Disciples like me

I was denominationally adrift in college. I attended Christmas and Easter services at my parents’ United Methodist church, flirted with Unitarianism, worshiped in silence with Quakers, and worked for two years as a youth minister for the local Episcopal church.

When it was time to fill out my seminary applications, I realized that I had to check a denominational box—and none of the traditions I’d been hanging around in felt quite like home. The pastor who directed the ecumenical campus ministry was ordained by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). She was always careful not to push her denominational loyalties on students—what better way to drive away local ecumenical support!—but knowing my conundrum, she invited me to her church.

I loved it. The more I learned about the Disciples, the more I felt certain that this was the denomination to which I could commit.