• Is The Church Of Christ A Denomination?
• (Part Nine)

• Introduction
• So far we have covered many of the basics of the church.
• As we continue our study, we feel it is necessary to address another area of concern and answer some questions that people might ask about.
• We want to address the thousands of denominations that claim to be “non-denominational”.
• What we will find is that they are still nothing more than denominations.

• Non-Denominational Churches
• Our study demands that we address this phenomenon.
• The majority of the groups who claimed to be non-denominational has its origin within the last 60-70 years.
• The number grows exponentially each year.
• These groups had an origin because people were tired of the discussion of the major denominations railing against each other.
• Many were disenfranchised by their particular groups.
• They did not want to be identified by their upbringing in a traditional church.
• Some of these groups just dropped the name of the traditional group.
• Some identified as a community church.
• Before long they identified as a non-denominational church.
• Since they were opening their memberships to a host of people who were formerly identified by a denominational name, they also realized that most of these were bringing their beliefs with them.
• Because they had diverse backgrounds and diverse beliefs, these new groups had to find a way to accommodate all these various faiths.
• The easiest way to do this was to not hold to any specific doctrine.
• Not make doctrine an issue of division.
• They did this by compromising their core beliefs.
• Since they already had wrong beliefs, they had no problem compromising the truth of God’s word.
• Ecumenism was the result.
• That basically means that anything goes that anyone wants to do and provided others join in with the practices.

• Are We Non-Denominational?
• No!
• Even though we claim to not be a denomination.
• The phrase (non-denominational) is used by these groups as not having any form of organized religion.
• Entertainment is the flavor of the day for most of these groups.
• Spirituality is accepted as long as you are willing to accommodate anyone else and their feelings.
• Asking people to abide by the authority of Scripture does not fit in a non-denominational church.
• If we were to describe ourselves, the most proper form would be to say we are UN-denominational.
• Even that designation leaves an unpleasant flavor for the true Christians who want to be known simply as “Christians”, and “Christians only”.
• So we want to distance ourselves from anything that appears to be a denomination.

• What About Campbellites?
• A charge has always been made that the church of Christ was started by Thomas and Alexander Campbell.
• They started a movement towards restoring the New Testament church.
• They had some denominational background and carried some of their former thinking with them.
• What they, along with others did, was to go to the Bible and made the effort to do things as described in the Bible.
• Like the reformers two centuries before them, they saw that the organized religion of their day was nothing close to the church of the first century.
• They attempted to reform some of their current day religious groups, but that was a futile effort.
• After much study, their decision was to break away from all organized religions of their day and work to be the church they read about in the Bible.
• They did not start the church.
• They simply planted the seed for future generations to do things the Bible way.

• How Can One Become A Member of The True Church Of Christ?
• Unlike the denominations, you do not join the church.
• Unlike the denominations, you do not have to be voted on for entrance.
• Unlike the denominations, you do not have to fill out a credit report.
• Unlike the denominations, you do not have to appear before a committee and answer questions on your background.
• The only way to become a member is to be “In Christ”.
• First comes faith to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that He died on the cross for your sins.
• Next is repentance, where you change your life to bring it into subjection to God. IOW—stop the sin.
• Confess the name of Jesus to all.---then…..
• The only way to get “into” Christ is by the grace of God and faith which leads us through baptism.
• Baptized into Christ and at the same time, into His body (Galatians 3:26-27; 1 Corinthians 12:13).
• One cannot be saved outside of Christ.
• One must be In Christ to be saved.

• Conclusion
• This concludes our series on the question of: Is The Church Of Christ A Denomination?
• I am sure that most of us understand very well that we are not a denomination.
• Some still may not understand.
• But we have presented the Bible to you as the source of authority, and have not relied upon human emotions or reasoning to decide what is right or wrong.
• What are you going to do with this information?

By Carey Scott

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