalism Wins. Ministers are saying, Churches of Christ are spiritually formed by neither Christ nor the Scriptures. Rather, we are primarily formed by the tradition of Churches of Christ itself. Here’s what they mean: When a thorny issue is raised, church of Christ people – even with all our gesturing to the text – will ultimately err on the side of traditional Church of Christ practice.

For instance, I love a cappella worship, though my church doesn’t practice it. I know of very few thoughtful Church of Christ members who would try to make a Biblical argument against instrumental worship, though a handful still rely on poor textual exegesis to maintain an a cappella only perspective. Church members will, however, leave long time friends, family, and their worshipping community when that particular tradition changes. Of course, they will cite “preference” and that may be true. I can’t know for certain. They will say, “I don’t disagree with it, but I…” as they walk out the door. This is not about Christ nor the Scriptures, but the tradition itself.

Obviously, people can make whatever decisions about church they want to make, and can worship where they desire – or anything else regarding congregational life – but we cannot call blue red and expect to be taken seriously. If tradition is the trump card, the church’s ministers would prefer we simply say so. We cannot make the argument that “I just want what I grew up with…” and it not be about tradition. The appeal itself is about past practice, which is, by definition, tradition.

The same is true regarding any hot-button issue when traditional practice is questioned – worship style, women’s participation, new approaches to ministries, etc…. If you listen to arguments carefully, many of them boil down to an appeal to church of Christ tradition and the linguistic dead giveaway begins with, “I don’t have a problem with it, but…” or “I don’t think it’s wrong, but…” or – and this is the grand-daddy of all church of Christ traditionalism arguments – “I don’t think it’s a salvation issue, but…” (as if anything other than Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection is a salvation issue).

Many churches of Christ only discover our unspoken allegiance to tradition the hard way, after they’ve survey the congregation about a hot issue (Problem #2 in effect), and hear back that few are against it, and then watch hundreds leave when change is implemented.

Women’s roles, leadership, and traditionalism are the three rationales I hear most frequently from ministers flirting with changing denominations.

Have you had similar conversations? What are you hearing?

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