Churches of Christ: Who are these people?
Toward the end of the 18th century, several men of different denominations , in various geographical locations, studying independently of each other, began asking:
Why not go back to the pattern of the first century church, prior to the emergence of denominationalism?
Why not adhere to the Bible only, and commit to the apostles’ teaching (Acts 2:42) ?
Why not plant the same seed, the Word of God (Luke 8:11), that first-century Christians planted , and be Christians only as they were?
They began encouraging people to relinquish human creeds, abandon denominationalism , and follow only the Bible. They asserted that such action would not establish another denomination , but would be a return to the original church. They insisted that nothing should be required of people other than what is taught in the scriptures.
Churches of Christ are in agreement with the movement those me.n began; sometimes called the Restoration Movement. With the Bible as our only guide, we seek to discover what the original church was like, and be like chat. We feel that we have no right to ask people to pledge their allegiance to a human organization, bur only the right to ask chem to follow God’s Word.
In 1967, Dr. Hans Kung, a well-known European theologian , published a book entitled The Church. Dr. Kung claimed, and lamented, that the modern day church had lost its way; had become bogged down with tradition; had failed to be what Christ intended it to be. The only remedy, he said, was to go back to the scriptures to see what the church was in the beginning, and to recover in our day the essence of the original church.
This is what Churches of Christ are committed to. We do not subscribe to man-made creeds; only to the New Testament pattern . We do not consider ourselves a denomination-nor Jewish, Catholic, or Protestant-but simply members of the church Jesus established, buying it with his blood (Acts 20:28) . That is why we identify ourselves as Churches of Christ-not used as a denominational designation, bur as a descriptive term, indicating that the church belongs to Christ.
Because all authority has been given to Christ (Matthew 28:18), and because he alone has been designated as God’s spokesman in this age (Hebrews 1:1- 2), it is our conviction that he alone has the right to say what the church is and what we should teach.
Since the only document that presents Christ’s instructions to his disciples is the New Testament, it alone must be our source for religious teaching and practice. This is fundamental with Churches of Christ. We believe that reaching the Bible without modification is the only right way to lead people to become Christian
We are saddened by religious division.Jesus prayed for unity (john 17:20-23). And the apostle Paul appealed for unity among those who were divided (I Corinthians 1:10). We believe the only way to achieve unity is to follow the same blueprint-the Bible; that no individual or organization has the right to draw up a set of rules by which people are religiously governed. Compromise cannot bring unity, but following the same book can. It is safe and right to appeal for religious unity on this basis. To subscribe to any human-authored creed is to promote division.
To reject any New Testament command, or to engage in any practice not authorized by the New Testament is to add to or subtract from the teachings of God, both of which are sternly rebuked ( Galatians 1:6-9; Revelation 22:18-19).
This is the reason the New Testament is the only rule of faith and practice subscribed to in Churches of Christ
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By Joe Barnett
Published by Pathway Publishing House
Posted with Permission