I’ve been in conversation recently with some fellow leaders within my tribe of Christian believers about our network of churches, colleges, and related ministries and organizations. The collective opinion of this little group is that if our network were a single person, that person could be diagnosed as depressed and/or having an inferiority complex. Much of this seems to be caused by an unhealthy self talk. We are just extremely hard on ourselves. We talk often among ourselves about our deficiencies, historic blind spots, and past mistakes. We are often critical of one another. There are lots of doom and gloom prophets who are forecasting a bleak future on the near horizon. My group are also in agreement that this negative self talk is overdone, unfair, and potentially a self-fulfilling prophecy. We need to correct this negative self talk by focusing more on what is good, right, healthy, and God-ordained among us. We need to read Philippians 4:8 again: Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
I realize there is a place for collective repentance and confession, but perpetual self-flagellation is not a good way forward. So, I have been thinking about what is good about the network of churches of which I’m apart. Other than rich relationships, why do I stay and what do I want to pass on from the heritage I’ve been given? Below are a few of the things I love about “my people” where I see God at work. This list is not exhaustive and I’m not even saying these are the five best things about my church network, but these are things for which I am particularly thankful right now given what I’m doing and what is important to me.  I’d be curious to see what others would list. (BTW, I will take down anything negative about the Churches of Christ or any other particular fellowship so don’t bother writing it.)
Freedom from denominational bureaucracy that enables any congregation to make decisions about what is best for their congregation and the gospel in their setting and act directly to address it without having to get permission from some authority above the local church. Any need that crops up can be addressed by a church or person with a vision and passion to address it without having to get permission from a regional bishop or play the political game in the diocese or conference. That can lead to inefficiency and redundancy at times, but in a world that is rejecting large institutions and having to learn to network and collaborate, we are ahead of the game. We have excellent Universities, missions organization, and global ministries of compassion that are networked and fleet of foot without having a national or global headquarters and bureaucracy that consumes tons of money and slows every down. We are standing where much of the world is headed in terms of how we network and collaborate.
A passionate commitment to global ministry that touches every church and every member. Since missionaries and ministries of mercy are supported out of local churches instead of regional offices, people in every church have global connections and feel a greater sense of global responsibility. Believers in many fellowships are far removed from any thing outside their local church and feel no ownership for global mission other than the money in the church budget that goes to their denominational office. Almost every congregation in our network is involved in various ministries around the world and sends their people on short term mission trips to visit, work alongside, and support the long term workers. Our people love the world and think globally fairly well.
A high view of scripture as the final word and Word of God. If you can’t show where you get your convictions in scripture, you won’t get far in our network. We argue about scripture because we believe it matters. Not all argument is unhealthy. If you never have tension over scripture you probably take it too lightly. My father used to coach me, “Don’t ever tell the church that we used to believe X and now believe Y. Just preach the Bible and if they see what you are talking about there, they will follow you because they know they believe in the Bible.” Is that easy? No. Is it possible in our network? Absolutely.
A history of change for the sake of faithfulness and effectiveness. Our network started with people who abandoned previous beliefs and practices because they were archaic, erroneous, ineffective, self-serving, divisive, or problematic in some other ways. That is part of our DNA. In order to be faithful and effective, our churches are continually changing and innovating in method while trying to remain faithful in message. Because of our local autonomy, any congregation is free to make the changes it believes it needs to make without outside interference or control. There is great diversity from one congregation to another and from one region of the world to another, which is exactly what we should expect given what we observe in the New Testament churches.
Passion for Christian unity is in our core identity. We began as a unity movement frustrated by the division in the body of Christ and the desire to love all those who belong to the Lord still matters to many in our network. This is messy and difficult, but it is part of our story and legacy.