My Tribe

Often I find reading a blog to be a Hansel and Gretel experience. I start with one blog, which refers to another blog. Because I respect the wisdom of the bloggers I follow, I often check out the posts they recommend. I am especially susceptible to those handy links the blogger provides. One quick click and I am off the beaten path, following a trail of bread crumbs and trusting that I will finally arrive at a worthwhile destination.

Today, the trail of crumbs led me to a blog by Seth Godin. Seth writes primarily about marketing and the spread of ideas in the marketplace, but his current post concerning tribes spoke to me in a totally different way.

God established the nation of Israel with a structure of twelve tribes. The tribes had a shared ancestral heritage as descendants of Abraham and heirs of God's promise.  Each tribe also had a "personality" inherited from a son of Jacob. For centuries the twelve tribes remained one nation in spite of their tribal differences.

Israel of the new covenant is the church. While God intended the church to be one tribe, in reality there are many "tribes," each with an inherited personality. I belong to the tribe known as the Church of Christ. When I read Seth's statement, I immediately applied it to my "tribe."

In the mid-twentieth century, Churches of Christ were excessively tribal. We were known as sectarian, legalistic, and arrogant. Some members of the tribe would deny this description, asserting that we were simply right. Others recognize the truth of the description and continually rehash the faults of fifty years ago.

Here is where Seth Godin's view of tribes comes into play. Seth says,     

"The stability, power and longevity of a tribe is directly related to the way it is treated by its members."

Churches of Christ are in danger of extinction at the hands of those who grew up in the tribe. When those of us who grew up in sectarian and legalistic congregations continually talk about the past we are mistreating the church. We are painting a picture of Churches of Christ that, by and large, is no longer accurate. Every time a Christian speaks about the church in a negative way we undermine the stability and influence of the tribe as a whole. 


Instead of looking to the past and retelling our failures, let's look to the future praying for God to use our congregations in mighty ways. Let's pray that he will lead every church by means of godly elders who listen for and follow the urging of the Spirit. 


Let each of us serve in the present. Let's thank God for the way he is using our tribe to minister to the lost, the lonely, and the oppressed at home and around the world.  Let's make a list of these ministries so that we can pray for them and speak about them in a way that honors God and our tribe. Finally, may each one of us find a place to serve in a ministry of the church for the glory of God.