by Don Hooton
“Members of the church of Christ do not conceive of themselves as a new church started near the beginning of the 19th century. Rather, the whole movement is designed to reproduce in contemporary times the church originally established on Pentecost, A.D. 30. The strength of the appeal lies in the restoration of Christ’s original church.” (Batsell Barrett Baxter, Who are the Churches of Christ and What do they Believe?)
History tells us how people lived and dealt with life where they were. The history of Christians does the same. Churches of Christ do the same. They are comprised of imperfect people who did indeed falter. Even in the movement known as the Protestant reformation where people began to read Scripture and challenge Catholic teaching, tradition and papal authority, there was borne in hearts of people like that a desire to follow only the Bible. As next generations began to adopt their own traditions and set up their own church polity, the result of denominationalism grew. Yet there were many who were dissatisfied with that result and wanted to restore what the New Testament church should believe and practice to themselves. And there are people today with the same desire.
These restoration “movements” have been happening all the time. An early advocate for this restoration was James O’Kelly of the Methodist Episcopal Church who in 1793, withdrew from the Baltimore conference of his church and called upon others to join him in taking the Bible as the only creed. In 1802, a similar movement among Baptists in New England was led by Abner Jones and Elias Smith who were concerned about “denominational names and creeds” and decided to wear only the name Christian, taking “the Bible as their only guide.” In 1804, a Kentuckian named Barton W. Stone and several other Presbyterian preachers took similar action declaring that they would take the Bible as the “only sure guide to heaven.” In 1809, Thomas Campbell and his son Alexander took similar steps and maintained that nothing should be bound on Christians as doctrine which was younger than the New Testament. These men did not advocate the starting of a new church but rather, a return to Christ’s church as described in the Bible.
Likewise, members of churches of Christ do not conceive of themselves as a new church started near the beginning of the 19th century. Instead, for churches who identify as churches of Christ, it is a plea for religious unity based upon the Bible in our divided religious world. We believe that the Bible is the only possible way to develop this common ground for unity among people who want to please God. It is an appeal to go back to the Bible. It is a plea to “speak where the Bible speaks and to remain silent where the Bible is silent” in all matters that pertain to religion. The objective is religious unity of all believers in Christ with the only basis for that, the New Testament, the whole body of authoritative literature for Christians in every age.
It was Jesus Himself who prayed for those who would believe in Him through the Apostles when He prayed, “that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity” (John 17:20-23).
If fulfilling Jesus’ prayer for unity around the teaching of the Apostles in the Bible interests you, we welcome you to join us.