Yesterday I attended the first of six “Discovering our church” classes at the congregation I’ve decided to join here in Nashville.

During the informative session, led by the the connections pastor, we learned about the history of the congregation, how to reach the elders, upcoming small group opportunities, and many other items of interest to new and prospective members.

Despite all this informativeness, I was surprised by what wasn’t included. About halfway through the hour, a woman in the third row raised her hand and asked what the church believed about music in worship (this is a non-instrumental church of Christ), the role of women in leadership, and affiliation with other churches. As the leader responded to these questions the subject quickly broadened into a discussion of the churches of Christ, how they are different from other denominations, and who makes the decisions about these issues.

Although the leader did an adequate job of pointing to Scripture as the final authority, and although one of the elders competently shared the church stance on the specific questions as well as the broader philosophy of elder leadership, I was amazed at their amazement that these questions came up (and, incidentally, dominated the rest of the class).

In this age of denominational conflict and theological questioning, people want to know more than classroom locations and meeting times—they want to know “what kind of church is this?” with honesty and a minimum of rhetoric. Restoration Movement churches have unique and refreshing answers to these questions (and a great resource in Standard’s brochure of the same name) and it’s too bad my new church missed its first opportunity to share those answers with an obviously-interested audience.

I emailed the pastor today and shared a link to the brochure as well as encouragement for her thoughtful facilitation of our first session. Yep, she’s a woman—this local body and its group of elders have prayerfully concluded women can hold some leadership positions. This autonomy is a wonderful part of our heritage—I hope the church begins communicating it more effectively.