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ABOUT US

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WHAT KIND OF CHURCH ARE WE?
OUR ROOTS

There is no shortage of churches around today. You can take your pick among the hundreds of different kinds, from the proud old denominations to newer more energetic congregations. In the midst of such diversity, you may be wondering, ‘What is special about our church? What kind of a church is this, anyway?’

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The Church of Christ/Christian Churches began when three groups of Christians, from New England, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania, independently from one another, decided to break out of denominationalism with the desire to follow the Bible only.  Each group felt the spirit of unity moving them to stand with, not against, fellow Christians.

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The early leaders of what later came to be called the Restoration Movement believed unity in Christ was – and is – possible.  To achieve that unity, it required letting go of human traditions and loyalties to dynamic personalities.  Christ alone could be and should be exalted.  The Church that emerges from the pages of the New Testament must be the standard for today’s congregations.

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The only way to determine what that church should be and how Christians should behave is to study New Testament documents in which the Churches of Christ are presented in splendor – and in shortcomings. While there is no single Church that we should imitate, the ideal of the church as the body of Christ, the household of faith, the temple of the Holy Spirit, and the people of God is clearly pictured within the New Testament.

Our roots dictate that we are a Church of the New Testament.

OUR POSITION

To summarize what kind of Church we are in terms, we are:

  • A Christian Church We stand on the truth that “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  We require no other creed.  He alone is Lord and Savior.

  • A Church of Christ The church belongs to Him.  We have no authority to change the teachings, rewrite the rules, alter membership requirements, or usurp His place.  The church is not a democracy.

  • A Church seeking unity We pray in agreement with Christ, “that all of them may be one.”  John 17:21.

  • A Church seeking to restore As much as possible, we imitate the New Testament precedents.  That is why our baptism is by immersion, our Communion is every Lord’s Day, our leaders are called elders, our preaching is about Christ, and our prayers are in Christ’s name.  Even our church name is rooted in the earliest days, when disciples were called Christians and their congregations were often addressed as “churches of Christ.”

  • An Apostolic Church The church, Ephesians 2:20 states, is “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.”  Whatever we know about Christ and the church we learned from Jesus’ closest companions, the apostles.

  • A Thinking Church In the same Ephesian letter, Paul prays that God will give a “Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. . . .” Christian faith demands the best our minds can give, so we are a studying church, seeking to apply biblical truth intelligently.

  • A Loving Church When asked, what is the most important of all the commandments, Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind and with all your strength.  The second is like it, Love your neighbor as yourself.”  We love God, and love others.

  • A Feeling Church Ours is not a dry intellectual approach to God, however. We rejoice and praise and pray and love and serve from the heart.  We are unashamed of the gospel and not embarrassed to let our excitement be seen.

  • A Sharing Church We share our faith and love with as many as we can reach and our possessions as persons who know that everything we have belongs to God to be used for His purposes.

  • A Free Church We have no bishops or superintendents or national headquarters to determine local church policies.  Based on God’s direction; We elect our own leaders, call and support our own ministers, and decide where our mission money will go.  We are not isolationists, though. Our congregations freely associate with one another to accomplish tasks too big for one church alone.

  • A Growing Church We want to grow, because we are under Christ’s commission to disciple the world.  We haven’t completed the task yet, so Christian Churches and Churches of Christ are renewing our commitment to go unto the ends of the earth, preaching and baptizing and teaching, until the whole world knows the one Lord of all.

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