Amid the long list of stories about denominational splits that often dominate religion headlines, I'm happy to report a story about a group that is uniting.

Technically speaking, they aren't denominations. Still, there is encouraging news this week from the North American Christian Convention (NACC) in Louisville, Ky.—the annual gathering of independent Christian Churches and Churches of Christ. At the convention, leaders from both groups are aiming to reunite the instrumental and a cappella churches.

It's been a century since the two groups split in 1906 over the question of whether it was appropriate to use instruments in worship services. That's a strange issue for outsiders to comprehend. Don't feel bad; it is a strange issue for insiders to understand.

This year's NACC President, David Faust, acknowledged it was a rather silly thing to split over. Especially against the backdrop of today's headlines, from starving children to the worldwide specter of HIV/AIDS.

Lest one get too smug, the Christian/Church of Christ folks aren't alone. Other groups struggle to agree on such issues as whether or not the Bible is God's inspired Word, which sinners to kick out of the church, or which sins to condone.

Still, the issue of the propriety of using instruments in worship struck a chord with these churches several generations ago and split them wider than the Red Sea. Their congregations do not intermingle. Their colleges and universities are separate. Their publications and publishing houses are distinct.

Reportedly, three years ago a vision for unity within the NACC originated with a prayer from Rick Atchley, preaching minister of the (a cappella) Richland Hills Church of Christ in Fort Worth, Texas.

"I believe with all my heart that within my lifetime we can have a family reunion," Atchley said via video during the convention's opening session.

The inspiration of vision

Faust said Atchley's vision of unity moved him, too.

"Today the ideals of our movement are just as valid, just as relevant as they've ever been," said Faust, president of Cincinnati Christian University in Ohio. However, he lamented, disunity within the movement detracts from the message of Christ these churches want to impart to the world.

"The problem is for 100 years our actions have contradicted our plea [to return to] the New Testament church model," Faust said.

"We can't undo 100 years of separation with one convention," he added. "Our churches are free and independent. No one speaks for all of us, but I can tell you exciting things are happening at the grassroots."

And from the grassroots great movements grow.

Note: Know of any other groups unifying? Splitting? Blog here.