Church of Christ

[hopefulone]

:wave
Does anyone here know anything about the Church of Christ? I don't think I'm talking about the United Church of Christ either, but am not sure. I've recently started going to a local Church of Christ because I have an aunt who goes there. She has been Church of Christ all her life. I know from talking with her that they think no other church is right and that anyone not of the Church of Christ faith is not going to go to heaven. My aunt is a very good person, but I have a really hard time understanding how anyone could be lead to believe that a particular CHURCH is going to get them to heaven. Anyway, I would like any info anyone could give me on them. Thanks!

[Jayhawk]

:wave
Does anyone here know anything about the Church of Christ? I don't think I'm talking about the United Church of Christ either, but am not sure. I've recently started going to a local Church of Christ because I have an aunt who goes there. She has been Church of Christ all her life. I know from talking with her that they think no other church is right and that anyone not of the Church of Christ faith is not going to go to heaven. My aunt is a very good person, but I have a really hard time understanding how anyone could be lead to believe that a particular CHURCH is going to get them to heaven. Anyway, I would like any info anyone could give me on them. Thanks!

It could be part of the "Boston Movement" of the Church of Christ. They believe that they are the only ones going to heaven. It is baptism, not faith that saves you. I would consider the Boston Movement a cult. The leaders tell you what to do and if you don't do it, they tell you that you are not following the will of God and He will punish you. I have personal experience in this. My ex-wife and I went to this for a few month at about the time we got married. We wanted to do our wedding a certain way and they wanted it another way. They were telling us we were rebellious and God was going to deal with us like he did with the rebellious Israelites (the ground swallowing them up). When we left that "church", we called them and told them we weren't coming back. Within 5 minutes, they were on our doorstep knocking and wanting us to open the door. It took about 15-20 minutes of us not answering or acknowledging them for them to leave.

If it is the "Boston Movement", get your aunt out of there. Run and don't look back.

[Blessed4ever]

You know, I went to the Church of Christ as a child with my grandmother. I never remember anyone ever saying if you weren't Church of Christ you were going to hell?

My grandmother lived her witness by example however, and never really talked much about it. So, I guess the could have believed that but I don't think so.

I think there probably are serveral different kinds of "Church of Christ" churches out there just like anything else.

Honestly I am looking forward to the day we're all in heaven were there will be no denominations!

[jds22]

There are many divisions of the COC. From what I have gathered they all have these two things in common. Baptism is needed for salvation, and you can lose you salvation. They tend to be very legalistic, I'm sure you've noticed that instruments aren't allowed. I don't doubt their salvation, but they tend to add a lot to it.

Jerry

[hopefulone]

Jayhawk, Thank you for your reply. I think they believe that if you went forward in church and was saved but were not baptized immediately and died, say, in a car wreck before you could be baptized, you would not go to heaven. I don't know how they explain the thief on the cross in that case. My aunt asked me recently if I'd ever been baptized and I said I had years ago in the Methodist church. She asked was I sprinkled and I said yes and she said that's not real baptism. At any rate, the more I go to this church, the more uncomfortable I get when it should be the opposite. I should become more comfortable I would think if it's the right church for me. My aunt has gone to Church of Christ for over 50 years. She's not going to change.

[hopefulone]

JDS22, Thank you for your reply also. They don't believe in musical instruments in church. I'll never understand that one either. They have the Lord's supper, communion, I'm not sure what they call it, every Sunday and they believe it is the most important thing they can do in church. The preacher said that one Sunday. So, yes, they are very legalistic. I was raised in a Methodist church and for the last 2 years, I've been going to the COC church. I would like to find a church somewhere in between those two.

[jds22]

I've been going to the COC church. I would like to find a church somewhere in between those two.

Look for a Southern Baptist. There are also independant Baptist but they seem to be a little legalistic too. I've mainly gone to Baptist churches, but have been to many others. Regardless of whether or not it was Southern or independant, the bible was always preached and it's made clear that acceptance of Jesus is the only thing needed for salvation. :thumb

Good luck,
Jerry

[Jayhawk]

Look for a Southern Baptist. There are also independant Baptist but they seem to be a little legalistic too. I've mainly gone to Baptist churches, but have been to many others. Regardless of whether or not it was Southern or independant, the bible was always preached and it's made clear that acceptance of Jesus is the only thing needed for salvation. :thumb

Good luck,
Jerry

No issues with suggesting Southern Baptist. I currently am a member of a SBC Church. However, there are other churches out there that make it clear that Jesus is the only thing needed for salvation.

As I said before, my wife and I are members of a SBC church, but we are feeling led find a new church home. We are looking at Bible churches and Presbyterian.

[julie61554]

within the Church's of Christ. I grew up in a Church of Christ. They do believe in baptism for salvation, it is lost when you sin but regained when you confess in front of the church and repent. This particular church I attended does not believe in the trinity...they told me they are unitarian. However, I have a friend who attends a different COC and they do believe in the trinity. Where I attended they also believe in using only one cup in communion service to be passed to all members, no musical instruments, and no sunday school. They also believed that they were the ONE TRUE CHURCH. I left when they told me they didn't believe in the trinity.

They claim they are not a denomination. I think there are many different beliefs within the COC. You may just have to come out and ask directly what their beliefs are. Hope this helps.

YSIC

Julie:wave

[jds22]

However, there are other churches out there that make it clear that Jesus is the only thing needed for salvation.


Of course, I didn't mean to make it sound that way.

What I was trying to get across is that while there may be some differences in baptist churches, everyone I attended was biblically correct. So I can't see any reason to be wary of a baptist church.

Jerry

[blondie]

I grew up Church of Christ and that one really trashed Baptists alot. I had a Sunday school teacher tell us how wrong Baptists are because they tithed. We had the head Deacon speaking from the pulpit tell us how they were gonna meet with the Baptists in love and show them how they were wrong.

They teach they you have to be baptized to be saved and if you're not baptized, you're not saved. There are no musical instuments and communion is taken every week.

I read a post here a while back praising God that somebody got saved and the last line of the post read..now only if they'd go to a Church of Christ then everything would be allright. I see that the attitude hasn't changed much in twenty years.

[JoelH]

A curious question: does the UCC have any relations to the other COCs (including no-instrument Boston movemnet ones)? They seem to have similar names by coincidence and not related to one another.

Thanks.

YBIC,

Joel

[Diane 1611]

I am a ex-UCC'er. The UCC was formed in 1959 by the joining of the Evangelical and Reformed denomination, the Congregationalist denomination(from New England - there are a lot of UCC's in New England), and another denomination I can't think of at the moment. The UCC does believe in musical instruments (most of them have big pipe organs, left over from the E&R denomination, although some UCC's have contemporary services), but I don't think they are related to the Church of Christ in any way.

[mina]

I live where the Church of Christ is big and you're right--the ones I know think they are pretty much the only ones saved. Some of my cousins grew up CofC but I think they're all Baptist now.

A friend of mine hasn't gone to the CofC (except with relatives) for years, but just a couple of years ago really got the picture about what's wrong with legalism, and what's wonderful about grace. She cried when she was telling me about how she had finally understood and how she regretted all those years before. Up until that point, she'd kind of still been trying to follow CoC rules--just in case, she said.

As far as Baptist churches, theologically I think probably most of them are OK, though there are some variations. But to me, the small ones can be just too informal in their worship, for me at least. The large ones are good though. I think a larger Southern Baptist church might be the compromise you're looking for, as you said, something between Methodist (too liberal or ecumenical I'm presuming) and Church of Christ (serious doctrine issues, for me at least).

So my advise is to try a large Baptist church if possible and see what you think. Some Presbyterian churches are good too. I've been to two or three kinds of Presbyterian churches and actually liked them all pretty well, though one seemed a little too liberal for me, at the time. This was years ago, so there's no telling how liberal that particular church is by now!

Unfortunately the large Baptist, Presbyterian, and Methodist churches I've attended all ended up hitting me as too much like country clubs for my liking, and too inattentive or condescending to the poor. I liked all of them though until something happened that really brought this attitude to my attention, and I guess it's just something that can crop up anywhere.