OUR BELIEFS

We avoid elaborate written creeds because they tend to divide Christians from one another. Yet, people still want to know what we believe. In response to numerous inquiries, James Garfield, the country's eighteenth president and part of the Restoration Movement, described our beliefs this way. 

• We Call ourselves Christians, or Disciples of Christ. 
• We believe in God the Father. 
• We believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and our Savior. We regard the divinity of Christ as the fundamental truth of the Christian system. 
• We believe in the Holy Spirit, both as to his agency in conversion and as indwelling in the heart of the Christian. 
• We accept both the Old Testament and the New Testament Scriptures as the inspired Word of God. 
• We believe in the future punishment of the wicked and the future reward of the righteous. 
• We believe that the deity is a prayer hearing and prayer answering God. 
• We observe the institution of the Lord's Supper on the Lord's Day. To this table we neither invite nor bar; we say it is the Lord's Supper for all the Lord's children. 
• We plead for the union of God's people on the Bible and the Bible alone.  
• The Christ is our only Creed.
• We maintain that the ordinances should be observed as they were in the days of the Apostles.

Although written in the language of his day and not binding on anyone, President Garfield's statements give one an idea of what we believe. The simplicity of our beliefs can be bothersome to those who come from churches with highly developed theologies and creeds. However, others find it refreshing. I was once in a Bible study comprised of ministers from many denominations. It was interesting to study the Bible together, but one thing grieved me. During a discussion, one of the ministers said, "Well, that is what the Bible teaches, but my denomination teaches something different and I have to follow what my denomination teaches." How sad to be forced to choose between one's denomination and the Bible. At Community Christian Church, I don't have to make that choice. Our heritage urges us to follow the Bible no matter what has been our belief or practice in the past. The Bible is our only authority.

Jeff Butler, Pastor