Question #1 Who are the churches of Christ?

The Son of God came to earth to lay down his life for mankind (Mark 10:45). That he should do so was
determined by God from the foundation of the world (1 Peter 1:19-20). God's eternal purpose for the salvation of
man required that the Son shed his perfect blood. While these facts are agreed upon by most, many fail to
associate the church with the eternal plan of God, the purpose of Christ's coming, and the redeeming power of
the blood of Jesus. Yet, it is impossible to remove the church from this picture. If Christ came to shed his blood
for mankind, he also came to shed his blood for the church (Acts 20:28). If Christ is the Savior of those who
accept his atoning sacrifice, he is also the Savior of the church (Ephesians 5:23). If the coming and death of the
Son was and is the eternal purpose of God, so is the church or body of Christ (Ephesians 3:1-11).

The church about which we read in the New Testament is the body of Christ (Ephesians 1:22-23). It is the
purchased possession of God the Son (Acts 20:28). It is the kingdom of God (Matthew 16:18-19). It is the
eternal purpose of God (Ephesians 3:1-11). It is the body of saved men and women (Acts 2:47; Ephesians 5:23).
Christ and his church are the end, or fulfillment, of the prophets (Acts 15:13-18).

To summarize, the church is that group of individuals who have been joined to Christ and gathered by God into
the one body of the saved, upon believing and obeying the gospel.

This congregation and others like it are made up of individual members of the universal body of Christ (1
Corinthians 12:12ff). We, like the "churches of Christ" in the first century (Romans 16:16), have become part of
the saved body by receiving the word of God, repenting and being baptized (Acts 2:37-41, 47).

In one parable which Jesus spoke, the gospel is compared to a seed (Luke 8:11; Matthew 13:19). When that
seed (the word) is received by good soil (good hearts), it produces the "kingdom of heaven," or the church
(Matthew 13:3-23; Luke 8:5-15). That is, as we have already noted, God adds all such recipients of the gospel
to his church (Acts 2:41, 47). It matters not where or when the seed is planted; if the pure seed is received by
pure hearts, the pure church or kingdom is produced. We can be members of the same "churches of Christ,"
part of the same kingdom which Jesus built 2,000 years ago (Matthew 16:18), by receiving and obeying the
gospel.

The churches of Christ are no denominational movement. The Bible speaks of the univeral body of Christ and of
individual congregations which make it up, but it speaks of nothing in between. For some reason, men decided
that this simple plan was not good enough. Many find it strange to think that it is possible to be simply Christians,
members only of the church of Christ, nothing more and nothing less. This is the biblical arrangement, however.
Jesus built the church; people in the first century were added to that church when they obeyed the gospel;
today, we become members of that same body when we believe and receive the same message.

The following also relates to this question, and is copied from the page About Us.

When people obey the gospel, God adds them to the church (Acts 2:47). As many as are Christians are
members of the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-27). The word "church" in the New Testament is from a
Greek word which literally means "called out," and was especially used to denote an assembly or congregation
of special citizens. In this case, the special citizens are Christians (cf. Philippians 3:21 -
"conversation/citizenship"); our assembly belongs to the firstborn, Jesus (Hebrews 12:23). Thus, the assembly
of Christ, the church of Christ (Romans 16:16), the church of God (1 Corinthians 1:2), the kingdom of God's son
(Colossians 1:13), the family of God (1 Timothy 3:15), and the body of Christ (Ephesians 1:22-23) are all apt
ascriptions of the body of believers who are saved in Christ. Though no ascription or description of God's people
should be used in exclusion to others--each signifies a special aspect or feature of the church--perhaps the
simplest, most to-the-point way to refer to the body of the saved is "the church of Jesus Christ." Regardless of
which Scriptural description or designation of the church is used, of this you can be sure: no obedient child of
God will ever wear the name of a man or theological tradition rather than the name of the one who bought us
with his blood and into whom we were baptized (1 Corinthians 1:12-13; Acts 20:28; Ephesians 5:25; Galatians
3:27).