Eastside church of Christ

In the world today there are hundreds of different religious denominations, all claiming the name of "Christian". These denominations teach different doctrines, they worship differently, and they call themselves many different names. Is this what God wants? Is it what we find in the New Testament?

In the New Testament, the word "church" is only ever used in one of two senses: either a local congregation of Christians is meant (for example in Romans 16: 16), or as a universal term for the whole church, as in Ephesians 1: 22. There is not one single denomination described or even mentioned in the Bible. God wants all his followers to be one, as we see in I Corinthians 1: 10:

Now I beseech you brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgement.

Evidently, the widely divided world of denominationalism today is not what God had in mind. When we examine the history of various denominations, we will find that they did not originate in Bible times, but rather much later. Orthodox and Catholic denominations are older, whereas most Protestant denominations are younger, but none of them date from the time of Christ. They are clearly things that man has invented, and not something that God authorised or even wanted.

In the Bible, however, we only read of one church. It was founded by Jesus Christ (Matthew 16: 18), and people are added to it when they obey the Gospel (Acts 2: 41, 47). It is the body of people who have been saved by the blood of Christ (Acts 20: 28), and it is the bride of Christ, to be presented to Him when He returns for it (Ephesians 5: 25-27).

What if we could reject all the opinions and additions of men? What if we could just go back to the simple Biblical church, preaching only the doctrine found in the Bible, organised only in the way that the Bible church is organised, only worshipping and working in the way that the Bible church worshipped and worked? This is possible, because God tells us it is.

In Romans 6: 17-18, we read that people in the first century AD were being saved from their sins by obeying from the heart a certain form or pattern of doctrine.

But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

We today can become the servants of righteousness, and be saved from sin, by obeying from the heart the very same form of doctrine that they did - the Gospel, the New Testament. When we do this, we are not added to any denomination of man's creation, we are added to the church that God Himself created.

That is what we at the church of Christ are trying to do: not to be a church that man has begun, but be a part of the body of Christ, the church you can read about in the Bible (Ephesians 1: 22-23). We are governed, organised, named, worship, teach and work solely what is found in the New Testament. We invite you to check us out, come and visit us, or sign up for a Bible study or correspondence course.