Christian universities feeling the pinch as Churches of Christ shrink

[Lerk]

Article here in The Christian Chronicle.

 

This makes me happy. One of my greatest regrets in life is allowing my children to go to Florida College, the only "Non-Institutional Church of Christ" affiliated college. (The rest are affiliated with the "Mainline" Churches of Christ.) There's a quote in the article from the director of admissions at "FC" (as it's known).

 

It basically talks about how the percentage of students at the colleges and universities who are members of Churches of Christ is shrinking. Total attendance is shrinking somewhat, but the numbers of "Church of Christ kids" is shrinking dramatically so that they're actually a minority at some of the schools. Part of that is because Churches of Christ are shrinking in both number of congregations and in total members (yay!). That's not something I really ever thought would happen. In Churches of Christ a sort of  pseudo logic is preached that makes people who grew up in the denomination think that, of course, this is the one true church! The CoC grew rapidly up until the 1950s. Then there was a split of sorts (mainline/non-institutional), and now they're shrinking for the same reasons that other denominations are shrinking. The insistence upon belief in Young Earth Creationism, the rules against divorce and remarriage, demand for total abstinence from alcohol, and just the fact that we have the internet, are responsible for the demise. Of course, the article doesn't talk about any of that.

 

In fact one of the interviewees seems hopeful that some of the students in the colleges can be converted to Church of Christ Christianity the LORD. You can see hints of "one true church-ism" throughout. Even the title: "Christian Universities" clearly means "universities affiliated with Churches of Christ."

 

Anyway, this article may be of special interest to you if you're an ex-Church-of-Christer.

[Tsathoggua9]

Hey, great news! I am quite happy! And I bear no ill will against any individual COC'ers. (Plus, I must say that I did actually have a pretty good time at David Lipscomb when I attended 1979-1983, even though I really should have had the guts to go to Columbia University, instead.)  But the COC as an institution does need to wither and die, methinks....

[Geezer]

A former c of C elder here. A former Baptist that became associated with the c of C thru a Bible study & then rose thru the ranks to become an Elder. Only to be asked to resign due to my residual Baptist beliefs in grace.

 

The Church of Christ is definitely a group that needs to become extinct and the quicker the better. And hopefully they take all the other fundamentalists groups with them.

 

Your post is good news. 

[Geezer]

Just letting you know Tsathoggua9 & I hang out over at Ex-Church of Christ.com Support Board some too, just in case you'd like to check that site out. Most of the active folks over there are still theists but they are all Ex-Church of Christ too. There are a handful of non-believers over there and we don't hide that fact. If you have any interest check it out. I go by the name Cootie Brown over there but with the same little old man icon. 

 

Oh yeah, lots of former c of C Texas folk over there too & I reposted your article over there. 

 

http://ex-churchofchrist.com/SupportBoard/

 

[Lerk]

56 minutes ago, Geezer said:

Just letting you know Tsathoggua9 & I hang out over at Ex-Church of Christ.com Support Board some too, just in case you'd like to check that site out. Most of the active folks over there are still theists but they are all Ex-Church of Christ too. There are a handful of non-believers over there and we don't hide that fact. If you have any interest check it out. I go by the name Cootie Brown over there but with the same little old man icon. 

 

Oh yeah, lots of former c of C Texas folk over there too & I reposted your article over there. 

 

http://ex-churchofchrist.com/SupportBoard/

 

 

I actually have an account there, but I haven't logged in in quite awhile. I think my user name is either "Two" or "MisterTwo". I'll have to change that to "Lerk".

 

[Geezer]

6 minutes ago, Lerk said:

 

I actually have an account there, but I haven't logged in in quite awhile. I think my user name is either "Two" or "MisterTwo". I'll have to change that to "Lerk".

 

 

 

I think I remember a MisterTwo. 

[Tsathoggua9]

2 hours ago, Geezer said:

Just letting you know Tsathoggua9 & I hang out over at Ex-Church of Christ.com Support Board some too, just in case you'd like to check that site out. Most of the active folks over there are still theists but they are all Ex-Church of Christ too. There are a handful of non-believers over there and we don't hide that fact. If you have any interest check it out. I go by the name Cootie Brown over there but with the same little old man icon. 

 

Oh yeah, lots of former c of C Texas folk over there too & I reposted your article over there. 

 

http://ex-churchofchrist.com/SupportBoard/

 

 

Oh, I'm glad that you shared that information! I can't remember if I have ever posted anything on this board about the ex-COC support board. Perhaps I already have, but I gots memory issues, sometimes....

[Misosthriskeia]

Good.

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http://www.reveal.org/library/history/paden.html