One In Jesus

We are reflecting on Why They Left: Listening to Those Who Have Left Churches of Christ by Flavil R. Yeakley, Jr.

In dealing with a survey of former Church of Christ members, Yeakley next addresses the complaint of many that “Churches of Christ do not believe in salvation by grace through faith.”

Yeakley denies it, asserting,

There may be a few Churches of Christ where that position is what one hears, but that is not what most of us believe.

He then argues for a very orthodox and, I believe, sound understanding of grace. Good. But he knows his Bible far better than he knows his denomination.  Continue reading →

We are reflecting on Why They Left: Listening to Those Who Have Left Churches of Christ by Flavil R. Yeakley, Jr.

The first two chapters of the book give the raw data. The next few chapters summarize the reasons given for leaving the Churches of Christ by people who left. The chapters are based on 300 essay responses.

The approach is not entirely scientific, as Yeakley points out, as the survey resulted from an online questionnaire advertised via the Christian Chronicle. Only those former members who still read the Chronicle would be likely to know about the survey. Continue reading →

We are reflecting on Why They Left: Listening to Those Who Have Left Churches of Christ by Flavil R. Yeakley, Jr.

Yeakley demonstrates that the problem of plateaued and declining numbers is not unique to the Churches of Christ. Most denominations are suffering similar problems.

However, the Churches of Christ have been plateaued (near zero growth) for decades, going back to 1980, whereas in the latter part of the 20th Century, many denominations enjoyed dramatic growth. Continue reading →

We are reflecting on Why They Left: Listening to Those Who Have Left Churches of Christ by Flavil R. Yeakley, Jr.

Yeakley begins by pointing out that the Stone-Campbell or Restoration Movement produced three major denominations.

In terms of total adherents (baptized members plus their unbaptized children), the three denominations* rank as the 12th (Churches of Christ), 13th (Christian Churches and Churches of Christ**), and 14th (Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)) largest denominations in the US. Continue reading →

The Gospel Advocate has recently published Why They Left: Listening to Those Who Have Left Churches of Christ by Flavil R. Yeakley, Jr. (Sadly, not available in electronic form.)

Dr. Yeakley has long served as an un-official statistician for the Churches of Christ, and his work has been extremely valuable to the Churches. It’s due to Dr. Yeakley’s research that we know that the Churches of Christ are in decline in terms of members, members and adherents (members plus unbaptized children), and congregations.

In this book, he looks at the available data as to why this is so. It’s a valuable resource and much appreciated. Continue reading →