‘We’re all on the same side as Jesus’
Ministerial alliances look different in different places. Sometimes they’re shaped by a city’s needs. Sometimes by churches’ needs. And always because ministers need each other.
Donny Anderson
Donny Anderson has been involved in ministry alliances, often in leadership roles, everywhere he’s preached — in Tennessee, Texas, Oklahoma and, for the last four and a half years, Iowa, at the Muscatine Church of Christ.
The city of about 27,000 sits southeast of Cedar Rapids just across the Mississippi River from Illinois. Anderson participates in an informal alliance of nine Baptist, Christian, nondenominational and Bible churches. They just get together to eat and talk.
“Sometimes you need to talk to somebody and blow off steam,” Anderson said. “These guys know what you’re going through because they’re going through it, too.”
‘Unite around things that unite us’
Other common threads include sharing pulpits during community-wide Holy Week services and combined worship at Thanksgiving or other special occasions such as baccalaureates. In small towns in particular, the ministerial alliance may be the point of contact for feeding the hungry, organizing disaster aid or distributing clothing and school supplies.
Ministers in alliances talk about meaningful prayer time, deep friendships and a safe space to share the hard times ministers have in common.
Kent Jobe
Kent Jobe has only been minister of the Downtown Church of Christ in Searcy, Ark., for three years, but work with the local alliance has become his “favorite thing in ministry.”
He was president last year and will be again in 2026. About 40 to 50 ministers attend the second Wednesday breakfasts. Jobe describes the group as “a good mix” of Baptists, Methodists, Assemblies of God and others … who really like to be together,” including ministers for six or seven other Churches of Christ.
In addition to bringing preachers together, Jobe said it’s brought the community of Christians together. One of the things he’s most proud of is 40 Days of Prayer.
From Oct. 1 through Nov. 9, 40 different ministers write a prayer prompt on 40 different topics.
The alliance and activities it created for church members have made it “beneficial to play with others,” he added, “to unite around things that unite us instead of divide us.”
‘Standing together … side by side’
Friendship between four large church leaders in Midland, Texas, led to a pulpit swap that landed the friends on the “CBS Evening News.”
Midland, a city of almost 140,000, has a ministerial alliance largely populated by large community and Bible churches. Allan Stanglin, who preaches for the 400-member Golf Course Road Church of Christ, is not an alliance member. Neither are the ministers at First Baptist, First Methodist or First Presbyterian.
Members of the Golf Course Road Church of Christ in Midland, Texas, serve with Christmas in Action to repair a local home.
They’re just friends who began getting together for lunch once a month to pray for each other. From that friendship sprang a plan to swap pulpits on the Sunday before Thanksgiving 2024. That made the national news. But what Stanglin and the others are more excited about is 4Midland, a collaboration of the largest churches from each fellowship.
In a big, splashy oil town, where big events in stadiums and arenas have been popular with the other alliance, 4Midland aims to eschew the splash.
The four friends asked, “What if our churches made commitments to each other in prayer, and standing together served the community, side by side, over a sustained, long, faithful period of time? Might that make a difference?”
‘Needs get met much quicker’
Josh Yeager became lead minister in 2020 for the 4th and College Church of Christ in tiny Cordell, Okla., population 2,700.
Like Jobe, Anderson and others, Yeager serves as president of Cordell’s ministerial alliance that includes ministers from Baptist, Mennonite Brethren, Assemblies of God, Lutheran and Bible churches.
Josh and Jennifer Yaeger
Four times a year, churches from the alliance meet together for worship and take up a collection to provide support for families who may need help with bills after sickness, job loss or other difficulties. Alliance members also “tag team” leading a devotional at a nursing home and launched an online care portal to provide support for foster families.
“People used to go to every single church seeking help,” he said. “Now we can ask our whole network of seven churches. Needs get met much quicker.”
“People used to go to every single church seeking help. Now we can ask our whole network of seven churches. Needs get met much quicker.”
Just as important to Yeager, these efforts have brought together Christians throughout Cordell. He sees Church of Christ members having a “less standoffish persona” than in the past.
“People are not being territorial,” he said. “We’re all on the same side as Jesus and realize different flavors are for different people, and that’s OK.”
‘We have grown … because people know us’
Scott Elliott has served as president of the ministerial alliance in LaGrange, Texas, midway between Austin and Houston, for six years. When Hurricane Harvey hit the town of 4,500 in 2016, the alliance coordinated relief efforts, a role the Red Cross or other nonprofit would take on in a larger city.
Scott Elliott
Typical of Texas’ German country, Lutheran and Catholic churches are the largest in town and participate with 12 other churches in the alliance, including the LaGrange Church of Christ where Elliott preaches.
“It’s brought great benefits to me as a minister to get to know the community,” he said. Though the church was initially hesitant, now members are also involved.
“Why would we not join with others, especially in the things we agree upon like helping the needy, serving the poor?” he added. “We have not compromised any of our beliefs, but we have grown as a church because people know us.”
Feeding the hungry, swapping pulpits
Though the city is bigger than LaGrange, the East Side Church of Christ in Snyder, Texas — midway between Lubbock and Abilene — greets a similar crowd of 100 or so on Sunday mornings.
Minister Tim Brown, who moved to West Texas from Nashville four years ago, leads a ministerial alliance of 35 churches.
Christians from churches in Snyder Texas fellowship together at a ministerial alliance meeting.
The alliance runs a community kitchen, weekly food cupboard and program to feed the poor and homeless two to three times a week. A utility ministry helps people with light and water bills. A free store for anyone in the food lines offers toiletries, toys, blankets and other basics. Alliance churches work with local schools to provide backpacks and school supplies for kids in Scurry County.
The 37th Street Church of Christ in Snyder does not participate in the alliance. Jason West, an elder of the congregation, said that’s largely because of doctrinal differences with other fellowships.
“As the more conservative congregation in town, having other ministers say prayers, speak, having musical instruments at the service or potentially having women serve in those roles was uncomfortable at the time to get on board with,” West said.
“As the more conservative congregation in town, having other ministers say prayers, speak, having musical instruments at the service or potentially having women serve in those roles was uncomfortable at the time to get on board with.”
“Is 37th opposed to helping the community? Of course not,” he added, citing an instance in June when the church fellowship hall was opened to provide respite for first responders from Lubbock who came to the town when three members of a local family were murdered.
Just 73 miles east of Snyder, Wes Horn, minister for the Orient Street Church of Christ in Stamford, Texas, preaches to about 80 Christians on Sundays. He’s been there 23 years and in the ministerial alliance just as long.
In addition to community worship services at Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas, churches host a joint Vacation Bible School each summer, rotating buildings.
“If we host, a preacher from another congregation will preach,” Horn explained. “So I’ve preached at three different Baptist churches, the Cowboy church, Lutheran church and Methodist church, and they’ve all preached at Orient Street over the years. …
“As a small town, we sit with these people at every ball game, Little League, every community event — now we’re neighbors in all aspects, not just school or work but faith.”
CHERYL MANN BACON is a Christian Chronicle contributing editor who served for 20 years as chair of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at Abilene Christian University. Contact [email protected].
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