The churches of Christ in the NW are going through some major changes. While there have already been many, I believe we are just in the beginning stages and over the next few years we will look very different than we have for the last who knows how many years.
First off I’ve got to be honest when I say that I don’t really know what I’m talking about. Here are two reasons why I’m the wrong person to write this post. 1. being a part of a partially blackballed church means that I don’t necessarily have my finger on the pulse of the churches of Christ at large. 2. I’m not very observant.
I’m glad I got that out of the way. Here are some of the major changes up here that I’m noticing.

• Camp Yamhill was one of the unifying and identifying places over the last however many years. It always felt like home to me. We could often do as we pleased, call it our own, use it as we pleased, etc. But the Camp has changed (probably for the better). In order to stay afloat and to be used more it has become much more “corporate” (for lack of a better word). It’s being run less family-like and more business-like. It’s no longer “our” camp (the CofC) but it’s being used pretty much every weekend of the whole year mainly by non church of Christ groups.
• Cascade College which is closing in May has functioned in the way that larger churches have functioned in other parts of the states. It’s brought in conferences, unifying events, and teaching opportunities for local churches. It’s also kept that elusive college age presence in our local churches, it’s sent out missionaries, it’s equipped ministers, teachers, and lots of Applebee’s servers. The professors at Cascade have staffed many of our churches, provided leadership, and given us a more global perspective when it comes to church and mission. So with Cascade closing all of a sudden we’ll feel that void of 20-somethings in our churches, we’ll lose quality teachers, elders, and ministers, and I could go on but I think its obvious.
• Church planting is changing the face of the churches of Christ in the NW*. In just the last three years there have been five churches planted (and one more that is on the verge of opening in Sherwood) in Oregon and Washington alone. Kairos Church Planting Support operates out of Vancouver and is having a national impact (international if you actually count Vancouver, British Columbia as a foreign country…which I don’t). This movement of planting new churches is causing “classic” churches to think about things that they haven’t had to think about for a long time. It’s bringing up new questions that have long remained dormant…which brings me to my next bullet point…
• A new focus on the unchurched is ruining much of the things we’ve held dear for so long. For a long time the Churches of Christ have lacked growth from evangelism. We just haven’t been bringing people to Jesus statistically. Our emphasis has been on our own family to the detriment of those outside the family. But now we are being forced to remember that the great commission applies not just to the foreign mission field but to the mission field that is our workplace, our neighborhood, and our friendships. And when you put an emphasis on reaching new people you are forced to give up on things that all of a sudden don’t seem quite as important. It’s a major value change that affects everything…and that is painful.
• For some reason, I think because it’s been a major identifier of how we’re different from the “denominations”, our accapella worship has come to be our primary core value. Say what you want about other values that we hold, but when you get down to hills that people are willing to fight and die over, you’ll often find that it is accapella worship that is defended to the death more than anything else. I’m not hear to argue between instrumental and accapella music, rather I believe that this goofy “battlefield” is changing. For better or worse there are more and more Churches of Christ in the NW that are choosing not to fight in this worship war (I’d say for the better but that’s just my opinion). And this shift will be a major one for our fellowship these next few years.

Please remember what I said before my bullet points that I’m completely unqualified to make any of these observations. Regardless I think that we’re on the edge of something big. I think that as the churches of Christ redefine who we are, what we look like, and what we do over these next however many years we will come to an exciting place where we are on the forefront of sharing the good news of JC with the immediate world around us. With Cascade gone we’ll reengage in campus ministry. Camp Yamhill will be a reminder that we’re not completely cut off from the world but journeying toward the end with it. Church planting will open the doors to new communities and to new seekers that our current “classic” churches would never connect with. Recommitting to sharing Jesus with those who don’t know him will create a whole new next generation of new believers who carry with them a passion that is more natural, more felt, and more urgent in sharing the gospel. And redefining what is important in our heritage will provide a healthier focus on Jesus rather than on peripheral things.
Things are changing. The church is continuing its restoration process and I’m excited to play my part in it…whatever it may be.

*The missional church stuff should be added in here but I just don’t know enough about it to write anything coherent…though that hasn’t stopped me thus far!