The Churches of Christ, also commonly known as the Church of Christ, is a loose association of autonomous Christian congregations located around the world. Typically, their distinguishing beliefs are the necessity of baptism for salvation and the prohibition of musical instruments in worship. Many such congregations identify themselves as being nondenominational. The Churches of Christ arose in the United States from the Restoration Movement of 19th-century Christians, who declared independence from denominations and traditional creeds. They sought "the unification of all Christians in a single body patterned after the original church described in the New Testament."Rubel Shelly, I Just Want to Be a Christian, 20th Century Christian, Nashville, Tennessee 1984, .
Overview Modern Churches of Christ have their historical roots in the Restoration Movement, which was a convergence of Christians across denominational lines in search of a return to an original "predenominational" form of Christianity.C. Leonard Allen and Richard T. Hughes, "Discovering Our Roots: The Ancestry of the Churches of Christ," Abilene Christian University Press, 1988, . Participants in this movement sought to base their doctrine and practice on the Bible alone, rather than recognizing the traditional councils and denominational hierarchies that had come to define Christianity since the first century A.D. Members of the Churches of Christ believe that Jesus founded only one church, that the current divisions among Christians do not express God's will, and that the only basis for restoring Christian unity is the Bible. They simply identify themselves as "Christians", without using any other forms of religious or denominational identification.Batsell Barrett Baxter and Carroll Ellis, Neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jew, Church of Christ (1960) ASIN: B00073CQPM. According to Richard Thomas Hughes in Reviving the Ancient Faith: The Story of Churches of Christ in America, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1996, , , this is "arguably the most widely distributed tract ever published by the churches of Christ or anyone associated with that tradition."Samuel S. Hill, Charles H. Lippy, Charles Reagan Wilson, Encyclopedia of Religion in the South, Mercer University Press, 2005, , . They aspire to be the New Testament church as established by Christ."On the cornerstone of the Southside Church of Christ in Springfield, Missouri, is this inscription: 'Church of Christ, Founded in Jerusalem, A.D. 33. This building erected in 1953.' This is not an unusual claim; for similar wording can be found on buildings of churches of Christ in many parts of the United States. The Christians who use such cornerstones reason that the church of Jesus Christ began on Pentecost, A.D. 33. Therefore, to be true to the New Testament, the twentieth-century church must trace its origins to the first century." Robert W. Hooper, A Distinct People: A History of the Churches of Christ in the 20th Century, p. 1, Simon and Schuster, 1993, , ."Traditional Churches of Christ have pursued the restorationist vision with extraordinary zeal. Indeed, the cornerstones of many Church of Christ buildings read 'Founded, A.D. 33.' " Jill, et al. (2005), "Encyclopedia of Religion", p. 212.
Churches of Christ generally share the following theological beliefs and practices: Also available via these links to church-of-christ.org , cris.com/~mmcoc (archived June 22, 2006) and scriptureessay.com (archived July 13, 2006).
Autonomous, congregational church organization, without denominational oversight; Refusal to hold to any formal creeds or informal "doctrinal statements" or "statements of faith", stating instead a reliance on the Bible alone for doctrine and practice;Carmen Renee Berry, The Unauthorized Guide to Choosing a Church, Brazos Press, 2003, . Local governance by a plurality of male elders; Baptism by immersion of consenting believers in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of sins; Weekly observance of the Lord's Supper on Sunday In British congregations, the term "breaking of bread" is commonly used. In American congregations, the terms "Communion" or "body and blood" are used. Churches of Christ typically offer open communion on the first day of each week, offering the bread and fruit of the vine to all present at each person's self-examination. Practice of a cappella singing is the norm in worship, based on New Testament passages teaching to sing for worship, with no mention of instrumental music (and also worship in assemblies of the early Church for centuries had a cappella singing).
In keeping with their history, the Churches of Christ claim the New Testament as their sole rule of faith and practice in deciding matters of doctrine and ecclesiastical structure.. They view the Old Testament as divinely inspired and historically accurate, but they do not consider its laws to be binding under the New Covenant in Christ (unless they are repeated in the New Testament; cf. Hebrews 8: 7–13).David Pharr, The Beginning of Our Confidence: Seven Weeks of Daily Lessons for New Christians, 21st Century Christian, 2000, . They believe that the New Testament demonstrates how a person may become a Christian (and thus part of the universal Church of Christ), and how a church should be collectively organized and carry out its scriptural purposes.
Demographics In 2022, the total membership of Churches of Christ is estimated to be between 1,700,000 and 2,000,000, with over 40,000 individual congregations worldwide. This is a country-by-country tabulation, based on the enumeration of specific individual church locations and leaders. While it is known to under-represent certain developing countries, it is the largest such enumeration, and improves significantly on earlier broad-based estimates having no supporting detail. In the United States, there are approximately 1,087,559 members and 11,776 congregations. Overall U.S. membership was approximately 1.3 million in 1990 and 1.3 million in 2008.Barry A. Kosmin and Ariela Keysar, American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS 2008) , Trinity College, March 2009. Estimates of the proportion of the US adult population associated with the Churches of Christ vary from 0.8% to 1.5%."The Religious Composition of the United States," U.S. Religious Landscape Survey: Chapter 1, Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, Pew Research Center, February 2008. Approximately 1,240 congregations, with 172,000 members, are predominantly African-American; 240 congregations with 10,000 members are Spanish-speaking.Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, "Churches of Christ", in The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, , . The average congregation size is approximately 100 members, with larger congregations reporting over 1,000 members. In 2000, the Churches of Christ were the 12th largest religious group in the U.S. based on the number of members, but the 4th largest in number of congregations.
Within the U.S., membership in the Churches of Christ has declined by approximately 12% over the period from 1980 through 2007. The current retention rate of young adults graduating from high school appears to be approximately 60%. Membership is concentrated, with 70% of the U.S. membership, in thirteen states. Churches of Christ had a presence in 2,429 counties, placing them fifth behind the United Methodist Church, Catholic Church, Southern Baptist Convention and Assemblies of God – but the average number of adherents per county was approximately 677. The divorce rate was 6.9%, much lower than national averages.Flavil Yeakley, Good News and Bad News: A Realistic Assessment of Churches of Christ in the United States: 2008; an mp3 of the author presenting some of the results at the 2009 East Tennessee School of Preaching and Ministry lectureship on March 4, 2009, is available here and a PowerPoint presentation from the 2008 CMU conference using some of the survey results posted on the Campus Ministry United website is available here.
Name "Church of Christ" is the most common name used by this group. In keeping with their focus of not being a denomination, using Ephesians 1:22–23 as reference to the church being the body of Christ and a body cannot be divided, congregations have identified themselves primarily as community churches and secondarily as Churches of Christ. A much earlier tradition is to identify a congregation as "the church" at a particular location, with no other description or qualifiers.Monroe E. Hawley, Redigging the Wells: Seeking Undenominational Christianity, Quality Publications, Abilene, Texas, 1976, (paper), (cloth) A primary motivation behind the name is the desire to use a scriptural or Biblical name – to identify the church using a name that is found in the New Testament.V. E. Howard, What Is the Church of Christ? 4th Edition (Revised) Central Printers & Publishers, West Monroe, Louisiana, 1971.J. W. Shepherd, The Church, the Falling Away, and the Restoration, Gospel Advocate Company, Nashville, Tennessee, 1929 (reprinted in 1973) Adherents are also referred to as Campbellites by academics and other denominations"Campbellism and the Church of Christ" Morey 2014. because it is assumed that they follow the teachings of Alexander Campbell, similar to Lutherans or Calvinists. Campbell himself refuted the idea that he started or headed a denomination in The Christian Baptist publication in 1826 and 1828, stating: "Some religious editors in Kentucky call those who are desirous of seeing the ancient order of things restored, 'the Restorationers', 'the Campbellites'... This may go well with some; but all who fear God and keep his commands will pity and deplore the weakness and folly of those who either think to convince or to persuade by such means" (The Christian Baptist, Vol. IV, 88–89) and: "It is a nickname of reproach invented and adopted by those whose views, feelings and desires are all sectarian – who cannot conceive of Christianity in any other light than an ISM" (The Christian Baptist, Vol. V, 270). He was also associated with the Baptist denomination until 1820. The term "Campbellite" is usually offensive to members of the churches of Christ because members claim no allegiance to anyone except Jesus Christ and teach only what is presented in biblical texts.The Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary describes the term as "sometimes offensive." Merriam-Webster, I. (2003). Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary. (Eleventh ed.). Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc. Entry on "Campbellite."