Church of Christ lifers may remember Churches of Christ in the United States, an annual directory of, you guessed it, all Church of Christ congregations in the United States. The last edition came out in 2018.

In 2024, The Christian Chronicle, Heritage 21 Foundation, Siburt Institute and 21st Century Christian formed a partnership, the Church Research Council, to resume publication of Churches of Christ in the United States.

But making a directory of Church of Christ congregations is not as easy as it may seem. First, there is the challenge of tracking down 10,000 to 12,000 independent congregations across 50 states and territories.

Then there's the fact that some congregations will resist participating for a variety of reasons, including how creating a directory feels "denominational" to congregations that avoid anything that resembles that label.

And then there's the harder question of all: What is a "Church of Christ" and who gets to decide?

In this episode, Dr. Suzie Macaluso, the lead researcher on the Churches of Christ in the United States project, talks about the challenges and implications of the directory on how Church of Christ folks imagine themselves and how they relate to one another.

Link to Cheryl Mann Bacon's Christian Chronicle story on the challenges of compiling a new Churches of Christ in the United States

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Bible scholar and prolific book-writer Rubel Shelly returns to talk about his two new books on heaven and hell. In this episode, he explains why heaven and hell may not be what most Christians always imagined them to be.

Link to Heaven: Why It May Not Be What You Have Always Heart, by Rubel Shelly

Link to Hell: Why It May Not Be What You Have Always Heard, by Rubel Shelly

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.

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

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.