The Christian Churches and Churches of Christ

The independent Restoration congregations that use instruments: no creed but Christ, no organization above the congregation, immersion for the remission of sins, and the Lord's Supper every Sunday.

Henry E. Webb, "Christian Churches/Churches of Christ," Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement (Eerdmans, 2004), pp. 186–189, republished by the Disciples of Christ Historical Society

Leonard G. Wymore, "North American Christian Convention," Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement (2004), pp. 570–572, republished by the Disciples of Christ Historical Society

Mark G. Toulouse, "Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)," Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement (Eerdmans, 2004), republished by the Disciples of Christ Historical Society

"Christian Standard," Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement, republished by the Disciples of Christ Historical Society

Thomas H. Olbricht, "Churches of Christ," Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement (2004), pp. 213–220, republished by the Disciples of Christ Historical Society

"A Brief History of Restoration Movement Media and Christian Standard Media," Christian Standard, 4 July 2018

Jerry Harris, "The North American Christian Convention: What's Next?" Christian Standard, June 2018

Christian Standard, About Us

Chris Moon, "Spire: What It Is, What It Isn't . . . and Why," Christian Standard, September 2019

Christian Standard, home page, Christian Restoration Association profile

The Restoration Herald, vol. 97, no. 8 (August 2018), published by the Christian Restoration Association

Ozark Christian College, OCC Statement of Faith (PDF)

Johnson University, Statement of Faith

Southeast Christian Church (Louisville, Kentucky), Who We Are

Southeast Christian Church, Baptism

Christ's Church of the Valley (Phoenix, Arizona), Our Beliefs

Christ's Church of the Valley, What To Expect

First Christian Church (London, Kentucky), About Us

Christian Research Institute, "The Churches of Christ, the Christian Churches, the Disciples of Christ"

The Christian Churches and Churches of Christ became a separate body "through a long process of separation" from the Disciples of Christ in the first half of the twentieth century. Three controversies drove it: modernism in the Bible colleges, membership in the Federal Council of Churches, and open membership, which received persons who had not been immersed. The churches that held to the older ways gathered around the North American Christian Convention, begun in 1927, the Christian Standard, and a growing set of independent missions and Bible colleges. The Disciples' Restructure of 1968 finished the parting.

The College of the Bible inquiry

At the College of the Bible in Lexington, Kentucky, new professors were charged with teaching that ran against the biblical views of the older faculty and many alumni. The trustees investigated in 1917 and cleared the accused. That did not satisfy the dissidents, who "responded by establishing 'faithful' Bible colleges" to supply ministers to churches that resisted the new trends.

Open membership and the missionary society

In 1920 missionaries in China asked the United Christian Missionary Society for leave to receive the unimmersed into membership. The dispute was aired in the Christian Standard. Opponents demanded the missionaries' recall at Oklahoma City in 1925 and were blocked at the Memphis Convention in 1926. "Many congregations withdrew support from the United Christian Missionary Society," and some missionaries resigned to work independently, which gave the network the name "Independent."

The Christian Restoration Association

The Christian Restoration Association counts its start from 1922, with the Clarke Fund, and took its present name in 1925. It publishes The Restoration Herald monthly from Mason, Ohio. The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement says the Herald was "even more conservative than the Christian Standard" and known for "its outspoken policy of hostility toward the old Disciple leadership."

The first North American Christian Convention

A committee named at the Memphis meeting, with P. H. Welshimer of Canton, Ohio, as chairman, called a rally in Indianapolis on 12–16 October 1927, "constituting the first North American Christian Convention (NACC)." Its backers said it would be "a convention of individuals, not a convention of churches," focused on "restoration of New Testament Christianity." A Christian Standard retrospective quotes Welshimer calling it "a preaching meeting" and says that between 3,500 and 5,000 people came.

The Christian Missionary Fellowship

The Christian Missionary Fellowship, based in Indianapolis, was set up to screen missionary candidates and give limited supervision of fieldwork. It "makes no claim to be the sole mission agency through which Christian Churches/Churches of Christ must do mission work." The churches' method of missions is "independent/direct support."

The convention becomes permanent

After 1928 the NACC met only at intervals, eight conventions in all up to 1950. In 1950 "the North American Christian Convention abandoned its irregularity and became a permanent institution." It "disavows any suggestion that it officially represents the churches."

The Directory of the Ministry

An annual Directory of the Ministry of the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ was first published in 1955. Before that, "reliable statistics on the status and growth" of the churches "are difficult to obtain." Many of the congregations "continued to be listed in the Yearbook of Disciples of Christ" until 1968.

Southeast Christian Church begins

Southeast Christian Church began in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1962 with 53 charter members from South Louisville Christian Church. By 2004 it was the largest congregation in the fellowship.

A full-time convention director

The convention committee called Leonard G. Wymore as the first full-time director and opened an office in Cincinnati. Wymore served until 1986.

The Disciples' Restructure

The Restructure of the Disciples of Christ took place in 1968. Until then many congregations of this fellowship were still listed in the Disciples' yearbook.

Listed apart

By 1971 the churches were listed separately in the Yearbook of American Churches as the "Christian Churches and Churches of Christ." This is the Christian Research Institute's account of the date.

The Christian Standard changes hands

Standard Publishing had been sold to the Wicks Group in 2006. In December 2016 Wicks decided to discontinue Christian Standard and its sister magazine effective 15 February 2017, unless a buyer came forward. The Solomon Foundation, a church extension fund in Parker, Colorado, finished the purchase on 10 February 2017. A new nonprofit, Restoration Movement Media, runs the magazines.

The convention looks to change

In 2018 the publisher of Christian Standard wrote that some had heard "a massive shift is coming" and that the 2019 convention in Orlando "will see some changes," while holding to "the fundamentals upon which the NACC was founded."

Spire replaces the convention

Spire Network, "a digital platform that has set its sights on uniting and equipping pastors within the independent Christian churches and churches of Christ," held its first conference in Orlando on 8–10 October 2019. That conference "will replace the North American Christian Convention and that gathering’s nine-decade history." Its chief executive, Rick Rusaw, long the pastor of LifeBridge Christian Church in Longmont, Colorado, called the NACC "a legacy event."

Isaac Errett

Founder of Christian Standard in 1866. The paper grew into Standard Publishing, which supplied Sunday school literature, youth materials and books to the churches. It "remains the major journal of this fellowship."

Edwin Errett

A grandnephew of Isaac Errett, editor of the Christian Standard in the 1920s. He backed independent missions but "staunchly maintained that the fellowship of the Disciples of Christ was one." After his death in 1944 Burris Butler became editor and turned the paper to a "more strident policy."

P. H. Welshimer

Of Canton, Ohio, named chairman of the committee that called the first NACC. He called the Indianapolis gathering "a preaching meeting."

Leonard G. Wymore

The first full-time director of the NACC, called in 1963. He opened its Cincinnati office and retired in 1986, when Rod Huron succeeded him.

Kyle Idleman

Senior pastor of Southeast Christian Church, Louisville, which says it operates "under an elder-led leadership structure."

Rick Cherok

Managing editor of Christian Standard since June 2024, with a doctorate in United States religious history from Kent State University.

The Restoration Herald. The Herald is the monthly magazine of the Christian Restoration Association, which has its offices in Mason, Ohio. The Herald's editor in August 2018 recalled a guide at an NACC telling a visiting Southern Baptist pastor "that we believe that salvation is by grace, through faith, at baptism, for good works," and quoted the slogan "Where the Scriptures speak, we speak, and where the Scriptures are silent, we are silent."

The convention. In 2004 the Encyclopedia called the NACC "the largest national gathering of the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ," with attendance at one or more sessions averaging between ten thousand and twenty thousand, and registration once as high as fifty thousand. The Christian Standard's publisher wrote in 2018 that the NACC had been "the connecting place" for the movement. Since 2019 the Spire conference has taken its place.

The name. "The cumbersome name derives from the fact that both titles have been used from the very beginning of the Movement to designate individual congregations." The body is not the Disciples, who are a denomination, and not the a cappella Churches of Christ, who reject instruments. Those two have their own charts.

The Bible alone is the authority, with no creed beside it. Colleges and congregations write statements of faith, and some elders claim the final word on what Scripture means.

The Christian Churches do not have a creed. Their historian says that "there is no creedal formula that unites" them and that "No Creed but Christ" is "taken very seriously," because "theological definitions are viewed as barriers to Christian unity." Their schools and congregations do write statements of faith. Ozark Christian College says "the Bible is the final authority in all matters of faith and practice," while admitting that creeds "have at times been more divisive than unifying." Johnson University's statement opens with "no creed but Christ," and then lists eleven items that every trustee, teacher and staff member holds. Christ's Church of the Valley and Southeast Christian Church each speak for themselves. Southeast also holds that its elders "are the final interpretive authority of the Bible's meaning and application for the church."

Other than the “Petrine confession” of Christ’s divinity found in Matthew 16:18 there is no creedal formula that unites Christian Churches/Churches of Christ.

The Bible is the final authority in all matters of faith and practice.

The essence of our belief is in the old saying, “no creed but Christ.”

Ozark Christian College: "OCC recognizes that creeds and confessions of faith have at times been more divisive than unifying, but in light of its commitment to Scripture, OCC believes that agreement on certain matters of the faith is essential to carry out its mission." Christ's Church of the Valley: "Our foundation is based firmly upon the Bible as our ultimate authority on Christian beliefs and a guide to living." Southeast Christian Church: "While God and the Bible are the ultimate authority for Southeast Christian Church, we operate under an elder-led leadership structure." Their historian adds that the rejection of theological definition "has sometimes resulted inadvertently in a degree of theological shallowness and simplistic biblicism."

Saved by grace through faith, expressed in repentance and baptism by immersion. Colleges list immersion with faith and repentance, and the historian ties it to forgiveness of sins. Southeast says it cannot save.

The Christian Churches teach salvation by grace through faith in Christ, and immersion of the believer as the only baptism. Their historian says they "insist that baptism finds its meaning as it relates to forgiveness of sin; but they emphatically reject any form of water regeneration." Ozark Christian College says a living faith "is demonstrated through repentance, confession, baptism by immersion, and a life of obedience." Johnson University calls "faith, repentance, confession of faith in Jesus, and baptism (immersion), together" the New Testament's conditions of response. Christ's Church of the Valley says faith "is expressed through repentance of sin and baptism by immersion." Southeast Christian Church lists "to accept forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38; 22:16)" among its reasons for baptism, and also says that "the act of baptism cannot save an individual." The Restoration Herald, published by the Christian Restoration Association, speaks more firmly: it records the Association's view that "salvation is by grace, through faith, at baptism, for good works."

They insist that baptism finds its meaning as it relates to forgiveness of sin; but they emphatically reject any form of water regeneration

The New Testament expresses the conditions of response to the gracious work of Christ as faith, repentance, confession of faith in Jesus, and baptism (immersion), together, which provide the spiritual foundation for continued obedience to Christ

The act of baptism cannot save an individual. We are saved only through accepting Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.

Ozark Christian College: "Salvation can be found in Christ alone and is offered to all by grace through faith. A living faith is demonstrated through repentance, confession, baptism by immersion, and a life of obedience." Southeast, on timing: "A person should be baptized at the time he or she trusts in Christ" and baptism "was not just a symbol or a memorial of faith, but was intended to offer a means of union with Christ." Southeast also asks people who were sprinkled to talk about "why immersion is important." Their historian: "Christian Churches/Churches of Christ practice immersion of believers as the only valid baptism because they understand this to be the only method of baptism found in the New Testament and practiced by the early church."

The Lord's Supper every Sunday in every congregation, open to all believers, mostly a memorial. Elders usually preside, and laymen may.

The Christian Churches keep the Lord's Supper every first day of the week. Their historian says it is "observed every Sunday in every congregation" and "is believed to have been the practice of the early church, and thus it holds a central place in the churches' effort to 'restore' early Christian faith and practice." The emphasis "is generally focused on the memorial nature of the Supper." Elders usually preside, though "this is not mandated," and lay elders may preside. The Supper "is made available to all believers ('open communion')." The congregations name it among the things a Christian does when the church meets: Southeast Christian Church says members are to "meet together regularly for fellowship, worship, teaching, and the Lord's Supper," and First Christian Church of London, Kentucky, says "we celebrate communion weekly."

the Lord’s Supper, which is observed every Sunday in every congregation.

The Supper is made available to all believers (“open communion”).

We celebrate communion weekly.

Their historian: "This, too, is believed to have been the practice of the early church, and thus it holds a central place in the churches' effort to 'restore' early Christian faith and practice. Emphasis is generally focused on the memorial nature of the Supper. Elders usually preside at the table, although this is not mandated." The Christian Standard recalled that the first NACC in 1927 heard messages on "the centrality of the Lord's Supper." In 1986 a joint convention brought some forty thousand to a communion service in the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis.

Each congregation is autonomous, and elects its own elders and deacons. Many large churches are led by a senior pastor with a team of staff elders. Women rarely serve as preachers or elders.

The Christian Churches say the church is the local congregation, "itself understood as a microcosm of the church universal." Their historian says no body above the congregation is "in any sense 'church,'" and that "each congregation elects elders and deacons, who have sole responsibility to direct the affairs of the local church." They ordain their own ministers and "invest sole authority to do so in the local congregation." There is "no system of ministerial placement," so each congregation "seeks and employs its own minister(s)." The "priesthood of every believer" leaves "little room for much distinction between clergy and laity," so "laypersons may conduct baptisms." Southeast says that it works "under an elder-led leadership structure," with a senior pastor and elders who include paid staff. At Christ's Church of the Valley the senior pastor, Ashley Wooldridge, "works with a gifted Executive Team to shape the future direction of CCV." Women are "rarely" preachers, senior pastors or elders, though many serve as deacons and teachers.

Each congregation elects elders and deacons, who have sole responsibility to direct the affairs of the local church.

Christian Churches/Churches of Christ ordain their ministers and invest sole authority to do so in the local congregation.

We believe that the Elders of the church are the overseers of its affairs and the shepherds of its members

Their historian: "The strong emphasis on the priesthood of every believer, however, leaves little room for much distinction between clergy and laity. Thus, laypersons may conduct baptisms, and lay elders may preside at communion services." On women: "Women's role in leadership is limited. Rarely are women engaged as preachers or senior pastors or elected to the eldership; however, women are regularly accepted for missionary service, and many serve as teachers in Bible colleges." Ozark Christian College: "God's church is comprised of a priesthood of all believers, serving as minister of the gospel according to the gifts which God has given them." Beyond the congregation they have agencies by "private initiative": "all extra-congregational efforts and agencies (and there are many) rise ad hoc from private initiative and are sustained by continuing endorsement from supporting congregations and individuals."

Worship with instruments: piano, organ, band, in many congregations contemporary music led from the front. They sing, pray, hear a message and keep the Supper each Sunday.

The Christian Churches use instruments in worship, and this is what sets them apart from the a cappella Churches of Christ. The Christian Research Institute says of the NACC churches that they are "generally 'instrumental' (that is, they either favor or do not oppose the use of musical instruments in church)." First Christian Church of London, Kentucky, says a visitor may hear "our grand piano and pipe organ one minute followed by banjos and electric guitars and drums the next." Christ's Church of the Valley says its music is "popular music you would hear on the radio with original songs written at CCV." The use of instruments is not a creed of the body, and the historians of the Stone-Campbell Movement say the instrument was a cause of the nineteenth-century separation of the Churches of Christ from the Disciples. The Christian Churches do not give it as a reason for their own separation from the Disciples in the twentieth century, which their historian ties to modernism, the Federal Council and open membership.

We love music! We have a lot of it in our services of all kinds! You are likely to hear our grand piano and pipe organ one minute followed by banjos and electric guitars and drums the next!

Combining popular music you would hear on the radio with original songs written at CCV, our worship will leave you refreshed and spiritually prepared to hear from God’s word.

The NACC is generally “instrumental” (that is, they either favor or do not oppose the use of musical instruments in church).

Their historian on the separation of the a cappella Churches of Christ: "Advocacy of missionary organizations (societies), both home and foreign, and the use of instrumental music in worship — 'innovations' that leaders of Churches of Christ vehemently opposed — furnished the immediate causes of separation" (Olbricht, in the same Encyclopedia). The Christian Research Institute adds that "the issue of instrumental music is the main difference between the COC and the NACC." This chart does not claim a body-wide statement on instruments, for none exists.

The Holy Spirit indwells every Christian and helps, guides and empowers. The statements do not address tongues or healing, and one ties the Spirit's sending to the preaching of the apostles.

The statements say the Holy Spirit is God and that he indwells believers. Christ's Church of the Valley says "the Holy Spirit serves as our comforter, guide and advocate" and "is given to Christians and provides guidance in living, an understanding of the Bible, and prayerful intercession." Southeast Christian Church says the Spirit "indwells every Christian" and "empowers us to a fruitful Christian life." Ozark Christian College says he "draws all people to Christ by illuminating the gospel and convicting of sin" and "dwells in the life of a believer to transform, guide, assure, and empower." Johnson University says "the Holy Spirit was sent from Heaven to the Church to establish the preaching of the Gospel through the Apostles and to empower, equip, encourage, and comfort followers of Jesus." None of these statements speaks of tongues, healing or prophecy for today.

The Holy Spirit serves as our comforter, guide and advocate.

The Holy Spirit dwells in the life of a believer to transform, guide, assure, and empower living a fruitful Christian life.

The Holy Spirit was sent from Heaven to the Church to establish the preaching of the Gospel through the Apostles and to empower, equip, encourage, and comfort followers of Jesus in their service to Christ

Southeast Christian Church: "We believe in the Holy Spirit: who convicts of sin; Who indwells every Christian; Who helps us in our weakness and intercedes for us in prayer; and Who empowers us to a fruitful Christian life." Christ's Church of the Valley: "Those who accept Christ as their Savior will receive the Holy Spirit to live inside them." Their historian says the movement's heirs show "little appeal" for classic Protestant fundamentalism, and says nothing of a Pentecostal turn in these churches.

Christ will return visibly, raise the dead and judge. The saved live with God forever and the unsaved are eternally separated from him.

The statements agree. Ozark Christian College says "Christ will visibly return to restore creation and judge the world. There will be a bodily resurrection for the believers to eternal life with God in heaven and for the unbelievers to eternal judgment in hell." Johnson University says Christ "will come at the end of the world and will judge all people," with "eternal life with God for those in Christ and eternal condemnation separate from God for those not in Christ." Christ's Church of the Valley says "every person will either exist eternally in union with God in heaven through following Jesus Christ or be eternally separated from God in hell due to refusing to follow Him." Southeast Christian Church says Christ "will return in victory to rule forever." No source saved speaks of a thousand-year reign, and the body has no teaching on it as a body.

Christ will visibly return to restore creation and judge the world. There will be a bodily resurrection for the believers to eternal life with God in heaven and for the unbelievers to eternal judgment in hell.

Jesus Christ will come at the end of the world and will judge all people according to that which is written in the Christian Scriptures, resulting in eternal life with God for those in Christ and eternal condemnation separate from God for those not in Christ

Every person will either exist eternally in union with God in heaven through following Jesus Christ or be eternally separated from God in hell due to refusing to follow Him.

No creed but Christ

The churches refuse any creed, and yet their colleges and congregations write statements of faith that bind their teachers and leaders.

"No Creed but Christ" is the historic slogan of the Stone-Campbell Movement. Their historian calls it "a basic conviction endorsed by the whole fellowship." No creed unites the churches. Ozark Christian College and Johnson University each publish a statement that their trustees, administrators and teachers must affirm. Ozark says its faculty "affirm their unqualified acceptance" of its statement, and Johnson says neither its staff nor its students "may promote teachings materially out of line" with its eleven items.

The historic slogan “No Creed but Christ” is taken very seriously.

every trustee, administrator, teacher, and staff member holds the following items to be true, and neither they nor students may promote teachings materially out of line with these

Now these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes; that in us ye might learn not to go beyond the things which are written; that no one of you be puffed up for the one against the other.

Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness: that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work.

Beloved, while I was giving all diligence to write unto you of our common salvation, I was constrained to write unto you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints.

The refusal of a creed is right, and the churches deserve credit for it: Scripture is given "that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16-17), and a church needs nothing added to it. Their colleges stand nearer to the line than most seminaries, because their statements quote chapter and verse and claim no authority of their own. They go short where a statement of faith is made a test for teaching. Faith "once for all delivered unto the saints" (Jude 1:3) is already written, and the way to hold teachers to it is to test them by the text, not by an item list that a board has composed. The line between a summary of Scripture that teaches and a creed that binds is easy to cross.

Agencies, colleges and the convention

Missions, colleges and publishers are run by independent boards and supported by congregations. No agency may speak for the churches, yet a few do speak for them.

The churches work through "extra-congregational efforts and agencies" that "rise ad hoc from private initiative." Their historian says there are "hundreds of agencies," among them thirty-two Bible colleges, three graduate seminaries, a hundred evangelistic associations, and two publishers, Standard Publishing and College Press. The convention "disavows any suggestion that it officially represents the churches." Missionaries are supported by "the independent/direct support method," in which congregations send offerings to each missionary and his committee. The Christian Missionary Fellowship, set up in 1948, gives limited oversight.

Thus all extra-congregational efforts and agencies (and there are many) rise ad hoc from private initiative and are sustained by continuing endorsement from supporting congregations and individuals.

It remains the major journal of this fellowship, providing communication and guidance to the more than 5,000 congregations that have no organizational connection other than the (non-delegate) North American Christian Convention.

And ye yourselves also know, ye Philippians, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church had fellowship with me in the matter of giving and receiving but ye only; for even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my need.

And the things which thou hast heard from me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

The churches kept no society or hierarchy above the congregation, and that is the New Testament pattern: each church sent to the apostle's need on its own, as the Philippians did, when "no church had fellowship with me in the matter of giving and receiving but ye only" (Philippians 4:15). They are right to teach men for the work, as Paul bade Timothy: "the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also" (2 Timothy 2:2). But they did keep agencies. The Christian Missionary Fellowship screens missionaries and supervises their fieldwork, which is in small what the society they refused in 1926 did in large, and the training of preachers has passed to the colleges and the voice of the fellowship to a magazine and a conference. In the New Testament the churches did their own work through their own elders and messengers, and no body that is not a church had any part in it. That the agencies claim no authority does not answer the point; the question is where the text puts the work, and it puts it in the congregation.

Laymen baptize and preside at the Supper

There is little distinction between clergy and laity. Any disciple may baptize, and lay elders may serve the Supper.

The churches stress the priesthood of every believer. Their historian says it "leaves little room for much distinction between clergy and laity" and that "laypersons may conduct baptisms, and lay elders may preside at communion services." Ozark Christian College says the church is "a priesthood of all believers, serving as minister of the gospel according to the gifts which God has given them."

Thus, laypersons may conduct baptisms, and lay elders may preside at communion services.

God's church is comprised of a priesthood of all believers, serving as minister of the gospel according to the gifts which God has given them.

Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and the Lord said unto him in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord.

And straightway there fell from his eyes as it were scales, and he received his sight; and he arose and was baptized;

And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on his name.

But ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that ye may show forth the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

This is the New Testament pattern, and the churches stand on the line in it. The Lord sent Ananias to Saul, and the text calls him only "a certain disciple at Damascus" (Acts 9:10); under his hand Saul "arose and was baptized" (Acts 9:18), and no office is named. The Supper and baptism belong to the whole church, with no priest to turn the bread or to stand at the water. "ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood" (1 Peter 2:9). The one thing to add is that order in the assembly belongs to the elders, who are appointed in each church and who care for the flock, so a church should know who will serve the table and why.

The senior pastor and the staff elder

In many large congregations one man teaches nearly every week and leads a staff, with elders who are also on the payroll.

Southeast Christian Church says it operates "under an elder-led leadership structure," with "Senior Pastor Kyle Idleman, along with other members of the church leadership team." Its page lists an executive pastor as "Staff Elder" and another pastor as "Shepherding Elder." At Christ's Church of the Valley the senior pastor works with an executive team. Their historian says "each congregation seeks and employs its own minister(s)," and "there is no uniform plan for pension or care for retired ministers."

While God and the Bible are the ultimate authority for Southeast Christian Church, we operate under an elder-led leadership structure.

There is no system of ministerial placement among the churches. Each congregation seeks and employs its own minister(s).

And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called to him the elders of the church.

Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit hath made you bishops, to feed the church of the Lord which he purchased with his own blood.

The elders therefore among you I exhort, who am a fellow-elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, who am also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock.

The Christian Churches credit the elders, which is right, and they make the congregation the owner of its minister. But the New Testament knows no single pastor over a body of elders. Paul called "the elders of the church" at Ephesus (Acts 20:17) and told them all to "feed the church of the Lord" (Acts 20:28). Elders, overseers and shepherds are one office held by several men in each church, who rule as equals and not as "lording it over the charge allotted to you" (1 Peter 5:3). A senior pastor set over the elders, as at some large churches, puts one man where the apostles put a plurality of men. The remedy is the plain one: let elders chosen from among the members be the pastors of the flock, equal in the office, and let a preacher teach under them.

The plumb line is the New Testament: what the apostles commanded, and what the churches practiced with their approval. Each position above is set against it, and the wall below shows how far each one stands from it. Choose a course to read the Scripture and the reason. The Christian Churches set out to restore the New Testament church, and on several courses they have come very near it. Where they stand nearer the pattern than most, they are credited plainly; where they stand further, that is said too. Colleges and congregations speak for themselves, so the verdicts name the one that holds each teaching.

Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of the mind, examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so.

The Christian Churches stand with the Bible alone: no pope, no council and no creed beside it, and the slogan "No Creed but Christ" kept as a conviction of the whole fellowship. That is the Bereans' way, "examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so" (Acts 17:11), and on it they stand near the line. They stand a step short in what they add to it. Johnson University binds its staff to a list of eleven items, and Southeast Christian Church says its elders "are the final interpretive authority of the Bible's meaning." Elders must teach and guard the flock, but no man or board is the last word on what the text says. The church is to "learn not to go beyond the things which are written" (1 Corinthians 4:6).

And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.

He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned.

The Christian Churches baptize only believers, and by immersion, and their historian says they tie it to the forgiveness of sins. That is Peter's word, "be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins" (Acts 2:38), and Ananias's to Saul, "arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins" (Acts 22:16). Where it is taught so, as the Restoration Herald teaches that salvation is "by grace, through faith, at baptism," these churches stand on the line, nearer the New Testament than almost any body, and credit is due. Not every congregation says it. Southeast Christian Church says baptism "cannot save" and that we are "saved only through accepting Christ’s sacrifice," which sets the water after salvation when Peter and Ananias set it in the way of forgiveness. That is Southeast's teaching, and it stands a step off the line; it is not the teaching of the colleges or of the fellowship's historian.

Why the course stands on the line. Every source here baptizes only believers, and only by immersion, and Ozark, Johnson and Christ's Church of the Valley set baptism among the things a sinner does in coming to Christ. The one doubt is the purpose of baptism, where some large congregations speak as Southeast does. That doubt does not move the course, for the fellowship as a whole still ties baptism to the forgiveness of sins.

Water regeneration. The churches reject "water regeneration" and the charge that they teach it. The charge is not the point. The New Testament does not say the water has power of its own. It says God forgives the believing penitent who is baptized: "ye were also raised with him through faith in the working of God" (Colossians 2:12). To call the act a mere sign is not what the apostles said of it, and to make it a work that earns is not either. The Restoration Herald's wording, "by grace, through faith, at baptism," keeps both.

And upon the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul discoursed with them, intending to depart on the morrow; and prolonged his speech until midnight.

and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, This is my body, which is for you: this do in remembrance of me. In like manner also the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood: this do, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord’s death till he come.

But let a man prove himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of the cup.

The Christian Churches keep the Lord's Supper "every Sunday in every congregation," because the church at Troas met "upon the first day of the week … to break bread" (Acts 20:7). That is the apostolic example, and on the day and the frequency these churches stand on the line, nearer to Acts than most of Christendom. They keep it as a remembrance, "in remembrance of me" (1 Corinthians 11:24), without a priest or a sacrifice, and let lay elders serve. They invite every believer, and they should keep Paul's own warning in mind: "let a man prove himself, and so let him eat" (1 Corinthians 11:28).

And when they had appointed for them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed.

For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city, as I gave thee charge; if any man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having children that believe, who are not accused of riot or unruly. For the bishop must be blameless, as God’s steward; not self-willed, not soon angry, no brawler, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre;

Tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock.

Each congregation is its own church, with no bishop or synod over it, and it chooses its own elders and deacons. That is the apostles' order, "elders in every church" (Acts 14:23), and the Christian Churches keep it better than most of Christendom. They fall short where one man stands over the elders. Paul left Titus to "appoint elders in every city" (Titus 1:5), always elders in the plural, and he told the elders of Ephesus that the Holy Spirit had made them, all of them, "bishops, to feed the church of the Lord" (Acts 20:28). A senior pastor who leads the staff, with staff elders who answer to him, is an office the New Testament does not have. The agencies and the convention fall under the same rule: they claim no authority, but no text gives a school, a magazine or a convention any part in the oversight of the churches.

The best reply. The Christian Churches answer that the senior pastor serves under the elders and is one of them, and that Southeast says it works "under an elder-led leadership structure." The question is not what the structure is called, but who in practice leads. Where one man preaches nearly every week, directs the staff and is the church's public voice, the elders have become his board. The apostolic plurality was a plurality of equals, "neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you" (1 Peter 5:3).

The agencies. The churches refused the missionary society in the 1920s because it had come to direct the work of the congregations. Their own agencies "rise ad hoc from private initiative," and their convention "disavows any suggestion that it officially represents the churches." The danger is the same one they saw in 1926, in a slower form. When the colleges train every preacher and the magazine and the conference set the direction of the fellowship, the congregations' independence is real on paper and thin in practice.

speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto God.

What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.

Through him then let us offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips which make confession to his name.

The Christian Churches pray, sing, hear the word and keep the Supper on the first day, and the whole congregation sings. They stand a step short in the instrument. The apostles commanded the church to sing, "speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord" (Ephesians 5:19), "teaching and admonishing one another" (Colossians 3:16), and in both places the instrument named is the heart. No New Testament text commands an instrument in the assembly or shows a church using one, and the churches that use them rest on the ground that the New Testament does not forbid it. Their own slogan runs the other way: "Where the Scriptures speak, we speak, and where the Scriptures are silent, we are silent." The rule by which they refuse infant baptism and a creed refuses the instrument too. A general command leaves the means to judgment, but the command to sing names the kind of music, so playing is a different act and not a way of singing.

Their best replies. First, the Greek word behind "making melody" in Ephesians 5:19 once meant to pluck a string, and so, it is said, allows the harp. But the apostle's sentence names what is plucked: "with your heart." Second, the instrument is said to be only an aid to the commanded singing, as a songbook or a pitch pipe is. A songbook adds nothing to the song; a band adds a second kind of music, made by hands and not by lips, "the fruit of lips which make confession to his name" (Hebrews 13:15). Third, the temple had instruments "for the commandment was of Jehovah by his prophets" (2 Chronicles 29:25), but the temple, its sacrifices and its Levites passed away together. A church that restores the New Testament in baptism and the Supper has the same reason to restore its song.

The step. Their singing is congregational, and the instrument is the one point added. That is one step from the line, and it is a real departure, not a matter of taste.

how shall we escape, if we neglect so great a salvation? which having at the first been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed unto us by them that heard; God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders, and by manifold powers, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his own will.

Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away.

The statements put the Spirit where the New Testament puts him: given to the believer at baptism ("ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit," Acts 2:38), dwelling in him, and helping him. They claim no tongues or healing for today, and Johnson University ties the Spirit's sending to "the preaching of the Gospel through the Apostles." That is near the line. They are not precise on the point, however. The statements never say plainly that the miraculous gifts came through the apostles and ended with them, as "God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders" (Hebrews 2:4) shows, and Christ's Church of the Valley's phrase that the Spirit "provides guidance in living" leaves open a direct leading beyond the written word.

Marvel not at this: for the hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.

inasmuch as he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat upon it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne; and books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works.

Ozark Christian College, Johnson University and Christ's Church of the Valley teach what the Scriptures teach: Christ will return visibly, the dead will be raised, all will be judged, and the saved will live with God forever while the lost are eternally separated. That is "the hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment" (John 5:28-29). The statements add no scheme of a rapture or a thousand-year earthly reign that the text does not give, and they do not bind the churches to one view of the details. On this course they stand on the line.

The Christian Churches hold much that Scripture also teaches, and it should be said plainly. They confess one God in three persons, Christ truly God and man, who died, rose and will come again to judge. They hold the Bible as the final authority and refuse a creed beside it. They immerse only believers, for the forgiveness of sins, and they keep the Lord's Supper every first day of the week, as the church did at Troas. Their congregations are free and appoint their own elders and deacons, with no bishop or synod over them. They share a deep concern for missions, and the sacrifices of their missionaries are real. They saw in 1926 that a monolithic agency could take hold of a church's work, and they refused it. They have kept alive, for a century, a plea that most of Christendom has dropped: to be Christians only, and to take the New Testament as the whole rule.

Measured by the New Testament alone, the Christian Churches stand nearer the pattern than most, and on baptism, the Supper and the end of the age on the line. They stand short in three places: the oversight of one man over the elders, the weight of conventions, schools and statements beside the Scriptures, and the instruments in the assembly. Where a congregation, as Southeast does, says baptism "cannot save," it has left the line the fellowship once held. Baptism is for the remission of sins, as Peter said. A church is led by several elders, with no one man over them. And the song of the assembly is the voice of the saints, "singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord" (Ephesians 5:19).

These churches began as a protest against human additions, and they have been faithful to it more than most. What remains is to carry the plea through the whole of worship and government, and to ask of the band and the senior pastor what they asked of the creed: where is it written? They have, in their own words, "No Creed but Christ." To keep that is to open the New Testament and take the whole pattern, "the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints" (Jude 1:3).

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