Shawn Chancellor began located work in Bradley, Arkansas in 2005. In 2010 he began working with the 46th Street church of Christ in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Currently he preaches for the South Georgia church of Christ in Amarillo, Texas. He and his wife Bonnie have one daughter, Colby. chancellorshawn@gmail.com.

Over the past several decades there has been a growing dissatisfaction with the status quo among religious people. Among the denominations, this dissatisfaction has resulted in a multitude of people leaving and forming new groups often referred to as nondenominational churches. Like the churches of Christ, who have used that term to describe themselves, these churches have laid aside any formal allegiance to creed or convention, along with many of the traditions that have defined the denominations since their inception.

According to a recent survey published by Pew Research Center, if viewed as a whole, the nondenominational churches form the second largest branch of Protestant denominations in the United Sates. The Baptist churches represent 15.4% of the total population of the country, the nondenominational churches 6.2% and the Methodist churches 4.2% and this trend is accelerating. In the period between 2007 and 2014 only the nondenominational churches showed any significant growth, rising 1.7% while the Baptist churches declined 1.8% and the Methodist 2%.¹

This trend seems to be an outgrowth of the evangelical movement, which is highly focused on the emotional experience of worshipping God and emphasizes the concept of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. In order to further these goals, the evangelicals moved away from discussions about the need for baptism, the significance of the Lord's Supper, the role of women in public worship, etc. By intentionally avoiding issues that might be considered divisive, these churches lack the restrictive feel that many felt had come to define the traditional denominations. With an emphasis on acceptance and an intensely emotional worship service, these churches have found a growing niche in today's rapidly evolving millennial driven culture. Many offer multiple services with their own peculiar flavor, from traditional Protestant style worship services to more "contemporary" worship with elements intentionally designed to appeal to the young.

Their localized church government allows for rapid and seemingly limitless adaptation. Much of this growth should be attributed to the commercialized approach taken by many, especially the larger nondenominational churches. While some of these churches seem like mirror images of the denomination from which they departed, many present unique blends of Baptist, Pentecostal, and prosperity theology. A greater emphasis is placed on the worship experience than the doctrine presented. A typical Sunday worship program will include professionally produced, focus-grouped, "music services," large format video boards projecting professional quality presentations from well-known personalities, and one new trend is "sermons illustrated by movies scenes" in which clips from popular movies are played in order to illustrate the sermon all in the name of reaching and engaging new people.

Doctrinally many of these churches reflect a Baptist background mixed with a heavy charismatic influence (26% of congregations employ tongue speaking and 27% utilize prophecy).² While the majority of members state that the sermons they hear are biblically centered, one has only to visit a sampling of websites to find that, in reality, the trend is toward an ecumenical, social gospel, which is carefully marketed to a group that has become dissatisfied with the traditional denominations. While the fact of God's offer of salvation is a frequent topic, a deep discussion on the means of that salvation will be difficult to find. Instead the cross becomes a means to speak about more "practical" things such as satisfaction in the workplace while steering away from clear denunciation of any sinful activity or a need for true repentance. The carefully choreographed worship experience distracts one from the lack of substantive preaching and the failure to connect the Bible story to the life of the worshiper.

This ecumenical mentality is of course in direct conflict with the approach of the church in the first century. In Paul's two letters to Timothy, we see clear instruction to teach on many of the issues deemed too divisive among the nondenominational churches, such as gender roles, qualifications of leaders, and regulations for benevolent work. Furthermore, in 1 Timothy 4 he admonishes Timothy to deal directly with issues that would divide brethren going so far as to say that "in pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus" (v. 6, NASB).

It is essential that we recognize the connection between the doctrine of the Gospel and the practice of the church. In 1 Timothy 3:15 Paul says, "I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of truth." This drawing together of faith and practice continues throughout both letters in such a manner that it is often difficult to distinguish between the two. For example, in 1 Timothy 4:1-5, he warns of the coming practice of forbidding marriage and advocating abstinence from certain foods, and in v. 6 he tells Timothy that in pointing out the error of these practices he will be "constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine." One cannot innovate regarding practice without impact on doctrine. The denominations showed this with their sacraments, which became the "means of grace," and their creeds, which became sources of authority. Certainly the nondenominational churches, in their effort to eliminate any uncomfortable controversy, have altered not only the work of the church, but the doctrine which it is charged to support.

Another issue that the nondenominational churches bring to the forefront is the result of a shallow theology. In her book entitled Almost Christian, Kenda Creasy Dean draws from the National Study of Youth in Religion (a research project conducted by the University of Notre Dame), in which over 3000 adolescents were interviewed, and found that many teenagers today "enact and espouse a religious outlook that is distinct from traditional teachings of most world religions," which she calls "moralistic therapeutic deism." Dean defines this as a religious view that "helps people be nice, feel good, and leaves God in the background" (21).³ She noted that the majority of teenagers they spoke to were "incredibly inarticulate about their faith, their religious beliefs and practices, and its meaning or place in their lives" (18). Many of these teens could not describe their religious beliefs at all, either claiming not to have any or describing views deemed heretical by their particular denomination. She goes on to say, "Perhaps young people lack robust Christian identities because churches offer such a stripped-down version of Christianity that it no longer poses a viable alternative to imposter spiritualities like Moralistic Therapeutic Deism" (36). In light of this trend it should come as no surprise that the nondenominational churches are struggling to keep members age 30-49, showing a 7% decrease from 2007-2014, as did the Baptist church.

Whether we are speaking of the Baptist church and the youth group movement, the Methodist church and the focus on Social Justice, the hyper-emotionalism of the Pentecostal churches, or the come-as-you-are-stay-as-you-came adaptability of the nondenominational churches, the failure to present the Gospel as a mold by which we must shape our lives leaves people unprepared to face the harsh realities of life in a sin corrupted world. The anemic faith that such teaching produces is often the first victim.

What should we take away from this trend? Should churches of Christ continue to use the term "nondenominational" to describe local churches? Some may call for a change in our language so that people do not connect our congregations to these secular institutions. Which term should we abandon, "nondenominational" or "church"? This may sound facetious, but what would such a change actually accomplish? We might adopt terms such as "anti-denominational" or "pre-denominational" but the issue is not language but practice. Rather than giving up good terminology, we may be better served to use the opportunity to speak about why we differ from the other nondenominational churches in town.

Secondly, we must recognize that the denominational mindset is not limited to those associated with a traditional denomination. A denominational church is any church that demonstrates a willingness to change the pattern of Scripture in either doctrine or practice, which is why we have referred to the "Non-denominational Denomination." This is the core issue that every church must guard against. In order to accomplish this, it is essential that each successive generation is able to identify areas of liberty and areas of doctrinal importance.

Furthermore any change in tradition that is made must be carefully considered. Local churches need to ascertain what led to a particular practice and, if it is determined to be a mere tradition, there needs to be an understanding of what principle of Scripture may have been upheld, defended, or clarified through its practice. Underlying all of these things there must be an emphasis placed on spiritual education within local churches. There must be a concerted effort within local churches to encourage individuals to have a deeper understanding of God's word, to make the connection between theology and godly living, to have a greater understanding of hermeneutics and to grasp the "why" behind the "what" that we might retain that pattern of sound words. To pretend that this trend of cultural conformity and the rapid change it requires is a problem existing only outside of churches of Christ is to ignore our own history and the tremendous strides the more liberal institutional churches have taken away from the Divine pattern. It must be acknowledged that we live in a culture that denies any objective standards of right and wrong and the nondenominational denomination is certainly proving that such thinking can and will have incredible impact on churches. Local churches of Christ must take a proactive stand if they are to have any hope of standing fast.

¹ "America's Changing Religious Landscape," Appendix B (May 12, 2015 http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/appendix-b-classification-of-protestant-denominations/. It is important to note that for the purposes of this survey all groups of a similar tradition were viewed as a whole, for example the Southern Baptist Convention, American Baptist Churches USA, National Baptist Convention, etc. were grouped together under the heading "Baptist." The Nondenominational churches were viewed in similar fashion combining evangelical, charismatic, fundamentalist, etc.

² "Nondenominational Congregations Today" (http://www.hartfordinstitute.org/cong/nondenom_FACT.html#worship).

³ Dean, Kenda Creasy. Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers is Telling the American Church, Oxford University Press, 2010.