Ex-Church of Christ Support Board

The White's Creek Church of Christ in a still-rural part of Nashville/Davidson County, Tennessee, recently threw in the towel, as the increasingly elderly congregation failed repeatedly to attract any new members, had virtually no young people (meaning, under age 60 or so), and no converts. It closed its doors last month. It was a very old CofC with a pretty nice old building and a significant history in the CofC denomination. I drive by it every morning on the way to work, and I noticed its sign mentioned its "last Sunday" a few weeks ago.

The fate of this particular church seems to me to be indicative of the future of the CofC denomination. As its membership relentlessly ages, loses its young people wholesale, fails to convert any significant number of people at all, becomes increasingly even more unimportant and irrelevant to society as a whole, falls victim to the now-universal ability to fact-check its preposterous claims about its history and validity using information age technology, and generally implodes on its own negativity and legalism, the denomination continues its march toward extinction. I see every closure of a Church of Christ as a positive and hopeful event and as evidence of the steady erosion of its membership.

Here's the only link I can find discussing the matter. The writer, another CofC preacher, of course just doesn't get it. The CofC is doomed.

http://start2finish.org/will-your-churc ... of-christ/

Could it be due to the fact that they’re not actually preaching ‘The Truth’?

No CofC is preaching "The Truth." That's one reason the denomination is dying.

I wonder why this access to internet fact checking and rigid rules stuff doesn't have the same effect and kill off Mormon/LDS, JW, or even Islam? It would seem CofC is a milder version in almost all aspects. Maybe that is the problem, CofC needs to get back to "Distinctive" preaching...how about a 5 day meeting on being a "peculiar people of the book with distinctive preaching" and then follow up with another awesome series on "The Home". Sign up sheet in the vestibule for hosting the visiting preacher for supper.

klp wrote:I wonder why this access to internet fact checking and rigid rules stuff doesn't have the same effect and kill off Mormon/LDS, JW, or even Islam? It would seem CofC is a milder version in almost all aspects. Maybe that is the problem, CofC needs to get back to "Distinctive" preaching...how about a 5 day meeting on being a "peculiar people of the book with distinctive preaching" and then follow up with another awesome series on "The Home". Sign up sheet in the vestibule for hosting the visiting preacher for supper.

Islam isn't intimidated one bit by Al Gore's internets.

Interesting article, NeverAgain. No matter what I may think about the coc and coc preachers, I do think the author put his finger on the right button - he just didn't recognize that the problem he identified is 'natural' to the coc (and a good many other similar denominations as well). Plus of course, the natural and human resistance to change, even when that change is clearly identified as desirable. Those church members had their identity so tied to a particular attitude and a particular way of doing things, that they were willing to 'die' rather than substantially change.

RIP I guess.

klp wrote:Sign up sheet in the vestibule for hosting the visiting preacher for supper.

Forget liberal/conservative or institutional/anti. The real division in the COC is between those churches that call it a "vestibule" and those that call it a "foyer."

Lev

Sort of saddened to see this, but in away in is inevitable. Hope that the building could be of use for someone.

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Visiting family last Christmas. I was at two CoC s in two different states and 90% of those in attendance were over 60. They each had one young family with young kids. These churches will not last.