I went out to dinner last night with a lady I’ve know for about 10yrs. She’s seemed to go around to different churches (non-catholic), but now has joined “The Church of Christ.” This was the first time I had ever had a discussion with someone, in my adult life, that has been a member of this “denomination”. I was laying down the history of the Catholic Church - in my lighthearted way - when she whipped out - in her lighthearted way as well - the “history” of “The Church of Christ”. She said it dated back to Peter… She said they believed in the True Presence… We went on a bunch of rabbit trails, so I didn’t get all the details.
My Question:
What do they believe their history is?
and
What is their true history since the Catholic Church is the only Church founded by St. Peter?
Thanks.
Pax et Bonum,
Kristen
p.s. Resources are most helpful.
I know others have posted different things about the CofC. I have had a little experience with them. Before coming home to the Catholic church I attended some of their services, as I was searching to find my way home. After invited there, they told me: they were non-denominational, communion on Sunday is very important to them and believe in adult immersion baptism. Also, was told you must believe at the time of your baptism that you are being cleansed of your sins or it must be repeated. You must be focusing on that at the time. Some wore headcoverings. Also, if something is not mentioned in the Bible, it frequently is not part of the church. For example, they didn’t have seminaries for their ministers because the word isn’t in the Bible. They would have Bible studies at the church and anyone who felt they had a calling to preach could, as long as it was a calling from the Holy Spirit. My friend who invited me, her husband had not been raised a christian, had not studied scripture but after a short time of going there felt he was called to be a preacher and so he did. (I know that happens other places also.) My friends would frequently say when discussing Biblical issues, “I am not adding anything to the Bible.” So I think there is a fear there of adding doctrine that is not biblical. I was also instructed Christmas and Easter are secular only holidays and it is wrong to celebrate them with any reference to Jesus. I was told we celebrate Jesus every Sunday, we do not need to do it on Christmas or Easter. No instruments, “because the early church did not have them.”
Frequently, at local fairs they set up booths and post signs stating they are the only one church, I haven’t seen a sign that said only true church, just the only one church. All the Churches of Christ around here are all very friendly with each other also. Even though there is no one person who is head of all of them, they frequently visit and fellowship with each other.
I had a friend who was a Disciple of Christ, or member of the “Christian denomination,” also part of the restoration movement, she said, except for the instruments they believed pretty much the same thing but they were seeing a lot of contemporary culture creeping in to the Disciples of Christ. She said that the Disciples of Christ and the Churches of Christ had started out as one but later divided.
Just my experience. Could be others with different information. Hope that helps.
Mine wasn’t a conversion from there to Catholicism, I just frequented it as I was searching but after coming home to the Catholic church, there was a little bit of disharmony between my friend and I, things haven’t quite been the same and at the time it bothered me and I found a website and after reading some of the posts on their forum it helped me. It is called Church of Christ to Catholicism. You might find some useful information there. Here is the link:
coctocatholic.com/
