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The Coos Bay church of Christ
What is the church of Christ?
Which church?
1935
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What is the church of Christ?
When the 3,000 Jews were baptized on the day of
Pentecost, as recorded in Acts 2:36-41, to which denomination did they then
belong? In which denomination did Lydia
place her membership (Acts 16:14,
15)? What about the Philippian jailor, or the
Ethiopian eunuch or Cornelius, or any of the others who became Christians in
the days of the Apostles?
They all became members of the body of Christ,
which is the Church of Christ
(Ephesians 1:22,23;
Colossians 1:18, 24). In doing so,
they were not members of any denomination. As a person becomes a Christian,
the Lord Himself adds him to the church (Acts 2:47).
Which Church? The only one that existed in the New Testament times; the
Lord's church. They were all "delivered ... from the domain of darkness,
and transferred to the kingdom of His beloved Son (Jesus Christ)."
Colossians 1:13.
The oldest Protestant denomination in the world
is less than 500 years old! In 1492 when Columbus
discovered America,
not one protestant denomination was yet in existence anywhere in the world!
Even the Roman Catholic church was not fully formed until nearly 600 years
after the Lord built His church! Jesus promised,"... upon this rock (the
fact that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God), I will build My
church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it" (Matthew 16:16-18)
The church that Christ built is the only church
Christ ever intended to be in existence. He inspired the New Testament
scriptures to record the establishment of His church and to give instructions
for it to follow in regards to its organization, name, holiness of life which
is to characterize all its members, its mission and purpose on earth, and
everything needed for its growth throughout all time in any culture or
country in the whole world.
The night before Jesus’
crucifixion, he earnestly prayed for His disciples and all “
those who believe in Me through their word” (Jn
17:1-26). Christ had taught his disciples all the words God had given Him (Jn 17:7,8).
God’s Word is truth (Jn 17:17). He
also prayed that those who believe in Christ through their word “may all be
ONE even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in
us: that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me” (Jn
17:21)
He then prayed that these
believers would be perfected in unity (..23).
Moments before He ascended into
heaven to be seated on the right hand of God as king over his Kingdom, He
commissioned His apostles to "Go into all the
world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who
has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved
shall be condemned." (Mark 16:15,16).
As churches were established "in Jerusalem,
and in all Judea and Samaria,
and even to remotest part of the earth" (Acts 1:8), these churches were
known as "the Churches of Christ" (Romans 16:16).
The Church
of Christ is not a denomination.
Denominationalism has splintered Christendom into many conflicting divisions,
contrary to the prayer of Jesus shortly before his crucifixion. The prefix
"de" means "1". down ..., 2, Separation; off; away, as in
desist, stand off, delegate, send away; also, out of, as in detrain (or
deplane)..." (Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary) "nominate" comes from nomen,
name. A denomination is any church that has been separated from another body
and especially from the original one Jesus said He would build, and has been
given a distinguishing name.
We of the Church
of Christ are, with God's help,
conscientiously working at "building the church you read about in your
Bible", using the original pattern given to us by the inspired apostles
and prophets. Jesus is the only head of the church, and God's word is our
only creed book. The organizational structure is that which is taught us in
the New Testament. To the best of our ability, all that we teach and practice
is based on what you can read in your Bible. Consequently, the Church
of Christ is not a denomination
in any sense of that term.
When you do what the 3,000 on Pentecost, Cornelius,
The Ethiopian eunuch, Saul of Tarsus, Lydia, the Philippian
jailor, and all the rest in that day did to become a Christian, you are also
added by the Lord to the same church to which they were added; the Church of
Christ. If you want to be simply a Christian, nothing more, nothing less, and
if you want to follow just the Bible, without addition or subtraction, we
invite you to become part of the church which Jesus referred to as "My
church."
Building on the "Rock"
Ed Werner- Evangelist, Church of Christ-Coos Bay, OR
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