Eastside church of Christ

Often people ask questions such as "Where is the headquarters of the church of Christ? How is it organised? What body controls it?" These of course are legitimate questions, but people are often surprised by the answer. This is because there are no earthly headquarters of the church of Christ, no organisational heirarchy and no governing body.

The reason that this is the case is that none of these things are found in the Bible. In the New Testament, the individual congregations of the church are independent and autonomous. They owe no alleigiance to anyone but Jesus Christ Himself, and He is the only head of the church (Ephesians 1: 22-23). We have no authority to add anything to the pattern which we find in the Word of God, and so it is wrong to add any earthly headquarters or organisation to the church which is not found in the Bible.

If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God (I Peter 4: 11a).

The individual congregations are not at liberty to change the laws that God has given, but they are free to decide all matters upon which God has not decided. Thus, the place of meeting, the times of the services etc. are all decided individually by the congregations, whereas the pattern of worship, the way people become Christians, the definition of what is right and what is wrong and similar things have all been decided by God and cannot be changed.

In the New Testament, we see the offices of elder and deacon, both of which have certain qualifications that God has set. The elders, also referred to as bishops or pastors, are the ones who make decisions for the congregation. There are always more than one of them in each congregation (Acts 14: 23). They are men, they are married and all of their children have grown up to become faithful Christians. They are capable teachers, and live morally upright lives, in such a way that they do not bring reproach upon the church. All these qualifications are found in the Bible (I Timothy 3: 1-7; Titus 1: 6-9).

Similarly, the deacons (a term which means "servant") have qualifications. They are married men who rule their own houses well, and who also live morally upright lives (I Timothy 3: 8-13). These men work under the elders to perform various tasks required by the church.

This is a part of the distinctive pattern for the church which is found in the Bible. If we obey some other pattern of man's devising, we have no guarantee of salvation. It is only by faithfully obeying the form of doctrine delivered to us in the Bible that we can be saved:

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 (Romans 6: 17-18).

In the organisation of the church, as in every other area, the church of Christ strives to do only what God has authorised. We do not want to impose on the church our own ideas or doctrines, beacuse we know that God is not pleased with this. We want to help you come to a knowledge of God's will for you, and we pray that you will get in touch with us. If you have questions or comments about this article, or if you want to enrol in a Bible correspondence course or a Bible study, just click on one of the links below.