An Answer for the Curious Observer

In the Beginning...

Travel back in time to Jerusalem in 35 AD, just a year or two after Jesus' death and resurrection. If you searched the Yellow Pages under "Church" in those days, you might have found several listings but they all would have had the same name. The beautician or the barber would not ask you, "Where do you go to church?" If you went to church at all, they already knew where.

In the first century, folks completing a form requesting their "denominational preference" might have written "Small bills please." If lost, you ended up on Church street, a single building would have occupied the block. If the Christians meeting there advertised their presence, the sign would have read "Church." No further description was needed.

At that time, Christians were united. Acts 2:47 reads, "The Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved." He didn't add them to churches. There was only one. "And all that believed were together, and had all things common" (Acts 2:44). Such is the Bible's description of the state of the church at its birth.

It was once the case that believers didn't have to wear name tags. "The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch" (Acts 11:26). They didn't call themselves Baptists or Methodists or Catholics. There were no "ists", "isms", "ics" or "ites" then. You'll search the Bible in vain to find them. They were just Christians.

In that day you could ask any Christian what to do to be saved and get the same answer. When the audience in Acts 2 asked Peter, "What shall we do?", he said, "Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins" (Acts 2:37-38). No confusion. Direct question. Direct answer. Immediate response--"Those who had received his word were baptized" (Acts 2:41).

The church of Christ is...

PEOPLE. All sizes and shapes, colors and textures. All personalities and experiences. "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female; you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28).

BELIEVING PEOPLE. Who avow that "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish" (John 3:16). Who aver that faith is not a mere intellectual assent or an emotional sensation, but conviction that responds in obedience to God. "Faith without works is dead" (James 2:26).

PENITENT PEOPLE. What an insult to the Savior when those who've been cleansed by His blood go on living in a brazen, sinful manner. It is to regard Jesus' sacrifice as cheap and insignificant. "How shall we who died to sin still live in it" (Romans 6:2)? Sinners ashamed of sin and yearning to change comprise the church of Christ.

UNASHAMED PEOPLE. Folks who aren't afraid to confess their conviction that Jesus is "the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16). And not just in front of one another. They show their allegiance to Him by the way they conduct their daily affairs. "Everyone who shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 10:32).

COMMITTED PEOPLE. Who have joined themselves with Christ in baptism. "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19). Who are devoted to the Bible as their code of faith and conduct. "Teaching them to observe all that I commanded you" (Matthew 28:20). Who are bound to helping one another to heaven. "And if one member suffers, all members suffer with it; if one is honored, all rejoice with it" (1 Corinthians 12:26).

The church of Christ Is Not...

NOT A BUILDING. It's people. It's not constructed of timbers, nails, bricks and mortar. It's composed of persons. Were the building to burn or were we to meet in a tent or under a tree, we'd still be a church. Because the church is people.

Our building is modest. Its furnishings practical. Ornate sanctuaries don't bring men closer to God--the adorning of persons with virtuous conduct does. Such is the function of the church. Members encourage one another to godly living to prepare themselves for habitation with God.

NOT A FRANCHISE. We have no national headquarters. We have no political or financial ties to other "churches of Christ" in the city, the state, nationally or internationally. A decision made by one or all churches near or far has no effect on our work.

We answer to the Lord. No one else has the right nor the capacity to govern our affairs. The Bible is our only guide. No association, council, or denominational creed rivals our allegiance to God's book. It alone is the foundation for our faith, our doctrine, our worship and fellowship.

NOT A CIVIC ORGANIZATION. It's not the job of the church to entertain. Hospitality is a function of homes, not churches. The sole business of the church is the soul business. It's concern is the exercise of the soul, not the physique. The progress of the soul. Not the mind. The health of the soul. Not the body.

Schools educate our youth. Other public and private means afford care for the sick and indigent. Kitchen tables and back yards are for entertaining. We'll not burden the church with these projects. To do so is to funnel its resources into lesser causes and away from its task of caring for the souls of men.

Our Plea

Oh for the days as the All in the Family ditty said, "When goils were goils and men were men." Oh for the days when the church was the church and Christians were simply Christians.

Wait...could it happen? You probably wouldn't be interested...or would you?

Could the unity of the church in the first century be revived? Could we just read the Bible and do what they did? Could we just be churches that belong to Christ? Could we just be Christians, nothing more, nothing less?

Could we get rid of the creeds and sit down together and read the Bible by itself? Could we just read what God said about how to be saved? Is He not the author of salvation? Could we just read what the Lord said about worship and glorify Him in the manner He ordained?

The Christians at the Southside Church of Christ are attempting to do just what we've described. To just be Christians. To just be the church "of Christ." We wear His name because we belong to Him and it's Him that we serve. We'll not give that honor to another.

We invite others to join us in our effort to return to the teaching of the New Testament. Come visit us soon. Sit with us for a spell and talk about the word of God. We'd be delighted to speak with you.