History
Churches of Christ brief history
The Churches of Christ arose from the Restoration Movement
The American Restoration Movement of the 19th century began with the merging of various independent contingents to return to apostolic Christianity. Two were of critical significance to the advancement of the movement. The first, driven by Barton W. Stone started at Cane Ridge, Kentucky and named themselves solely as "Christians". The second started in western Pennsylvania and was headed by Thomas Campbell and his son, Alexander Campbell. They adopted the name "Disciples of Christ". Both groups tried to restore the whole Christian church on the doctrine set forth in the New Testament, and both thought that creeds held Christianity divided.
Despite their variations, the two movements agreed on numerous decisive concerns. Both saw restoring the early church as a path to Christian freedom, and both believed that solidarity among Christians could be accomplished by using apostolic Christianity as a basis. The dedication of both factions to reviving the early church and to unifying Christians was enough to inspire a union among many in the two movements. However, early in the 20th century, the Restoration Movement broke apart into different groups, primarily the "Church of Christ," "Christian Church," and "Disciples of Christ."
Despite being influenced by the Restoration Movement, individuals of the Church of Christ do not consider themselves as a new church originating near the beginning of the 19th century. Rather, the whole movement is designed to represent in modern times the church first established on Pentecost, A.D. 30. The strength of their conviction rests in the renewal of Christ's original church.
The Holy Bible
At one time owning a Bible was illegal for the ordinary person, believing it was worse, often resulting in torture and death! Bibles were copied and shared with brethren, they could not be purchased so the only way to have one was to copy the scriptures illegally from a friend. This way for centuries the word of God, the Holy Scriptures, were shared in the vernacular language until the age of printing, and then later, the Reformation. The church of Christ existed prior to the Reformation and were the only people to have the Bible except the Roman Catholic Church who kept it hidden. These pre-Reformation Bibles were the basis for Tyndale's printed English translations (1526 updated in 1530) and from there, the basis for the King James Bible (1611). In 2011 the Anglican Church made much about the King James Bible, but they were amiss in not giving credit to Tyndale, a member of the Lord's Church and also forgot to mention they too at one time would burn a person for owning the Bible. This web-site is a history of those people who kept the Bible alive during the Dark to Middle Ages and later, brethren who called themselves - The Church of Christ.
From about 1000 AD in England, Christians called by their enemies derogatory terms such as Waldensian, Lollard, Pelagian and Anabaptist, who baptized believers for the remission of sins by immersion upon confession, have been active in Great Britain and even earlier in Europe. They called themselves Christians and the church - The Church of Christ, having met continuously to join in fellowship with the Restoration Movement in the 1840s. The first Church of Christ came into being on the first Pentecost after the Resurrection.
The churches of Christ (Romans 16:16) do not follow the Roman Gospel which originated in paganism, several hundred years after the first church of Christ assembled in Jerusalem on the first Pentecost after the Resurrection, who followed the Jerusalem Gospel. It is an error to confuse the churches of Christ with the Protestant Reformation, they are not Reformers but restorationists, who hold to the Word of God in all maters of faith and practice. For the pre-Reformation Roman Catholics it was sin, the reformation Anglicans, Protestants, Lutherans, Zwinglian, Calvinist and Roman Catholics all held that the churches of Christ were in sin, and through persecution many Christians died at the hands of the Reformers and Roman Catholics - there was nowhere to flee, except prayer. The Reformers and Roman Catholics held to the alliance of Church and State and denied Free-Will, the churches of Christ opposed this, confirming Free-Will and separation of Church and State, which made them criminals twice over. The Reformers holding fast to the doctrine of Church and State forced this through infant baptism (infant baptism is pagan in origin).
Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.