![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Monday 7:00pm Ladies Bible Study
Minister: Michael O'Rourke Phone: 406.563.2713 Email UsPrayer: The modern Church devotes itself, as the first-century
Church did, "to prayer and supplication with thanksgiving..." (Acts 2:42,
Philippians 4:6)
The Lord's Supper: The Church partakes weekly of the unleavened
bread and the fruit of the vine that composed the memorial that Jesus
commemorated during His last supper with the Apostles. (Matthew 25:26-29, Acts
2:42 and 46).
Bible Study: Just as the first-century Christians devoted
themselves to "the Apostles' teaching..."(Acts 2:42) so do the Churches of
Christ today. While other authors may be studied in conjunction with the
Bible, the primary focus of each study is God's word.
What about membership?: The Church recognizes that all men "...sin
and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23), that the "...wages of sin
is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
(Romans 6:23), and so the Church encourages all men to turn to God for
forgiveness and redemption. Following the commandment of Jesus in Matthew
28:18-20 the Church focuses its energies in making disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
and teaching them to observe or keep all that Jesus has commanded us. The
Church holds that the Lord alone adds to the membership of His Church, those
who are being saved (Acts 2:47). In keeping with the first-century model, the
Church teaches that repentance and baptism are essential for individual
salvation (Acts 2:38) and following the pattern in the first century, baptism
is by immersion or burial in water (Romans 6:4). All baptized believers are
then equally a part of the body of Christ, the Church. (Ephesians 1:22-23)
A bit of history......Beginning in the late 18th century, men from different denominations studying independently of one another, began to suggest that it would be possible to restore the original model of the New Testament Church as it is described in scripture, in modern times. To do this they believed it would be necessary to return to the Bible alone and to rediscover there the nature and character of the first-century Church.
The groups who today call themselves the Church of Christ have their
roots in this "Restoration Movement". These groups hold to the Bible as the
inspired word of God (II Timothy 3:16-17) and to the absolute authority of
Jesus Christ in all things (Matthew 28:18-20). It is their stated goal to
re-establish the first-century Church in modern times. To do this they turn to
the Bible as their only source of guidance and model their practice of faith
as nearly as possible after the Church described in the New Testament. The
process of restoring the New Testament form and function of Christianity is
ongoing.