Churches of Christ - Overview

Overview

Modern Churches of Christ have their historical roots in the Restoration Movement, which was a converging of Christians across denominational lines in search of a return to a hypothesized original, "pre-denominational" Christianity. Participants in this movement sought to base doctrine and practice on the Bible alone, rather than recognizing the traditional councils and denominational hierarchies that had come to define Christianity since the 1st century AD. Members of the Churches of Christ believe that Jesus founded only one church, that the current divisions among Christians do not express God's will, and that the only basis for restoring Christian unity is the Bible. They identify simply as "Christians", without other religious or denominational identification. They believe that they are recreating the New Testament church as established by Christ.

Churches of Christ generally share the following theological beliefs and practices:

• Rely on the Bible alone for doctrine and practice, and do not have any formalized doctrine;
• Autonomous, congregational church organization without denominational oversight;
• Local governance by a plurality of male elders;
• Baptism by immersion of consenting believers for the forgiveness of sins;
• Weekly observance of Communion on Sunday (also referred to as "The Lord's Supper" or, in British congregations, the "breaking of bread"; all but "a very small segment" use unfermented grape juice instead of wine); and
• Practice of a cappella singing in worship.

In keeping with their history, the Churches of Christ claim the New Testament as their sole rule of faith and practice in deciding matters of doctrine and ecclesiastical structure. They view the Old Testament as divinely inspired and historically accurate, but they do not consider its laws to be binding under the New Covenant in Christ (unless they are repeated in the New Testament). They believe that the New Testament expresses how a person may become a Christian (and thus a part of the universal Church of Christ) and how a church should be collectively organized and carry out its scriptural purposes.