What Kind Of Church Is This?

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Hope1960

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Some of you know that I’d been considering checking out what I called a “non denominational” church, but now I’m not sure if it’s non denominational. I’m not really sure what non denominational means, exactly.

Anyway, this church is called “(Name of church) Christian Church”, or just “(Name of church) Church”, and the head pastor graduated from Johnson Bible College with a Bachelors in Youth Ministry & Preaching and a Masters in New Testament.

I know I’ve given little information but there really isn’t much information on their website to go on. I know they have Elders who are in charge of the church, rather than a hierarchy like Catholicism. Can anyone tell me what kind of church this might be?
 
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By googling the college one might get some idea of what it is, especially with the wording of the name of the church.
 
Christian Church isn’t exactly descriptive. Is the church part of the college?
 
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Than how is anyone supposed to figure it out?
 
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Wow, lay off the heavy pessimism, Start.

Hope, you’ve provided exactly the info (the congregation naming structure and the name of the college) needed to figure this out.

If I found the right group, it looks like they are affiliated with the Christian churches and churches of Christ denomination.

It looks like Johnson Bible College became Johnson University in 2011.

Per wikipedia: “The group of Christians known as the Christian Churches or Churches of Christ are congregations within the Restoration Movement, aka the Stone-Campbell Movement and the Reformation of the 19th Century, that have no formal denominational affiliation with other congregations, but still share many characteristics of belief and worship. Churches in this tradition are strongly congregationalist and have no formal denominational ties, and thus there is no proper name that is agreed to apply to the movement as a whole. Most (but not all) congregations in this tradition include the words “Christian Church” or “Church of Christ” in their congregational name.”

You’ll find lots to learn about them at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_churches_and_churches_of_Christ
 
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I don’t know but was hoping someone could tell something by the little information I have.
I know that I was right when I called it non denominational; I just read that again on their website.

They also say that they “believe the original manuscripts of the Bible to be the only inspired, infallible and authorative Word of God…
We accept the Bible as the final authority for all matters of faith and practice.”
 
So would it be fair to say that they probably are a fundamentalist, apocalyptic, Sola Scriptura Church who doesn’t allow the belief in evolution? (I know they don’t believe in evolution and I’m pretty sure I was once told they believe everything in the Bible is literal).

Also, their sermons alone are the length of a typical Mass at my parish.
 
I went to several Celebrate Recovery meetings there and was drawn to their music, which I think is the type of music sung during worship.
I was the only Catholic in my woman’s group, and one woman there who’s also a member of that particular church is a divorced and remarried former Catholic who goes there since she can’t receive Holy Communion at her former Catholic Church, and she was teary when she talked about it.
 
It’s a fairly broad brush but from my very limited experience I’ve found them like a hybrid of Evangelical and low Anglican.

They do believer’s baptism and dedication for infants, don’t always have a communion service every Sunday, a service is typically longer than mass, they aren’t necessarily anti-evolution (that might be a British thing) and as far as I can tell are sola scriptural.
 
ConfusedLucy said:
They do believer’s baptism and dedication for infants, don’t always have a communion service every Sunday, a service is typically longer than mass, they aren’t necessarily anti-evolution (that might be a British thing) and as far as I can tell are sola scriptural.
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I’m not positive but I don’t think this church does infant Baptism. I know they do have a weekly Communion (though obviosusly not the Eucharist), and I’m almost positive I was once told by their pastor or elder that they believe everything in the Bible is literal, which would mean that they’re anti-evolution.
 
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@Hope1960
I know these groups well; I used to be among them. @Wampa provided the accurate description. Everything you’ve described yourself is also fairly accurate. The only problem with their “take the Bible literally” approach is that someone has to decide what that literal interpretation is - and it’s usually what is agreed upon by the elders of various congregations (which is “conveniently” what is taught at Johnson). Thus, you’ll find small, minor variations from one congregation to the next, but they do have more or less a denominational set of core beliefs despite shrugging off the hierarchical structure (mostly because it’s too Catholic).
 
Hope1960 said:
…Can anyone tell me what kind of church this might be?
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Non-denominational means no creed or confession of belief need be held by the members. They can still have elders.
 
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Not a theology or religion expert but wouldn’t non-denomination’s theology depend on the pastor? Additionally, what if some take from the mainline denominations?
 
You can give them a call and ask them of course.

But to guess, it sounds like one of the restorationist type churches originally founded by Alexander Campbell in the early 19th Century.

They say they are “non denominational”, but in actuality it is a denomination. They tend to be pretty strict bible thumpers, but with a bit of a different spin than Baptists or Methodists.
 
Johnson Bible College is part of the Stone-Campbell/Restoration Movement. They train ministers for the Christian Churches.

There is no hierarchy like Catholicism or even like Southern Baptist, Assembly of God, UMC, etc.

They are an association of congregations.

Ozark Bible College is another one of their seminaries.

They are Sola Scriptura, they do believe that baptism is salvific, they believe that Communion is only symbolic.

Baptism ONLY over the age of reason.

This is their publishing arm

https://christianstandardmedia.com/
 
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I’m fairly certain that God created both the universe and man by evolution.
 
The more I think about it, the more I’m leaning toward staying put in the Catholic Church.
 
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