Davison's Doodle

The Spirit of our Founders

I said in my sermon on Sunday that we need to become a people that embrace the spirit of the law rather than the letter of the law.  By that same example I’ve thought that our denomination needs to rekindle the spirit of our founders, Stone, the Campbells, and Smith as we move into the 21st century as a way to remain a relevant voice of gospel in the noise of society.  I noted this article in the TCU Daily Skiff by Pearce Edwards urging the university to connect to the heritage of our denomination as it moves deeper into this new century.  Here is a paragraph.  Click on the title to read more.

Disciples Heritage Should Not Be Forgotten
by Pearce Edwards | TCU Daily Skiff | April 1, 2010

As the Disciples of Christ denomination follows the national trend of declining mainline Protestantism, it is not the tangible bonds between the Disciples and TCU that hold strong as they once could. Intangibly however, the Disciples’ belief in fostering learning in all its followers and a spirit of discernment honed by a pursuit of truth resonates strongly with the university’s mission to educate its students to be “ethical leaders and responsible citizens.”

Where does TCU go from here? The university must realize its fundamental resonance with the mission of the Disciples of Christ denomination and embrace the intangible bonds it shares. An ocean away, Shanghai urban planner Ruan Yisan speaks of a rapidly modernizing China that seeks the cutting edge when he says, “There is nothing wrong with improving people’s lives, but we should not throw our heritage away like a pair of old shoes.”