Kids and young adults growing up in congregations with "Church of Christ" signs on their buildings have honest questions: "Who are we? How did we become who we are? Why do we do what we do?"

These are important questions for young Christians trying to decide whether to remain with the church of their upbringing or strike out in search of something different.

And, if "restoration" truly is essential to Christians who identify with the Church of Christ, then it must be a fresh practice for each new generation.

These are the reasons why Church of Christ youth ministry veterans Luke Dockery and Jared Pack wrote Origin Story: Churches of Christ and the Restoration Movement.

The book, which uses comic book illustrations and fast-moving, punchy language, seeks to orient a new generation to Church of Christ history.

In this episode, the authors discuss why church history beyond the New Testament is still crucial for present-day Christians to learn and study. They also make their case that restoring the New Testament church is always a present and future pursuit and never a past-tense accomplishment. Thus, restoration demands both an awareness of history and an orientation toward emerging generations.

Link to Zack Martin's Christian Chronicle review of Origin Story

Link to Origin Story: Churches of Christ and the Restoration Movement

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Declining birthrates in the United States will drive down college enrollment over the next 15 years. Some experts predict that hundreds of small private colleges and universities will close.

Of the 14 colleges and universities in the Church of Christ family tree, as many as ten of them have characteristics that put them at higher risk in the new higher education market.

Many of these schools are innovating in ways that cut costs, increase operating margins and revenue and at least give them a chance to grow or maintain enrollment enough to survive.

But will a necessary focus on margins lead to less focus on mission?

Dr. Joshua Travis Brown, assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Education and research fellow with the Center for Skills, Knowledge and Organizational Performance at the University of Oxford, shares what he found when he researched how small private colleges are managing tradeoffs between margins and mission. That research appears in his book, Capitalizing on College: How Higher Education Went From Mission Driven to Margin Obsessed (Oxford Press).

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Parents of special needs kids face a special kind of grief and a special kind of struggle. Yet, so often their needs go overlooked and unmet in their own churches.

Gigi Khonyongwa-Fernandez, author of From Rollercoasters to Carousels: An Emotional Support Guide to Healing for NICU, Bereaved and Special Needs Parents, shares her story and the emotions she and other NICU, bereaved and special needs parents experience.

In this episode, she opens up about how parents like her deal with ongoing grief and trauma. Among the points that come up in this discussion are:

• How we are all close to someone who experiences trauma, most of all in our churches
• NICU, bereaved and special needs parents struggle to allow themselves to feel their emotions
• Sometimes, churches do not make space for those who are grieving to grieve as fully and as long as they need

How might the church come alongside NICU, bereaved and special needs parents?

Links for this episode:

BT and Gigi reference both 2 Corinthians 1:4 and Proverbs 27:14

The Christian Chronicle's feature on Khonyogwa-Fernandez: https://christianchronicle.org/connector-in-chief-trauma-informed-coach-brings-the-world-together/

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