Even after a hundred years, churches of Christ have continued to be predominantly southern, rural, Anglo, and middle-class folks.

In the early 1900s most of the churches that remained a cappella were southern and rural. And when the Depression came, and people started moving north, they started churches and carried their Southern ideas with them.

Today, 20 percent of the churches are in Texas, and another 10 percent in Tennessee.

What happened at the beginning of the century was a quest to get things right according to the pattern. The boundary lines that were drawn included certain questions about what people could do in a church service, and about organizational structure and cooperation.

This continues to be pursued today by more than a fourth of our churches. The drawing of the boundary at classes or church support of institutions has been a defining moment in the life of these congregations.

When we move over that line into the mainstream, about three-fourths of the churches, you have people still relatively close to the first group’s way of thinking. The mental processes by which you establish what is right in these congregations continue to focus on patterns.

Once you move beyond that to a lot of urban and larger churches, this is no longer the defining issue. The last 25 years, the crucial point for these churches is that we’re Christians but not the only Christians. They don’t preach much on patterns or organization. These churches are not issue-oriented, but focused on spiritual development.

A common impression is that churches of Christ have leveled off in their expansion. To what extent is this true?

The numbers are so close, that it is almost too close to call. If there had been a continuing growth factor, I think the numbers we’re picking up would show it. But they’re not. My feeling is that the church has plateaued and perhaps in the last couple of years started downward. I think we’re at least safe in saying that the numbers are plateaued.

What we know is that the population continues to grow. In the United States, we have grown from 76 million to 281 million in a hundred years. We’ve picked up 200 million people. Churches of Christ have picked up one million. It’s 200-to-1 growth.

How do you account for the apparent lack of growth?

Who knows why?

Back in the fifties, when people said we were growing, everybody was experiencing increase. In the sixties, churches began to decrease. All religious groups were suffering.

We know that churches mirror society. Society is not necessarily less religious now; it’s different in its religious aspirations. The issue is not a lack of spiritual questing, but a lack of interest in some of the things that had marked us. There’s less interest in righting things than in just furthering a relationship with God.

There is also the question if people are as evangelistic. During the Depression or after World War II, when people moved, they started a church. That does not appear to be happening any more.

How much has a de-emphasis on the unique theological correctness of churches of Christ reduced the impetus for establishing new congregations?

There has been a shift in the way people view church, gospel and other people. There is a lot of traditional conservatism, and probably the majority of churches are still very much there. But they’re not growing. There doesn’t seem to be this fervor for bringing new people in.

Meanwhile, younger people are beginning to say, “If I’m not getting what I need here, I’ll just go somewhere else, so what if it’s another group.” The church’s back door is opening.

What would shut that “back door”?

I don’t know that the older population will be able to close it.

There are a lot of young people who are very spiritually inclined, just as there always have been. I think if a significant number were to say, “We’re here to stay, and we have a lot to be grateful for and we’re going to share it with others,” it would make a difference. The question is, what is the likelihood the newer generation is going to do it?

They’re there for the picking. Now who’s going to step in, and inspire them, and point them?

What additional perspective can you offer on our progress as a movement?

Our growth situation is not a question of laziness. It’s not that people have quit being interested in others. There are many programs established during the last 50 years that people can get involved in, everything from colleges, to child care, to inner-city work. The list is endless.

To some extent the whole nation is caught up in these kinds of activities. My wife would want us to add that the working of the Spirit of God cannot be discounted. It’s certainly not up to us to do everything.

I know many people who feel God is working in their lives, who are spiritually minded and who are praying. And these are people who are located across the span of differences in churches of Christ. And it characterizes people in other religious groups as well.