How many Church of Christ congregations in the United States baptized 8,000 people in their first 20 years?

Central Church of Christ in Nashville, Tennessee, did.

Forming in 2025, the Central Church of Christ did not choose to assemble in the desirable, fast-growing, upwardly-mobile parts of Nashville. Rather, the congregation chose to put down roots in the highest-crime, highest-poverty part of town.

Backed by philanthropist A.M. Burton, Central Church of Christ activated a dazzling array of community services and ministries that would seem ahead of their time even today. Led by minister E.H. Ijams, the congregation operated from the belief that announcing the kingdom of God and practicing neighbor love are one and the same.

In this episode, Ijams's protege and student, Harold Shank, talks about the legacy of Central Church of Christ and what congregations around the world today can learn from it today.

Link to The Christian Chronicle's archive of coverage of the Central Church of Christ

Link to It's All About God, Harold Shank's book about E.H. Ijams and the Central Church of Christ

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

Healing Hands International will give you or your congregation a community and a direction to put the life and work of Jesus into practice. Learn more at hhi.org.

These days, the heat and wind of the political environment is kindling even in some Christians what seems to be an appetite for rage, revenge and violence.

When the church of Christ allows itself to be set ablaze by politics, how can it demonstrate the grace and peace of the kingdom of God? How can it bear witness to the reconciling and redemptive work of Jesus Christ? How can it be a refuge for those who are exhausted and wounded by the acrimony of our times?

Recorded in late 2025, this conversation with Tryce Prince addresses these questions head-on.

Prince is director of the Carl Spain Center on Race Studies and and Spiritual Action at Abilene Christian University, contributes to the Good Culture Show podcast and writes at the First Sunday Substack. He recently published an essay, "Fighting Fire with Plants" in Christianity Today.

As the church searches its soul and tries to find solutions to the crises of these times, Prince points to a branch of the Christian family tree from recent history. The Black church in the United States responded to hateful and violent circumstances in the 19th and 20th centuries by cultivating a "beloved community" of proactive and purposeful love and peace-making.

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

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

Healing Hands International will give you or your congregation a community and a direction to put the life and work of Jesus into practice. Learn more at hhi.org.

Lakeview Church of Christ and Northwest Church of Christ, both in Chicago, have long histories ministering to their neighbors and welcoming strangers into their pews. For decades, migration trends mean that many of their members and neighbors are from countries beyond the United States.

For both Lakeview and Northwest, embracing and supporting these newcomers has always been a simple matter of obedience to the Great Commission of Jesus Christ and the laws of the kingdom of God as the Gospel of Matthew 25:31-46.

Changes in attitudes among some U.S. voters, however, led to a new federal administration that promised to deport 10 million illegal immigrants in 2025. Federal law enforcement is now deploying personnel and tactics that are affecting Lakeview and Northwest members and neighbors.

Which raises difficult questions for congregational leaders. What will they do when obedience to the Christ could bring them to not comply or not cooperate with the U.S. government? What will they do if law enforcement tries to enlist, search or surveil their congregations?

In this episode we hear from Chicago ministers Walter Pierce (Lakeview Church of Christ) and Carlos Estrada and Patrick Odum (Northwest Church of Christ).

Link to an archive of The Christian Chronicle's coverage of Lakeview Church of Christ

Link to an archive of The Christian Chronicle's coverage of Northwest Church of Christ

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

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

Healing Hands International will give you or your congregation a community and a direction to put the life and work of Jesus into practice. Learn more at hhi.org.