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OUR BELIEFS
by Leroy Lawson
How shall we summarize what kind of church we are talking about? Perhaps the
following terms will help.
1.
A Christian church
Our message
is that “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.” We require no
other creed. He alone is Lord and Savior.
2.
A
church
of
Christ
The church
belongs to him. We have no authority to change the teachings, rewrite the
rules, alter membership requirements, or usurp his place. The church is not
a democracy.
3.
A church seeking unity
Like earliest Christians, members of this church seek to be one in Christ
with all others he calls his own.
4.
A church seeking to restore
As much as
possible, we imitate the New Testament precedents. That is why our baptism
is by immersion, our Communion is every Lord’s Day, our leaders are called
elders, our preaching is about Christ, and our prayers are in Christ’s
name. Even our church name is rooted in the earliest days, when disciples
were called Christians.
5.
An apostolic church
The church,
Ephesians 2:20 states, is “built on the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.” Whatever we
know about Christ and the church we learned from Jesus’ closest
companions, the apostles.
6.
A thinking church
In the same
Ephesian letter, Paul prays that God will give a “Spirit of wisdom and
revelation, so that you may know him better. . . .” Christian faith
demands the best our minds can give, so we are a studying church, seeking to
apply biblical truth intelligently.
7.
A feeling church
Ours is not
a dryly intellectual approach to God, however. We rejoice and praise and
pray and love and serve from the heart. We are unashamed of the gospel and
not embarrassed to let our excitement be seen.
8.
A sharing church
We share
our faith and love with as many as we can reach and our possessions as
persons who know that everything we have belongs to God to be used for his purposes.
9.
A free church
We have no
bishops or superintendents or national headquarters to determine local
church policies. We elect our own leaders, call and support our own
ministers, and decide where our mission money will go. We are not
isolationists, though. Our congregations freely associate with one another
to accomplish tasks too big for one church alone.
10.
A growing church
We want to
grow, because we are under Christ’s commission to disciple the world. We
haven’t completed the task yet, so Christian churches and churches of
Christ are renewing our commitment to go unto the ends of the earth,
preaching and baptizing and teaching, until the whole world knows the one
Lord of all.
LeRoy
Lawson is international consultant with Christian Missionary Fellowship and
a contributing editor for CHRISTIAN STANDARD,
Cincinnati
,
Ohio
. Adapted from The
Family of God (Cincinnati:
Standard Publishing, 1980).
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