Title

Interview #02 – Michael Strickland

Authors

Michael Strickland
James Gorman

Document Type

Video

Publication Date

6-28-2022

Abstract

Dr. Michael Strickland narrates from the perspective of a scholar of Churches of Christ and a participant in schools and congregations since the 1990s. Strickland discusses the predominant evangelical influences he has noticed among Churches of Christ, noting that identity issues arose in correlation with a decreasing exclusivist identity (i.e., “we are the one true church”). He also notes the challenges of lacking evangelism and atomization of congregations that inhibits cooperation. Many in the 2020s are not comfortable with the old language or even aggressive evangelism. And without exclusivist identity, other Christians are no longer targets for evangelization. North Boulevard has responded by focusing on a discipleship movement and planting more churches. Strickland highlights a key question facing all Churches of Christ who drop traditional exclusivism: why do we exist?

Comments

This interview of Michael Strickland (Murfreesboro, Tennessee) conducted by James Gorman (Knoxville, Tennessee) took place on June 28, 2022.

Length: 55 minutes

Additional files include an m4a audio file.

Recommended Citation

Strickland, Michael and Gorman, James, "Interview #02 – Michael Strickland" (2022). Churches of Christ in the 21st Century Oral History Project. 2.
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/coc_21stc_oralhistory/2

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.