Christian Churches and Churches of Christ History - Part 5: How We Stay Connected

How We Stay Connected

The beauty of a non-denominational church, such as Northside, is that we are not bound by large man-made structures that can inhibit leaders in local churches.  The challenge, however, is that even non-denominational churches who are a part of a major stream of sister congregations need a way to stay connected. 

Our focus here is on the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ, instrumental.  The other two groups within our movement, the Church of Christ (non-instrumental) and Disciples of Christ, have their own methods of connecting, the Church of Christ through college and university lectureships and the Disciples through denominational structures. 

Our group, known collectively as the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ uses a number of voluntary structures to stay connected.  We use the word "voluntary" because there are no denominational requirements, legal or otherwise, that force any given autonomous congregation to participate in these structures.  They do so by choice because they want to maintain the spirit and principles of the Restoration Movement, and they realize staying connected to sister churches from the same movement is vitally important to everyone's success.  Here are some, but not all of the connecting points:

Conventions

Conventions within our movement are not "delegate" conventions where churches send representatives who return with directives for the local church.  Instead, they are merely gatherings of believers intent on being informed, inspired and invested.  They want to remain informed of things going on among our sister churches, inspired for the mission of winning the world for Christ, and invested in something called the "Restoration Plea", which is the desire to balance "unity" and "truth" using the Word of God as our rule for faith and practice, and focusing on the Lordship of Jesus. 

Our two major national conventions are the North American Christian Convention (the most prominent), and the National Missionary Convention.  Both conventions move around the country from year-to-year as selected presidents develop programs of speakers and workshops through volunteer committees.  There are paid administrators who perform functions necessary for the continuation of the conventions, but none of these administrators exercise authority over local congregations.

The Northside church supports the two major national conventions through its missions budget and considers their existence vital to maintaining the identity and mission of our church movement.  These mission offerings are totally voluntary and each local church decides whether or not it wants to participate in this way.

Colleges

Our Bible colleges are vital to the continued existence and success of our movement because they educate future preachers, church leaders and missionaries.  Historically, most all church movements have established institutions of higher learning for this purpose.  The goal is to educate servants in the foundational principles of our movement, and to prepare them for meaningful ministry with a solid grounding in the Word of God and an approach to the mission that puts Christ first.

Over the years our colleges have gone through many changes to insure we can continue to equip servants for ministry.  Most have expanded their programs to prepare believers in a variety of other vocations inside and outside the local church.  The hope is that students will use their spiritual grounding to have an impact for Christ whether they are serving in a church body or a secular workplace.

Many of our Bible colleges have recently become universities.  There are a variety of reasons for this transition, but generally speaking, college leaders are seeking a way to maintain a vibrant ministry that meets the needs of Christian students who sense an expanding scope of ministry possibilities, church and secular.  In addition most of our colleges are fully accredited and well-regarded in the wider world of higher education, while maintaining a strong focus on biblical education and ministry at the core of their curriculum.

Our congregation and many others have always considered our Bible colleges a mission of our local body, since ministry students could not afford to attend if church contributions were not available to bring the cost of tuition down, and also because without them, we could lose our leadership base in a single generation.

Church Camps

Most everywhere you will discover clusters of churches that have come together to build and maintain Christian service camps.  These camps host weeks of "church camp" in the summer for children and older students.  Some offer year-round retreats and events.  For many regions of our country, our church camps are "the" connecting point that keeps area churches in fellowship with one another.  They have also historically been a place where many young people make decisions to follow Christ, and older teens choose to pursue full-time ministry. 

Church camps are usually subsidized through the mission offerings of local churches. 

Publications

There are a number of publications produced in our movement.  These publications give leaders and servants in our churches an opportunity to exchange ideas, opinions and spiritual lessons that are helpful for the building up of the kingdom.  The two dominant publications are the Christian Standard and the Lookout.  While the Christian Standard targets church leaders and issues of concern to our fellowship of churches as a whole, The Lookout focuses more on helping people grow in their daily walk with the Lord.

Two other publications are worth noting.  The Restoration Herald is a publication that focuses on key principles of our church movement, with historical references, and voices the more conservative concerns within our movement.  In addition, Horizons magazine focuses on mission.

Mission Organizations

Mission organizations help provide oversight and a sense of connectedness with missionaries on the field.  Since we are not a denomination, none of our organizations are directly tied to any church structure, but rather exist as separate organizations relying on the voluntary contributions of local churches and individuals.  Most missionaries raise their own support, but it is considered a wise thing to go through an organization for accountability and training.

There are many organizations, but two in particular provide good examples that are worthy of examination:  Christian Missionary Fellowship (CMF) and Team Expansion.   

Summary

This single session hardly does justice to the many organizations and ministries that keep our movement tied together, including investment and loan companies, publishing houses, and children's homes.  But perhaps the information here will give you a sense for how we maintain our identity.  It should also be said again, the support for any and all of these groups is totally voluntary and each church is free to choose what they wish to do with their funds, mission or otherwise.