Churches of Christ

[Set free 47]

Back about twenty or so years ago I started attending a local church that went simply by the name "Christian church." They seemed like a good church, so I attended a meeting for people interested in membership. WOW, what a shock! They insisted that a person not only believe in Christ as Savior, but a person had to believe their church doctrines, and they did not accept any baptism from any other church outside their local church. That is, you had to be re-baptized in their waters, witnessed by their congregation, no exceptions. They also had the usual marks of legalism like faith plus the fruits of a life of faith in order to be justified. Well, I got up after this meeting, thanked them for their hospitality, and left never to return. I could not believe people will like sheep fall for these modern-day Church of Christ legalistic pharisees.
On one of the Christian TV channels I get they have a regular show done by this elder from a Church of Christ congregation.. He said something I was not aware of, that is, they teach that you have to be baptized (in their church I presume) before you can be a believer.
Churches of Christ are very common in small rural towns. They have special camps geared to children, teens and young adults.
Now, maybe I could possibly misunderstand all this, so if anyone here has upbringings or experience in a Church of Christ feel free to comment. But if even some of what I have said is true, they are apostasy on a pretty large scale.

 

[Belle of Grace]

this elder from a Church of Christ congregation.. He said something I was not aware of, that is, they teach that you have to be baptized (in their church I presume) before you can be a believer.
Churches of Christ are very common in small rural towns. They have special camps geared to children, teens and young adults.
Now, maybe I could possibly misunderstand all this, so if anyone here has upbringings or experience in a Church of Christ feel free to comment. But if even some of

@Set free 47 what you're saying here is accurate. When I was in high school, I had a good friend whose family was dedicated to Church of Christ, and what you posted here lines up with what I recall from those years of friendship with a Church of Christ member. I attended a Baptist church but was not considered to be in a saved fellowship according to this friend. I've known of others in this denomination and they aren't solid in their commitment to attending church, going sometimes and dropping out for awhile. False churches generally do not have happy people. Only the Spirit of God can provide peace in our minds, and true joy in spite of our circumstances. All else is a miserable failure.

 

[ItIsFinished!]

Church of Christ teaches/promotes a work based salvation.
They, along with that, also teach your works sustain your salvation.
They also are very legalistic.

That said, liberty comes through Christ.
Redemption/ salvation is based upon what
Jesus Christ did for us on The Cross , NOT what we do or how we behave.

Jesus Christ alone saves the sinner.
For by grace through faith in Him alone.
It is a precious gift from God.

Ephesians 2:8-9
For by grace are ye saved through faith;
and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works , lest any man should boast.

 

[Set free 47]

There seems to be a trend that churches will call themselves something else other than their actually denomination identity. I've seen churches use a name like "LIving Waters Church, but you would never know they are actually Southern Baptist; same with an Assembly of God church in my area. Churches of Christ will do this sometimes simply with churches that say like, such and such Christian church. The way you will figure out they are a C of C church is they always have communion every week without exception. Some churches there is no Sunday School allowed, and they only sing acapella. But most of them simply use whatever Church of Christ they are. There is a C of C church a few miles from me that has a sign for "visitors" to enter here. I get the impression that they don't want visitors to initially be a part of their regular worship service, but I assume instead are directed to a special visitors meeting. I don't know this is the case for sure, but I don't plan on wasting my time some Sunday as a visitor to find out.
When I was growing up we were in a Disciples of Christ church simply called Cherokee Christian Church. This was a very liberal church. I never heard about getting saved there, only saw one baptism, only once saw someone bring their Bible to a worship service, sermons were boring, we did study the Bible in Sunday School. But Disciples of Christ and other churches along with Churches of Christ all can trace their origins to a common movement in the 19th Century where they wanted to break away from established churches who would deny communion to non members of a given church or members who were not in good standing. This movement was instead an open communion one where no one would be denied communion, member in good standing or not.