The Church of Christ

The result of the Restoration Movement overviewed in Lessons 11 & 12 was the Churches of Christ.  The Church of Christ is established on the principle- teach and practice what the church of the Bible taught and practiced.  The name “Church of Christ” is found in Romans 16:16, and was chosen by leaders of the Restoration Movement to be a scriptural name for those churches that lived by the above biblical principle.  Now, just because I say I’m a good person doesn’t mean I am in fact a good person.  Liars usually swear they are telling the truth.  Likewise, just because a church says they are the Church of Christ following the teaching and practice of the primitive church in the 1st century scripture doesn’t mean it is.  A simple experiment to help distinguish a church on the street from the church in the Bible is this- disregard the name of the church momentarily and observe what the church is teaching and practicing.  God’s revelation through written Scripture has not changed for 2,000 years making it possible for the church of the Bible to be alive today.  This is not possible by tracing some physical, unbroken lineage of churches all the way back to the first century church (see Catholicism).  Transportation, communication, and many other things have changed in 2,000 years, but simple worship, leadership, evangelism and other identifying marks of the church in the book of Acts are still easily replicated.  With this in mind we ask the question, “What does the church of Jesus Christ look like in this modern world?”  

Simple Church

The one word that could be used to describe the church you read about in the Bible is “simple.”  This was by the design of God because people of all ages, abilities, social climate, and geography must have equal opportunity and ability to reproduce the church of the Bible regardless of who they are and where they are at.  When you read the way Luke summarizes the church of the 1st century in its earliest stages, this quality of simplicity becomes very clear.

And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine (teaching) and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.  (Acts 2:42)

This brief description of the church’s activity is obviously short of exhaustive, much the same as when the gospel is simplified to just the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.  There is more to the gospel than just six words, and there is more to the church than just four activities.  Acts 2:42 captures in one, simple verse a snapshot of what the church looked like from the outside looking in.  When any John Doe searches the book of Acts and the epistles, he will be able to flesh out the skeleton left in Acts 2:42 and compare this with the modern church he attends.  

Professionalized Church

The flip side of a simple church pattern is a professionalized and complex church pattern.  The craze today is the community church model.  This model specializes and professionalizes church to the point that a member of the church must hold a degree in music, theology, counseling, or youth ministry in order to serve meaningfully in the church.  Such professionalization has strayed from the simple church pattern of Acts.  As a result,  specialized ministries have stunted the development of fathers, mothers, children, and church membership in general.  Allow for a short example focusing on fathers.

Example: Fathers

Youth ministry, a concept not found in the New Testament church, has stripped fathers from the sense of responsibility they have in training their children in the Lord.  In Ephesians 6:4 Paul instructs fathers to instruct their children in spiritual and physical matters.  Youth ministry teaches fathers to, “Leave the spiritual instruction of your children to the professionals.”  No youth ministry program has a sign with those words printed front and center, but this is the message of youth ministry.  As a result, fathers largely play no part in their children’s spiritual development.  This, in combination with other factors, find youth departing from churches in droves.  According to two reports in 2001 and 2002 respectively, 70-88% of Christian youth leave the church by their sophomore year of college (Baucham, Voddie. Family Driven Faith. Wheaton, Crossway, 2007.)  Religious researcher George Barna reported in 2003 that 85 percent of “born again teens” do not believe in the existence of absolute truth,” (ibid.)  I re-emphasize the point that many factors play a part in this, but I am more than convinced that modern youth ministry ironically is a major player in this poor attrition rate of youth in evangelicalism.  Fathers drop their children off at Bible class, day care, etc., and believe they have fulfilled the Pauline mandate in Ephesians 6:4.  Blame falls equally on the fathers and the modern youth ministry construct, something completely foreign to the New Testament church as found in the book of Acts, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Colosse, Philippi, etc.  

9 Identifying Marks

A single Five Minute Bible Study does not allow enough space to touch on all those simple practices of the early church that modern denominations have departed from.  Instead, consider these nine identifying marks of the early church, and then click on the link below to download and read in more detail about these items.  The 1st century church came together regularly in an undivided assembly, men taught from God’s word, there was observance of the Lord’s supper on each first day of the week using one cup and one loaf, they prayed together, they sang together without the aid of instrumentation, each church member contributed money on the first day of the week for the work of the church, the local church was governed by a multiplicity of men called elders, there was a concerted effort to evangelize, and the members of the church were a part of each others lives as is implied by the word fellowship.  Click here for more on each of these items- The New Testament Church- Pattern List (Final).

Conclusion

The New Testament church is identified by more than nine characteristics; nonetheless, nine characteristics is enough to distinguish the church of Christ from denominations that teach and practice things different from scripture.  If you have questions about the Church of Christ, check out the website of the church where I preach http://tncgchurchofchrist.org, or watch this short welcome video.  Cheers!