This is probably going to be pretty long, so I apologize to anyone that does not want to read it.
I want to start off by clarifying that I do know that Disciples of Christ is an actual denomination. I was baptized in the church, but have not been associated with it for 25 years or so. But I have been reading more about the Restoration and Stone Campbell Movement which came along pretty much with the "2nd Great Awakening". A few things stuck me as odd about the movement (to be fair I have not done a deep dive into the literature yet..so please correct anything you think I am getting wrong). The first is that it gave birth to some of the more fringe Christian groups. Around this time you have the Jehovah Witnesses and Mormon churches. They do have the basic belief that Jesus is the son of God, died on the cross for our sins, rose from the dead 3 days later, and through faith in him we have eternal life. They are also non trinitarian and believe in additional revelation which I'd say causes a lot of problems.
But the whole idea of the Disciples of Christ was that it boiled everything down in Christianity to a certain few points which I referenced earlier. I wont talk about the Church of Christ split right now, but I think the idea that the one true Church is just a community a believers... is a really nice idea.
So to bring this back into the idea of Non-Denominational..which is really the point in this part of the forum. The Disciples of Christ has pretty much abandoned the idea of those few defining Characteristics I mentioned earlier. You don't even to have to believe that the death and resurrection of Jesus happened. You don't have to believe in any real truth to the Bible. You still get be called a Christian.
However, it seems to me that this is the route a lot of non denominational churches might start going down. Already you have prosperity gospel churches, non stop dispensationalist end time churches, along with churches that believe in no literal biblical truth. There seems to believe no belief requirement outside of the basics...and those might be optional.
So can denominations provide that stability? Maybe it is a book or rules of discipline like in the Methodist or Presbyterian churches or adherence to the Nicene Creed...(I wish Methodist were a bit more creedal). Maybe the argument against it would be that both of those denominations split, along with Lutherans and Anglicans...but I would think those splits would represent that there was some fundamental theological problem that caused the churches to leave, and I figure that is a good thing.
So basically, there seems to be no way of making sure a non denominational church does not go down the Disciples of Christ path. Because without any rules of discipline or creedal truths, there is no point where breaking away makes since because you are accepting of everyone into the church. And I realize that a lot of these churches are currently theologically conservative but they may not stay that way. I figure the best argument against my fear is the Baptists since so many non denominational churches are basically Baptists who like dancing. The SBC has done a pretty good job of keeping everyone in line without really being a denomination.
Anyways, the whole point of this is not to argue that non denominational churches are bad or evil or good or wonderful. I don't think that. But just to get your thoughts on my way too long post about my thoughts.