Accurate information about others who share our beliefs can be very important. Without such information, we may become discouraged because of the feeling that we are virtually alone. That is what happened to the prophet Elijah in 1 Kings 19:1 - 18. Elijah thought that he was the only one left who served Jehovah. He was so discouraged that he wanted to die. But Elijah's perceptions were not accurate. God told Elijah that there were still "seven thousand who had not bowed down to Baal." Knowing that he was not alone gave Elijah the courage to return to the work God had given him to do.

Churches of Christ in the United States today face a situation similar to what Elijah faced. Most members do not have accurate information about those who share their beliefs. Many have the perception that this fellowship is very small and insignificant, rapidly declining in membership, and losing most of its younger members. They believe that this fellowship is far more divided than other religious groups and far behind most other religious groups in adopting effective methods. Many of those who have such perceptions are having an identity crisis regarding their participation in this fellowship. These perceptions, however, are based on exaggerated reports of problems, unrealistic pessimism, and inaccurate data.

It may help to understand why reports have been distorted. There are several possible explanations. A few years ago, some church leaders made unrealistic plans based on overly-optimistic projections. Such planning left their congregations burdened with excessive debt, expensive programs, and facilities much larger than they currently need. What may be happening today is that some are going to the opposite extreme. Their unrealistic pessimism is just an over-reaction to the unrealistic optimism of the past. Others may just be projecting onto the church in general the negative factors that they have observed in the limited sample of congregations and individuals they have known. They seem to assume that their own negative attitudes and evaluations are typical of the church everywhere. Still others may be seeking to justify the lack of progress in their own congregations by painting a dismal picture of the church generally. They may be like the preacher who boasted, "My congregation is dying more slowly than any church in town." What should concern us most, however, is that some appear to be exaggerating negative factors in order to prove that there is a need for some change that they want to promote.

It is wrong to use exaggerated reports about problems in order to establish the need for some change. In order to counteract that error, I want to provide accurate, factual information. Such an effort, however, involves the risk that those who defend the status quo and oppose all change may find comfort in this material. That is not the intended outcome. There are many changes that are needed in the church today. The church should always be open to change in matters of method. We should always be looking for ways to make our work more effective. Of course, we must resist changes in matters of faith when those changes would take us away from the New Testament pattern. The church, however, must be receptive to change-even in matters of doctrine and practice -- when those changes would bring us closer to the perfect standard taught in the New Testament. The only alternative is to assume that we have already achieved perfection. Few have so little humility as to make such a claim.

Christians need accurate information about conditions in the church today. We should not panic because of the bad news we have heard and rush into accepting changes that we should reject. We need to correct false impressions and distorted perceptions with accurate, objective, factual data. I believe that the information presented in the following pages supports the following conclusion: the good news is that the bad news we have been hearing is not entirely true -- but the bad news is that the good news is not as good as it ought to be.

The Importance of Perceptions

Distorted perceptions concerning those who share certain beliefs can be corrected rather easily in most religious groups. They have formal written creeds that set forth the beliefs shared by the individuals and local churches affiliated with each denomination. They have church statisticians at denominational headquarters who can provide accurate information on such things as the number and location of local congregations, the number of members and adherents, rates of growth or decline, retention and drop-out rates, attendance and contribution patterns, etc.

Churches of Christ, however, are not structured in this manner. 1 Each congregation in this fellowship is independent. There is no formal organic connection among the congregations. There is no central organization with any authority over the local churches. No one is in an official position to speak for the entire group. Each local congregation has its own unwritten set of beliefs, but as a group these congregations have no formal written creed.

These congregations are a group only in the sense of having a shared perception of similarity with one another. But, collectively, these congregations are a group in that sense of the term. In a religious group that exists as a group only in the shared perception of similarity, it is especially important that the members have accurate information about others who share their beliefs. We should not be at all interested in promoting a narrow sectarian pride regarding those with whom we agree or a judgmental attitude toward those with whom we disagree, but it is important to have accurate information concerning those who share our beliefs.

Questions and Answers about Churches of Christ

The format for this discussion consists of questions about Churches of Christ. The answers are based on accurate and thoroughly documented empirical data that can help overcome the unrealistic pessimism that has become so pervasive in recent years.

Questions Related to Size and Growth How many people share our belief in Jesus Christ?

There are 1,650,000,000 people in the world today who identify themselves as being "Christian" That is approximately 30 percent of the world's population. However, only five percent of the people in the world are active members of any church, while 20 percent are only nominal members, and 70 percent do not even claim to be Christians.

Churches and Church Membership in the United States 1990 is a reference work compiled by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies. 2 The 1990 study by this group identified more than 250,000 local congregations in the United States with over 86,000,000 full communicant members and over 130,000,000 adherents. Church statisticians use the "adherent" figures to compare religious groups that count membership in different ways. The adherents include all of the full, confirmed, communicant members and also their children who may not yet be old enough to be counted as member~along with other regular participants who are not counted as members. Of course, most of these congregations, members, and adherents belong to some denomination with beliefs and practices that set them apart from us and limit our fellowship with them.

How many people share our identification with the Restoration Movement?

Churches of Christ are heirs of a movement led by Barton W. Stone, Thomas Campbell, Alexander Campbell, and other such pioneers. Their goal was to restore New Testament Christianity. Their emphasis was on restoring New Testament doctrines and practices concerning the plan of salvation, church organization, worship, and other things that had previously been neglected. Three American religious groups listed in Churches and Church Membership in the United States 1990 are historical heirs of this movement:

Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) 4,036 congregations, 677,223 members, 1,037,757 adherents;

Christian Churches and Churches of Christ 5,238 congregations, 966,976 members, 1,213,188 adherents; and

Churches of Christ 13,097 congregations, 1,280,838 members, 1,681,013 adherents

The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is no longer a non-denominational group. They are now a denomination in the formal sense of that term. They no longer identify with the restoration plea. They now identify with the Ecumenical Movement and its effort to merge denominational organizations. Theologically, they have little in common with the other heirs of the Restoration Movement.

The two other heirs of the Restoration Movement, however, are very similar. Both the "Churches of Christ" and the "Christian Churches and Churches of Christ" are categories of independent congregations rather than denominations with central organizations and formal connections among local churches. The two groups differ over the use of instrumental music in congregational worship assemblies, but there is far more diversity within each fellowship than there is between them. What they have in common is more important than the areas where they differ. When the issue being considered is "How many people share our identification with the Restoration Movement?" it is important to consider both of these fellowships.

How do Churches of Christ compare with other religious groups in regard to size?

There are at least 245 religious groups that are currently active in this nation. Some of these 245 religious groups are larger than the Churches of Christ and some are smaller, but how many? The answer, as shown in Table 1, is that only 11 religious groups in America have more adherents than the Churches of Christ, while the other 233 have fewer.

Next on this list is the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ. When these two groups are counted together, they have almost three million adherents (2,894,202). Only the six largest denominations in America have more adherents than these two fellowships that still identify with the plea to restore the nondenominational Christianity of the New Testament church.

How do Churches of Christ compare with other religious groups when the ranking is based on the number of members rather than adherents?

The results, as shown in Table 2, are essentially the same. Only the 10 largest denominations in America have more members than the Churches of Christ, while the 234 other religious groups have fewer members. The non-instrumental and instrumental fellow-ships together report 2,247,814 members. Only the six largest denominations in America have more members than these two Restoration Movement fellowships.

* The Catholic and Mormon Churches report adherent figures, but do not report the number of members, so the adherent figures for these two groups are used here.

How do Churches of Christ compare with other religious groups in the nation when the ranking is based on the number of local congregations?

The answer as shown in Table 3, is that only the three largest denominations in America have more local congregations, while the 241 others have fewer local congregations. The non-instrumental and instrumental fellowships together have a total of 18,335 local congregations in the United States, but combining the figures results in the same ranking. The Southern Baptist Convention, United Methodist Church, and Catholic Church still have more local congregations than these two Restoration Movement fellowships combined. But all of the other 240 denominations in America have fewer congregations. Those who plead for the restoration of the non-denominational Christianity of the New Testament church are not alone.

Are Churches of Christ in America declining?

The rate of growth has declined, but there has never been a decade since the earliest days of the Restoration Movement when the number of congregations, members, or adherents declined.

Churches of Christ have experienced very little growth in the United States in the 1990s. The following figures are from the directory compiled by Mac Lynn in 1990.

The good news is that Churches of Christ are not declining as some reported. The bad news is that they are not growing and have not been growing for over 13 years. It is not that we do not know how or that we do not have the necessary resources. We have the man power; we have the money power; we have the brain power; and, most of all, we have the power of God. All that we need is the will power.

NOTES

1 Churches of Christ often use a small"c" in the word "churches" in order to stress identification with the spiritual fellowship of all the saved and the purpose of being nondenominational. That style is not used here because the references here are to the "Churches of Christ" as a category reported in almanacs and year-books. The emphasis here is not on the theological purpose, but rather on the sociological reality.

2 Martin B. Bradley, Norman M. Green, Jr., Dale B. Jones, Mac Lynn, and Lou McNeil, Churches and Church Membership in the United States 1990 (Atlanta: Glenmary, 1991).

3 Church statisticians use the number of adherents to compare the relative size of religious groups that count membership in different ways. The adherents include all of the members plus their children who attend church but who are not yet baptized.