The Short Version:
Community Christian Church is an independent, non-denominational Christian church. This means we have no organization that gives oversight, but we do belong to a “brotherhood” of sorts, made up of churches with similar beliefs. The goal of these like-minded churches is to both restore the Christianity we find in the New Testament of the Bible and unite Christians rather than divide.
The Long Version:
Our Roots:
- In the early 1800s, several movements sprang up on the American frontier, made up of men who sought to break away from nationally or internationally organized religious groups. They were seeing animosity between Christians over deep-seated religious convictions that often didn’t apply in America like they had in Europe.
- These movements, which would eventually connect with each other, looked at what the church had become, compared it to the church they found in Scripture and saw a big difference. Instead of finding their basis for fellowship in man-made statements of belief or particular methods of worship, they felt that if we could just follow the Bible, that would be more than enough. If the Scriptures are from God, then why add so much more to it?
- The early leaders of this movement believed that Christians should be united together. They wanted to stand with fellow Christians, not against them. They thought that if we could let go of the traditions and human loyalties that so often divide us, then Christ is the one being glorified, not us.
- This movement would eventually come to be called the Restoration Movement, for its calling to restore the church to the New Testament model, the one Jesus prepared the Apostles to lead and the example for us to follow.
- Today, this movement still exists, but not as an organization with a headquarters and oversight stemming from one place. Instead, there is more of a brotherhood of thousands of churches across the globe. Each church operates independently of one another, but are united in our belief that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Because of our commitment to restoring New Testament Christianity, here are some items that are important to the Christian Church:
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Our basis for belief is found in the Bible, the authoritative and inerrant Word of God. It is historically accurate and internally consistent, and tells one story of redemption, pointing to Jesus Christ. There are resources that may be beneficial to us as we live out our faith, but the Bible, as the standard of truth, and truth itself, is our guide.
- We are called Christians because that’s the New Testament name for followers of Christ (Acts 11:26), and because He is the one we follow.
- We take Communion (also called the Lord’s Supper, or the Eucharist) every week because that’s the Scriptural example and it keeps reminding us what Christ did for us. Communion is a symbol of Christ’s broken body and the pouring out of his blood, and we take it together as an act of unity and remembering.
- Baptism is done by immersion. The Greek word baptizo means to plunge, dip, or immerse. This can often be a sticky issue, but here’s our take:
- Jesus was baptized this way (Matthew 3:16), and we follow his example
- He didn’t just do it, He also commanded it (Matt. 28:18-20)
- Baptism is our first expression of faith – how we “put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27)
- It is a symbol of our burial & resurrection. Romans 6:3-4 says, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”
