What do Churches of Christ believe?
The family of churches known around the world as Christian Churches, Churches of Christ and Disciples of Christ began more than 200 years ago in both the United Kingdom and the United States of America. It was a time when churches tended towards legalism, authoritarianism and exclusivism. Our movement began with a passion for the unity of this rigid and divided church. There was deep conviction that unity could not be achieved without a thorough renewal of the church of those times and that through such renewal the life, faith, and order of the 'New Testament' church could and should be restored.
A catchcry for Churches of Christ since the beginning then has been:
“In essentials, unity, In non-essentials, liberty, In all things, love.”
Churches of Christ practices a simple, uncluttered Christianity. We have tended to shy away from explaining this in a formula or ‘creed’ (after all there is ‘No creed but Christ, and no book but the Bible...), but a great place to start is CofCVT’s Statement of Purpose.
Statement of Purpose
What is our COMMON MISSION?
To be a movement of the people of God gathering around the central figure of Jesus Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit, living out his Way in our local contexts and inviting others to do the same.
What are our SHARED VALUES?
The Gospel
We passionately value the good news about God as revealed to us in Jesus Christ, and are committed to the mission of communicating it and sharing it with others, making disciples who can make more disciples, and so extend the Kingdom of God.
The Scriptures
We value and affirm the centrality of the scriptures as our authority for Christian belief, identity and practice.
Diversity
We value and recognise the diversity of Christian understanding, belief and experience. Therefore, we value the freedom, flexibility and creativity of a variety of ministry practice and expression, and are committed to the nurture of a diversity of healthy and growing mission-shaped churches that, by crossing frontiers and impacting cultures, are a sign, witness and foretaste of all that God has for the world through Jesus Christ.
Formation
We value various spiritual practices and disciplines described in the New Testament as aspects of our formation as disciples of Jesus, and our constant renewal by God and the Holy Spirit. Therefore we passionately encourage active personal formation through practices and disciplines that include (but are not limited to) baptism, the breaking of bread, fellowship, prayer, worship, meditation, stewardship, spiritual gift discovery etc.
Collaborative Ministry
We value the unique contribution to ministry of each individual believer, and are committed to equipping believers (through, for example, the five-fold ministry pattern of Ephesians 4:11-16), and releasing them to participate in ministry and mission on the basis of their giftedness and capacity.
Servanthood
We value the biblical principles of servanthood and therefore seek to be a servant church committed to responding to human need with love and compassion and to identify and release servant leaders.
Justice
We value the dignity, equality and inherent worth of all persons regardless of gender, race, economic standing or belief system. Therefore, in announcing the Kingdom and expectant of its arrival, we will work for social justice, equal opportunity for all persons, and the responsible care and management of the environment.
Collaboration and Unity
We value the close fellowship, community and collaboration of all those who accept Jesus as Lord and Saviour. Therefore, we passionately seek to promote unity in the wider church and are committed to the ultimate ideal of visible unity.
While in Churches of Christ we enjoy autonomy, we can turn it into an independence that is counter-productive to the biblical ideal of an inter-connected body which is to be a spirited interdependence best characterised by generosity, mutual care, support, and accountability rather than survival, self-focus or self-centredness.
Churches affiliated with Churches of Christ enjoy the privilege of independently discovering their unique mission and ministry within their context, and the privilege of then allowing this to enrich all affiliated churches. This encourages an interdependence that fosters health and growth in all affiliates, beyond a self-focused competitiveness that can sometimes exist between congregations within our movement, let alone with those beyond it.
Interdependence then is an important part of our story. Working together as a ‘Conference’ means we can achieve things we otherwise couldn’t and can support the broader work of God in our world.
It is best to connect with a particular local church and learn about their focus and way of doings things through relationship. Find one of our churches near you here
