"The Restoration Movement" refers to the 19th and 20th century stream of events, people and thinking from which the Church of Christ emerged. Church of Christ folks of a certain age imagine that they are restoring the first century church as they find it in the New Testament.

But does restoration itself sometimes need to be restored?

If so, how do Christians restore restoration?

Matt Dabbs, a Church of Christ minister and scholar, offers his answers in his book, Restoring a Movement: A Hopeful Future for Churches of Christ.

In this episode, Matt talks about the powerful trends that fed the rise of the Church of Christ in its 1950s "golden age" in the United States. He also explores the powerful trends that worked against the Church of Christ and led to its decline in U.S. congregations and members in recent decades. Most important, he testifies to the power and work of God that is already making a future for emerging generations...if they choose it.

Links:

Restoring a Movement: A Hopeful Future for Churches of Christ by Matt Dabbs

Home Church Resources (Matt Dabbs's ministry to Christians and congregations who want to explore planting home churches)

The Christian Chronicle's report on Matt Dabbs's "backyard church" that formed during COVID isolation

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What is Christian nationalism and what are its effects on the United States? Christians these days may choose to consume any number of blogs, books, cable news, podcasts, social media and talk radio shows that deal with those questions.

In this episode, however, we address how Christian nationalism may effect the Church of Christ community in the United States. In other words, is it bad or good for the health, integrity and witness of the church and its members?

Dr. Christina Littlefield, co-author with Dr. Richard Hughes, of Christian America and the Kingdom of God (University of Illinois Press) helps us unpack what "Christian nationalism" actually means and how the idea developed and manifested in the United States over 400 years. She answers questions like:

• Is Christian nationalism biblical?
• Can Christian nationalism be a good thing?
• How embedded and engaged should Christians be in the halls of power and in the public square?
• How does Christian nationalism affect Christians and congregations who embrace it?
• How might the Church of Christ community avoid the sin of political idolatry?

Links to books and podcast episodes that appear in this interview:

Christian America and the Kingdom of God: White Christian Nationalism from the Puritans through January 6, 2021, Updated and Expanded Edition (University of Illinois Press), by Richard T. Hughes and Christina Littlefield

Myths America Lives By: White Supremacy and the Stories that Give Us Meaning, by Richard Hughes

Reviving the Ancient Faith: The Story of Churches of Christ in America, by Richard Hughes

Chosen Nations: Pursuit of the Kingdom of God and its Influence on Democratic Values in Late Nineteenth Century Britain and the United States, by Christina Littlefield

The Christian Chronicle Podcast Episode 5 featuring Richard Hughes on The Grace of Troublesome Questions

The Christian Chronicle Podcast Episode 64 featuring Brad East on why we need to stop talking about Christian nationalism

The Christian Chronicle Podcast Episode 71 featuring Richard Hughes on how the founding of the United States influenced the Restoration Movement

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Send your comments, ideas, and suggestions to podcast@christianchronicle.org

Photo by Cody Otto on Unsplash

Get the education and formation that can help you become the best minister you can be. Learn more about Freed-Hardeman University at fhu.edu/chronicle.

It is a fact that more people in the world live in cities than in rural areas. That means the Church of Christ, if it is to be faithful and obedient to Jesus the Christ, must get used to city life and loving its neighbors in the city.

But what we imagine to be "urban ministry" in the Church of Christ is outdated and perhaps was never quite right-headed in the first place. These days, affluent professionals are moving to the "inner city" in droves while the things that we once assumed characterize the inner city are becoming more common in exurbs and suburbs.

So, in a sense, "urban ministry" may now be just...ministry.

In this episode, Dr. Steve Cloer, associate professor of ministry at the Harding School of Theology and director of the Center for Church and City Engagement in Memphis, Tennessee, talks about how our assumptions about "urban ministry" reveal a lot about ourselves and what we imagine about God and the world God so loves. He also riffs on how the Church of Christ might follow God into a future of (city) ministry that may look nothing like what was normal in the mid- to late-20th century.

Link to Dr. Steve Cloer's Christian Chronicle column on the "changing face of urban ministry"

Link to the Center for Church and City Engagement

Donate to support this ministry of "information and inspiration" at christianchronicle.org/donate

Send your comments, ideas, and suggestions to podcast@christianchronicle.org

Get the education and formation that can help you become the best minister you can be. Learn more about Freed-Hardeman University at fhu.edu/chronicle.