Churches of Christ

By Ronald Bartanen        Congregations usually identified by the term “churches of Christ” consists of a people who want to be known individually as Christians, in honor of Christ.  We have no earthly headquarters, and take as our one rule of faith and practice the New Testament scriptures.   We endeavor to be neither more nor less than believers in Christ were from the beginning.  We believe that, as New Testament believers, when we believed Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of God who died for our sins and was raised from the dead (1 Cor. 15:1-4), repented of our sins, confessed our faith and were baptized (immersed) in the name of the Lord Jesus for the remission of sins, the Lord added us to His church (Acts 2:36-38, 41, 47).  We have not desired to join a denomination, all of which were unknown to the apostles and early Christians.     What we do “in word or in deed” is not dictated by denominational councils, but is to be “in the name of (by authority of) the Lord” (Col. 3:17).  Our plea is for restoration of simple New Testament Christianity as established by Christ and taught by the apostles, with Christ as our creed, and the inspired word as our infallible guide.  This alone can be a sufficient ground for the unity of believers, for which Jesus prayed prior to His crucifixion. (John 17:21).     A plea that we have commonly heard and voiced has been: “Let us call Bible things by Bible names, and let us do Bible things in Bible ways.  Let us speak where the Bible speaks and be silent where the Bible is silent.”

- Ronald Bartanen is a retired minister who for many years served the Lord's church in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee. After the passing of his beloved wife, Doris, Ron has relocated from Illinois to Florida where he is near family. He may be contacted at: ron33dor@yahoo.com