For the longest time I would make a hotel choice based on two criteria: non-smoking rooms and free Internet, either wired or wifi, in the room. I am brand loyal between three companies. One offers both, non-smoking hotels and free Internet which is where I most often stay when I have a choice because it fits me best; and a perk is that if fits my budget though I do pay a little more.
When I was in third grade, my family chose the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) because First Christian in Paris, TX, welcomed us after another denomination refused my father, and our family communion, because my father is a member of the Masonic Lodge. First Christian connected my family to a new way of thinking about God, and practicing faith alongside a community through worship, service projects, Sunday school, youth group, and fellowship.
The people of the parenthesis, as Disciples were known then, connected me to a journey in faith through conversation at youth group, church camp, retreats, and leadership in the church that led to ordained ministry. But, it was a collaboration within the people of the parenthesis that led to my call, because, the summer between sixth and seventh grade, we moved from Paris to Beaumont, TX, where we found another Disciples of Christ congregation that met me, met my family, on our journey. And then, during Christmas break of my junior year of high school we moved from Beaumont to Waco, TX, where we found another Disciples of Christ congregation that like the others met us on our journey.
All these congregations were different sizes. They were different and similar in worship style. They had conservative and liberal members, but those labels were not important, nor defining, like they are today.
What was important, and defining, was connecting people to a community that would challenge and comfort, proclaim good news and be good news, and welcome persons whom were beyond the parenthesis to the table, to the journey in faith, to leadership, and to be accountable for consistent living with the way of Jesus.
I think this is what makes our 21st century movement for wholeness relevant and alive. But, in a culture with many, many choices, we have to be comfortable knowing that the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is not the choice for everyone. Some people cannot live with the collaborative tension of intentional Christian community that disagrees about the importance of tradition, the interpretation of scripture, the role of the Church in culture, and the definition of ‘mission,’ but claim Christ, commune together, and are accountable to one another about following the way of Jesus. That’s what I trust we are teaching, and sometimes preaching, through the shared ministry we call, Children, Youth, and Young Adult Ministry.
