Churches of christ

The Churches of Christ are independent churches that identify themselves as a religious movement that aims to restore the Church. They do not consider themselves a Christian denomination, and their members refer to themselves as "members of the Church that Jesus of Nazareth established".^{[citation needed]}

The term is also used by the Church of Christ or Christian Church, used by the first missionaries in Latin America.^{[citation required]} Both churches have their common origin in the so-called Restoration Movement^{[citation required]} and share their historical and doctrinal roots.^{[citation required]}

Origin

This group has its origin, like various religious currents in the United States, among the organizations in charge of the ecclesiastical restoration of around the century 19th century, including the Plymouth Brethren, the Disciples of Christ, the Churches of Christ, the Adventists, the Christadelphians, as well as the Anabaptists of the XVI.

Churches of Christ Today

Current Churches of Christ derive primarily from the so-called Restoration Movement, which arose in the United States in the late 18th century and early XIX century, and whose main representatives were Alexander Campbell and Barton Stone, who revived in their time the ancient aspiration to restore the New Testament Church. This group is one of the three main branches of the Restoration Movement, which includes the Churches of Christ, the Disciples of Christ, and the Independent Christian Church.

Historically the Restoration Movement has been nourished by five main sources: Barton Warren Stone's "Christian Churches"; the "Disciples" by Alexander and Thomas Campbell; the "Churches of Christ" from the movement of the Haldane brothers; the Scottish "Churches of Christ"; and other independent churches.

Throughout the years, movements more or less related to the ideal of the restoration of the primitive Church have developed. The Churches of Christ and the Restoration Movement as an institution originate in the United States.

Today they number about 13,000 congregations in the United States alone, with about 3 million members. They have a presence on all 5 continents, with Nigeria being the largest Church of Christ outside of the United States. In Latin America they are particularly more numerous than elsewhere, although more congregations have sprung up in Eastern Europe. The Churches of Christ have founded leading educational institutions in the United States, such as Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas, Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, and Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas, Freed–Hardeman University in Henderson, Tennessee. They also publish a monthly newspaper in English called The Christian Chronicle, with a circulation of over 400,000 copies.

Within the Churches of Christ there are different tendencies, ranging from the acceptance of other religious groups, as part of true Christianity, to the extreme of considering themselves as the only saved ones. In recent years there has been a rapprochement between the "a capella" Churches of Christ and the Christian Churches, in search of broader cooperation and unity. Cooperation has been carried out in Africa, where some missionaries of the Churches of Christ are sponsored by Christian Churches.

Churches of Christ in Latin America

Since the late s. XIX many Churches and organizations associated with the Restoration Movement were interested in opening the mission field in Latin America. The discrepancies and divisions between the different currents in the United States have marked their influence in the various fields of mission, especially in terms of the constitution of Missionary Societies, the introduction of musical instruments in worship, and cooperativism in charitable works.

The first efforts were made in Tampico, Mexico (1897), with McNemar, as well as in Chihuahua. The Westrup Family came to Mexico to set up a flour mill and were converted by the influence of an American minister. Thomas Martin Westrup is recognized as the first preacher of an evangelical Church in Latin America, established in Monterrey, Mexico. The communion of Churches of Christ (“a cappella”) made efforts that were crystallized by the influence of Howard Lesher Schug, a Spanish teacher at the then Abilene Christian College [1]. Dr. Schug was a preacher for the Church of Christ that met on the campus of Abilene Christian College in 1912. The oldest congregations in Mexico are concentrated in Coahuila and Tamaulipas. Central America was reached by the influence of military or diplomatic families who came to settle in the region. A missionary achievement has been the Churches of Christ in Brazil.

Beliefs and Practices

They believe in the sufficiency of God's inspired writing: the Bible is inerrant and the only rule of Christian faith and practice. They hold a trinitarian point about the nature of God. They specifically defend that what makes up the gospel is: The death, burial and resurrection of Christ. They also hold a non-Calvinist point of view of salvation, since they teach that although predestination is real, God has also predestined the elect based on their foreknowledge and that God knows in advance that some will choose him, they will come to Christ through the faith and be saved, while others will not choose you, reject your offer and be damned. The latter will be lost not because they were marked for condemnation but because it was their choice. They also teach that salvation can be lost, opposing the Reformed teaching of Calvinism. They accept existence and destinations after death. They teach that the plan to be saved is to: (1) Hear the gospel (2) Believe (3) Repent of past sins (4) Proclaim that Jesus Christ is the Son of God (5) Be baptized by immersion for the forgiveness of sins. (6) Persevere in obedience to the end.

They believe the Law of Moses has been abolished, so they don't believe Sabbath keeping or Old Testament practices and worship should be kept. They are cessationists, they oppose the teachings of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, miracles, divine healing, laying on of hands or manifestations of spiritual or ministerial gifts as taught in Trinitarian Pentecostal churches, Oneness and Charismatic churches and Neopentecostals, arguing that these manifestations were for the formation of the church from the first century until the organization of the Biblical canon and that it occurred only by the laying on of the hands of the apostles who were the only ones who received the baptism of the Spirit, for which all those acts ceased with their death.

Churches of Christ advocate not being a denomination, they say the term, "church of Christ" it is not a sectarian designation but a description that indicates that the church belongs to Christ, they believe that religious division by denominations is bad and that Christ prayed for unity. They are not based on creeds but affirm that there is only one authority and head of the church, Christ and his word written in the Bible.

They have no official organization beyond the local church. Each congregation is autonomous. There is no governing board, neither of districts, nor regional, nor national, nor international. There are no earthly headquarters, no human organizations to make up the church. They do not approve or practice conventions, annual meetings, or official publications. Churches of Christ have three basic types of ministers: evangelists, elders, and deacons. Evangelists are ordained by a local congregation and sent out to preach, win souls, and establish churches. Elders also called pastors or bishops serve by providing spiritual and disciplinary functions in the local church. Deacons function as servants in the churches. Each congregation governs itself through a plurality of male elders who meet the requirements of the word and are selected by and from the local church members themselves. Women are not allowed to pastor or preach at general meetings.

They believe that five acts of worship were kept by the first century church and they are: singing, praying, preaching, offering and eating the Lord's Supper. They advocate a worship in "spirit and truth". Songs and hymns are administered in an "a capella" manner, musical instruments in many churches are not allowed or used in worship as are clapping, clapping or clapping hands, solo singing or formation of choirs, in other branches if practiced. Likewise, some branches have opposed the common Sunday schools of Christian churches and the simultaneous collective congregational prayer, so they pray in meetings with someone leading and the others remaining silent to respond with an "amen" in the end. All this since they affirm that it does not conform to the orderly and peaceful that the scriptures command.

They believe in the celebration of the holy supper weekly every Sunday with the elements of unleavened bread and fruit of the vine that are in memory of the body and blood of Jesus, some insist on taking all of them from the same and unique cup, while others do allow you to take the dinner wine in individual glasses. Some believe in breaking the bread in the same ceremony, instead of having it already broken. Only the baptized participate. They are opposed to the practice of tithing and the collection of multiple offerings in each cult, but only converts are offered voluntarily once on Sundays, depositing in designated drawers and they are opposed to all commercial practices such as bazaars, raffles, sale of Bibles and literature or fundraising meals. They do not celebrate Christmas or some other events.

In their eschatology, they hold an amillennialist point of view; they see the kingdom of God as spiritual, and that it corresponds to the church established by the Holy Spirit since the day of Pentecost and that Jesus will come soon for the second time where the resurrection of the dead will take place and to judge the world: with condemnation for the lost and eternal life for the just in the new heaven and the new earth, in the kingdom of God, in an earthly millennium. They believe that the soul is conscious after death. That of believers rests in paradise when they die, which is the presence of God, and that of the wicked fights in hades or hell, that is, in the ignorance of God, where they wait as dead for his resurrection at the second coming of Jesus Christ. this time in their minds and in their hearts.