The Dark Side of Autonomy

The calling card of the Churches of Christ has been our autonomy, the fact that each of our congregations is a unit unto itself, not beholden to any ruling entity except the Bible.

We have revelled in this individuality and I'm sure it has its good points. However, it has one notable liability - we have absolutely no foundation of coordination between congregations, effectively hamstringing us when there's a crisis that needs a response.

We sit on the sidelines and watch as the Baptist men respond to disasters with trucks and supplies. Interestingly, we care about people just as much as the Baptists but can't pull the trigger and help the critically needy except in a scattershooting way.

I would hope that reasonable Church of Christ leaders would investigate ways we could have a unified response targeting those whose lives have been devastated by some sort of disaster.

It would go a long way in reversing the negativity that one usually hears when the name of our church is brought up.