HISTORY IS GRAND…Okay – I’ve almost finished my Polity and History Course of the Disciples of Christ/Christian Church. That’s where I disappeared the last week of July – over to Eureka College for a seminar with 8 other pastors and an amazing instructor, to review a text written by Dr. John Toulouse called Joined in Discipleship, published in 1997. Amy Artman, PhD student from the University of Chicago, who is ordained in our denomination, promoted many thoughtful discussions, debates, and explorations of our rich heritage. She was actually a student of Dr. Toulouse, studying under him while a seminarian at Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University. In addition to the text, as a group, we reviewed an account of what occurred at Cane Ridge, Kentucky, written by Barton Stone, and other documents which are available to everyone on-line at the Disciples of Christ/Christian Church web-site, on Thomas Campbell’s "Declaration and Address", Barton Stone’s "Last Will and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery", The Design for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), The Policies and Guidelines for the Order of Ministry, and David Artman’s "Yes, Virginia, We Do Affirm the Apostolic Faith". I have the text and all of these articles – please borrow them from me if you are interested in reading any of them, or feel free to surf the internet to download the articles which are available.

Those days were full – six and a half to seven hours spent daily in class, three to four hours spent reading, and for me at least

another two hours were spent writing, entering my notes on the computer to share with you. Ninety percent of what we discussed was new for me – yet it’s funny how much it made sense to me. Over the years Marge McGaughey has been sharing glimpses with me of how our denomination began. (Thanks, Marge.) Thomas and Alexander Campbell got together with Barton Stone after splintering away from other churches. I was amazed that in spite of all the differences in thought between Barton Stone and Alexander Campbell that this church agreed to start together, anyway. Stone had moved away from the Presbyterian Church, and Campbell from Baptist and Presbyterian – and both turned from published creeds and hierarchies which were commonly found in the church at that time. And even though Campbell and Stone criticized each other in publications for years, they and Walter Scott, as well as others, clearly agreed that our focus is "Jesus is the Christ", that the Bible is the foundation of our faith, and that we must be a Biblical people and an interpretative people – that we are to study God’s Word regularly, and live our lives in witness to what we have received in our study. The formation of our church paralleled the formation of our wonderful country, complete with a democratic process in the individual church, freedom to interpret the Bible for ourselves, individually, and a keen sense that unity among all churches is a central goal, that until we achieve unity, we will never be complete, as we need each other in order to complete each other. We are as American as apple pie – largest mainline denomination born in this country. And even though we value unity as a desire of God’s heart, we’ve experienced two splits within our denomination over the years. Our rugged individualism stopped us from allowing ourselves to be labeled as a "denomination" until 1968 – didn’t want to put on "airs", but saw the need to organize at the national level in order to become more effective in ministry through missions, locally and around the world. After all, why are we here anyway? For missions, of course.

Our denomination embraces the idea that we are here to spread the Good News in our words and in our actions, to joyfully serve in the name of Jesus the Christ, and to promote unity. We are becoming more diversified, with tolerance of differences among God’s children, promoting better use of our resources among people, including women and people of color. We’ve made mistakes in our past, and are able to own them, learn from them, and endeavor to succeed wherever God plants us. That’s something I can truly respect. Guess it keeps us humble.

My last project of this class is a paper, 2000 to 2500 words in length, 8 to 10 pages typed, double-spaced. It’s due the end of August – all prayers are gratefully received. The topic is "What Would You Say to Someone Who Is Unchurched Who Is Considering Joining the Disciples of Christ/Christian Church"?, based on our readings and discussion during the week at Eureka. For me, this class was exciting, in discovering I really am "home", that I am beginning to truly see the church as Church – living, breathing, feeling body, the Bride of Christ, to do the work of Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit. By now, I hope the discussion notes and projects have been sent via e-mail to all who have internet access, in case you’d like to see what we talked about. I’m telling you, our history is amazing, and a tremendous blessing from God. Knowing where we’ve been – helps us to know where we are to go… – Pastor Carol