EECC Introduction

Okey-dokey, ye faithful few, now is the time for some introspective exploration (at least for us, anyway). This is the beginning of a series of posts entitled EECC, which is an Examination and Exposition of the Churches of Christ. The Churches of Christ is my denominational tradition in Evangelical Protestantism (say that five times fast!), and I want to do some soul-searching and research about us. These next posts from me, unless something cataclysmic warrants a deviation from them, will deal with the various theological and ecclesial issues in this group at present. This is a continuation of the DIY posts and their ecclesiological concerns, but with a much narrower focus.

A little background on me might help you understand where I'm coming from, because it's difficult to treat something so personal without a bias. I was raised in this tradition and have not left it, though I have desperately wanted to in the past. For all its warts and boils, I choose to remain in the Churches of Christ.

For our purposes, here is a small amount of formatting explanation. I differentiate between the church, that is, universal Christianity, and the Churches of Christ. I choose to pluralize the name of my tradition to avoid confusion. While I believe the church (singular, lower-case) of Christ is the only church, I do not believe that the Churches (plural, upper-case) of Christ are the only group of Christians. I am remarkably comfortable with calling Catholics, Methodists, Greek Orthodox, and Baptists (among many others) my brothers and sisters in Christ. I have never found ample, legitimate reason to believe that any particular denomination in Christendom is holier or "more saved" than another.

We all have our frustrations with our particular traditions; even those who are part of something new like many non-denominational groups do now or will eventually experience their own vexations. As such, I have to admit up front that I am not a good representative of my tradition. I have had my battles within it, but I will struggle against only pointing out flaws; I also hope to bring to light some of our better qualities (which I do as much for myself as for you readers).

If you have certain topics you would like to hear discussed or researched, leave them in comments. I have no illusions about believing I have come up with every conceivable or important topic, so be sure to help me out!

Grace and peace,

-Reed