Heritage

What is the Church of Christ?

We are a nondenominational body of believers. Our goal is to be “Christians only.” Our membership is made up of many people from many backgrounds. The common faith we have in God and His Word keeps us together as a large family.

Each individual church of Christ congregation is self-ruled and independent of other congregations. Each congregation is governed by a plurality of elders selected from among the members. These are men who meet the specific qualifications for this office given in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1.

Worldwide, there are about 20,000 congregations of churches of Christ with a membership of around 3 million people. The largest number of members can be found within the states of Tennessee, Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Kentucky, but there are churches of Christ in every state in the United States and in 109 other countries.

Jesus said, “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). We try, to the best of our ability, to follow this command in structuring our worship services. By careful study of the New Testament churches, it is revealed that items of worship observed by the first-century church were singing, preaching, giving, and partaking of the Lord’s Supper.

One worship practice that sets the church of Christ apart from most Christian churches is a cappella singing. We worship in song in this way because there is no Biblical mention of instrumental music in the first-century church (Matthew 26:30, Acts 16:25, Romans 15:9, 1 Corinthians 14:15, Ephesians 5:18-19, Colossians 3:16, Hebrews 2:12, James 5:13). The result is a beautiful blending of all voices, seeking to praise and glorify God in spirit and love.

Another place you may notice a difference between our church and other religious groups is the weekly observance of the Lord’s Supper. It is observed in memory of Christ’s crucifixion. In Acts 20:7, we find “And upon the first day of the week … the disciples came together to break bread.” We follow this example and honor Jesus every week by participating in this communion. Those who participate have accepted Christ as the Son of God and as their Savior.

Since Christ died to save the whole world and the invitation to share in the saving grace is open to everyone (Acts 10:34-35, Revelation 22:17) we do not believe that anyone is predestined for salvation or condemnation. To accept or reject Christ is a matter of choice. Wherever you are at this moment, we hope you will decide to accept the love and salvation offered by Christ. We look forward to getting to know you through a visit to our worship services, or a fellowship activity.