why i stay

the following is taken from a blog that i found recently by reading a comment on another blog. so i have taken it from that blog and am adding it to my blog. make since?

i cracked up when i started reading the second paragraph. i won't say anymore so not spoil it. i hope you enjoy it. please leave a comment so we can see if we like the same stuff.

I am a member of Churches of Christ. By an accident of birth I was raised in a family that worshipped in Churches of Christ and have attended faithfully since I was two weeks old. By choice I attended a university affiliated with Churches of Christ, where I learned a deep respect for God’s world, and a passion for his people was first stirred. By choice, again, I sought further education in theology at a seminary associated with Churches of Christ, something that, ironically, is not particularly valued in our fellowship.

I know “us.” I know what 728B means. I understand “guideguardanddirect.” I am familiar with the ebb and flow of our worship: songs, prayer, sermon, songs, communion, songs, prayer, potluck. I know why we have emblems instead of sacraments. I missed the premillenial debate, but I’ve lived through worship wars and women’s roles. I know about fellowship halls and Sunday school and church camps and other things. I know what a “shut-in” is. I know Acts 2:38.

But I also know we are part of a larger animal called “the church.” I know that there’s nothing inherently evil about instruments, liturgies, sacramental garb. I know that substitutionary atonement isn’t the only way to understand Jesus’ life and death. I know that there are elements in Christendom that I miss in our fellowship. I see a lot of flaws in our fellowship, and a lot of areas for improvement.

So, I am presented with two choices: stay, or go.

I wrote a while back about my desire to stay. To quote a friend, “I know where the land mines are.” Ultimately, if we can dig beneath the veneer of the “one true church” rhetoric, church membership is largely arbitrary, isn’t it? In my limited experience there is no perfect denomination. Every group of Christians bound together by a certain doctrine or creed or liturgy has its own problems. Churches of Christ are my family. If my mom suddenly developed cancer, I wouldn’t disown her and start looking for a new mom, one with which I would be more comfortable, or had fewer flaws.

Perhaps that is why I am so passionate about ministering, and why I’m not too concerned with whether that’s planting new churches or helping established ones. That’s why I’m excited about a possible project that’s in the works. That’s why I stir up trouble with posts about gays and women and academic institutions that won’t toe the line. That’s why I put so much stock in the “missional church” movement, because it forces us to look beyond the activities inside the hallowed walls of the church building, and out into our communities and our world. The missional instinct raises awareness about social justice, about racism and discrimination of all types. Missional people care more about gay people than about being right on the gay issue.

I want to do my small part for helping bring about missional transformation in the body of Christ, and specifically in my tribe, my family. That is why I stay.