Anyone left the Church of Christ?

[lisa]

I grew up in the Church of Christ. Once I got married, and with my husband coming out of the Catholic church we both had enough of the legalism that it was just time to move on. The oppression of that weight of legalism was killing my faith more than I had any clue about. I couldn't figure out what this "Joy in the Lord" was. I was so busy trying to follow a man-made set of rules. :ohno
Interesting thing is, I don't talk to anyone from there since we left. These folks knew me since I was very small... it was like I ceased to exist.

[lisa]

Are you guys talking about UCC? The church that had the commercial with the "ejection pews" last year?

Or are UCC, Church of Christ, and Disciples of Christ all different?

They are all 3 very different.

[JoeB]

I'm a Campbellite. That is what folks called CofC'ers back in the 1800's, because of the influence of Joseph Campbell.

I grew up in the Church of Christ. I still attend the CofC back home in Ga. Right now I am on a project in Clinton, Iowa. One CofCs here, of the two, has instrumental music. The other doesn't. I attend the one that has no instrumental music...not because of the music...but at the other congregation they have Rick Warren quotes on the wall. I don't care for Rick Warren. I am attending the congregation feel the most comfortable in; worship is between me and the Good Lord. If the Spirit is moving in the Luthern Church up the road, that's where I want to be. If I don't feel the Spirit, I am not long for that congregation. I attended Mass with Polish troops in Iraq most every Sunday for a year. I felt the Spirit there. Didn't understand much of the Mass, not speaking much Polish and all, but I felt the Spirit and surely was edified by the worship and fellowship.

I think it is important understand that each and every CofC is independent. There is no governing body, creed book, SOP, convention, conclave, coven...nothing. We are all independent. There are CofC affiliated colleges, though they are not affiliated with each other. There is also no roll or official membership, either. We don't have any baptismal certificates or such. That's the way we do it. That doesn't mean we don't have phone directories with the requisite hideous photographs or email lists.

To say that there is two arguments, OSAS v. OSNAS (once saved not always saved?), is a false dichotomy. There is much, much, much more to the subject. I generally adhere to the OSAS philosophy.

I don't find my congregation back in Georgia to be legalistic. I don't find my congregation here in Clinton to be particularly legalistic, nor the one my father attends in McMinnville, Tn to be legalistic. Your mileage may vary. I do think we spend a good bit of time reading the Bible. My Dad is pretty near 80 and he studies all the time.

To ME, the onus is on ME to seek out my salvation with fear and trembling. I won't get into heaven because I attend a CofC any more than attending any other church will. I have to place my faith in Jesus.

On the Rapture issue...I am pre-trib. I asked our Preacher once why he never much preached on the Rapture. He replied, "I am all about Acts...evangelism...spreading the Word." That is pretty much a CofC philosphy, they (we) are very focussed on evangelism. This guy was not-pretrib...and when we talked about it, he conceded points and put hard questions to me. I generally lump things like the Rapture into a category I call, "Covered by Grace." In other words, ain't none of us 100% right. I am relying on Jesus as my Saviour and his mercy to forgive me of my sins. I figure that I'm not in the judging business. I am as sure as I am of anything that my mother, a lifelong CofC'er is in heaven...and I am equally sure that my great-grandmother, who was a Methodist, is there, too.

Along that evangelism vein, we called our Pastor "Preacher". The semantic idea is to convey that his job is evangelism. Our Elders and Deacons (sometimes called shepherd) are called to tend the "flock". It is a nuance. Doesn't mean we think your going straight to hell for calling him Pastor. We just have a different name for him.

I have gone before the Church and confessed my sins. I have gone forward to ask for prayers in times of trial. I figure that I go forward and ask for help, it'll be more apt to show up if everyone knows about it and everyone is praying for me. Frankly, it is quite cathartic. It is optional but NOT mandatory...I don't think our congrgation stresses it or doesn't stress it. You can just get up and tell everyone how thankful you are if you choose.

Finally, if you would like to have your world rocked, read anything by Joe Beam. He is/was a CofC preacher and wrote an excellent book on angels and demons, "Seeing the Unseen".

One last thing...this is a hoot to a lot Baptists and CofC folks I know: CHARLES CREEK THE BAPTIST CHURCH OF CHRIST, McMinnville,TN.

Take Care, JB

[JoeB]

Try this link, too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churches_of_Christ

[ImHis]

I think it is important understand that each and every CofC is independent. There is no governing body, creed book, SOP, convention, conclave, coven...nothing. We are all independent. There are CofC affiliated colleges, though they are not affiliated with each other. There is also no roll or official membership, either. We don't have any baptismal certificates or such. That's the way we do it. That doesn't mean we don't have phone directories with the requisite hideous photographs or email lists.

Take Care, JB

Thank you Joe! That is the best explanation of COC I have heard thus far and I have so wondered about the above (statement you made). So just because my friend goes to COC, does not mean that all COC's are all linked with these different beliefs, it may very well be *her church only* that believes as they do.

Again, thank you!

[tenn4ever]

JoeB explained the CoC well. As said earlier I went to an Independent Christian Church (an off shoot of the CoC) for over twenty years. Talk about a sense of joy/love/compassion in that church - it was marvelous. Each church is independent. They emphasized Bible study, evangelism and compassion. We worked together with the Baptist churches and Methodist churches in the community on feeding the homeless and many other community needs.

[Krayola]

The Church of Christ, Independent Christian Churches, and the Desciples of Christ are a result of the Restoration Movement (I'm no expert on the history but I believe it was led by Barton W. Stone and Thomas and Alexander Campbell in the 1800's) I grew up in an Independent Christian Church located in Georgia from the mid 1970's to the mid 1980's and they were extremely legalistic. In the interest of full disclosure, I have not attended one of these churches in about 22 years. I can only speak from my own personal experience. I remember as a child being taught that there was a "plan of salvation" that involved 6 steps listed as follows: 1) Hear the Word of God, 2) Believe 3) Repent of your sins 4) Confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God (in front of the congregation, usually) 5) Be Baptized via immersion 6) Live a Christian Life.
They believed that all 6 steps must be met in order to go to heaven. If you did steps 1 - 5 but at some point became "backslidden" and then died, then you were not going to heaven. If you did steps 1 - 4 and were on your way up the steps into the baptistry and you tripped, and broke your neck and died before you could be baptized, then they believed that there is no guarantee that you'll go to heaven. Same thing if you are lost in the desert nearing death and there is no water to baptize you - you won't go to heaven even if you have repented and believed in Jesus as Saviour before death. A few years ago, I debated this issue with a family member (who still attends that church today). When discussing the hypothetical person in the desert she just said, "Well, if that happens and that person dies before they can find a place with water to be baptized, it probably means that that person had other opportunities earlier in their life to accept Christ and be baptized and they should not have rejected those earlier opportunities." This church also taught that if you did not live a Christian life that you would lose your salvation. So as a young child being taught this, it came across as "you have to be a good person to hold onto your salvation and be acceptable to God". There were rules to follow. Typically, if a Christian backslided, he/she would come down the aisle during the hymn of invitation and "rededicate" his/her life to Christ and get "re-baptized" - There was also an unspoken sense in this congregation of their being superior to other Christian groups because they felt that churches that did not immediately baptize new converts were risking that new convert going to hell (until baptism could take place). They also looked down on denominations in general because they felt denominations were named after earthly men instead of Christ (hence the motto: Christians in name only but not the only Christians)
I know that most of the people in that church, then and today, had good intentions. But the idea they instilled in me from age 5 that I have to be a good person to please God just about made me have a mental breakdown because I can not be righteous in my own strength. I just finally gave up in despair. I fled from God and all Christian fellowship for over 10 years. Things started to improve when I finally realized that no one can live the Christian life. Instead, Jesus lives his life through us. I am still recovering from the spiritual bondage I was under. It sounds like some posters on this thread did not have this kind of negative experience I had and I am glad of that & I don't mean to paint all of these churches with the same brush. I just feel that anyone dealing with the Independent Christian Churches or Churches of Christ should use discernment, again basing this on my 10 years with this group. I just felt that I needed to share this and hope that I have not greatly offended anyone who may be a member of one of these congregations.