During the years 1950-1970 the more conservative segment of the Australian Churches of Christ continued to reiterate the essentials of the plea of Churches of Christ and to argue that it was both logical and scriptural. They were generally more interested in restoration than unity. Two representatives of this position were A.G. Elliott and J. H. Jauncey. A pamphlet presentation by each is included in this section. Allen Elliott's perspective was more clearly enunciated in his Bridge Builders in Restoration (NSW Churches of Christ Christian Unity Committee, NSW, 1972). Jauncey's theological position was encapsulated in Why We Believe (Cincinnati, Ohio, Standard, 1969).

      Members of Churches of Christ prefer to be known simply as "Christians." In company with the great proportion of orthodox Christians, they believe in

      THE TRIUNE GOD, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

      THE SACRIFICIAL DEATH OF CHRIST for the sin of man, and HIS RESURRECTION for the justification of man.

      THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT in conversion and sanctification.

      THE SCRIPTURES, as the Word of God, the Divine Revelation to sinful man,

      THE GOSPEL as the power of God unto Salvation to every one who believes,

      SALVATION by grace, not by works.

      THE CHURCH as the fellowship of the redeemed and the God-given agency through which the Holy Spirit works to the salvation of men.

      THE COMING AGAIN of the Lord Jesus Christ in final triumph, and

      THE NECESSITY OF A FAITHFUL WITNESS by individuals to the power and love of Christ in daily, practical life.

      At the same time, however, they are distinctive in doctrine, and the specific witness of Churches of Christ may be briefly outlined, as follows:

UNITY:

      Churches of Christ have been unique in their historic advocacy of Christian Unity. Many other believers and Christian communions are now also taking up the programme of unity, which Churches of Christ were practically alone in presenting a few years ago. But there is still a need for their distinctive message, for they are still unique in their insistence on Unity on the basis of the New Testament. This is not a humanly-devised basis, but rather a pattern revealed by the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:3-6).

THE SCRIPTURES and THE CHRISTIAN CREED:

      In the achievement of Christian Unity, Churches of Christ have always contended for a "RESTORATION" of the unity of believers as found in the New Testament. This implies an acknowledgment of the absolute authority of Christ in the New Testament Scriptures, and the acceptance of the New Testament as the final authority in every aspect of faith and life. Christ delegated His authority to His apostles (Matt. 28:18-20) and early followers, so that, through the empowering of the Holy Spirit, they were able to write the New Testament records, the written revelation of Christ to men.

      The Creed of Churches of Christ is CHRIST, the Confession of Peter, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God" (Matt. 16:15). The message of Churches of Christ, then, is the presentation of their belief in the Christ of the Scriptures. The Scriptures are for them the Word of God. It is their message only in so far as it is the message of the Bible. Thus, their authority is the authority of Christ in the Scriptures, since Christ is the Founder and Head of the Church.

THE GOSPEL and SALVATION:

      Members of Churches of Christ have adhered to the fundamental evangelical truths of the Gospel, and have preached them earnestly, bearing testimony also in daily life to the saving power of Christ. Moreover, in the presentation of New Testament truth, they have endeavoured to restore the New Testament Gospel, as proclaimed by the Christians of the First Century. They proclaimed the good news, "that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures" (1 Cor. 15:3-4). According to the New Testament, men and women of the First Century committed their lives to Christ by Faith, trusting wholly in Him, by Repentance, turning in sorrow from sin and willingly following Him, and obeying Him in Baptism. Members of Churches of Christ believe, therefore, that as then, so today, this is the God-given pattern of committal to Christ.

THE CHURCH:

      Concerning the Church, they believe that it is of divine origin, established by the coming of the Holy Spirit, on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2), and built upon Christ, as Head and Foundation, Who, concerning the rock-truth of His Divine Sonship, said, "Upon this Rock, I will build MY CHURCH (Matt. 16:16).

      The Church consists of penitent believers, baptised into Christ. In the New Testament the Church is ONE. The only mention of "churches," in the plural, is found in the description of local congregations. These "churches," in their local development, manifest all the characteristics of the one CHURCH. The Church, which is the Biblical term for the totality of all committed followers of Christ, is the vehicle of the Holy Spirit in the propagation of the Gospel.

      In the New Testament the Church is referred to figuratively as the Body, Christ being the Head. It is also spoken of as the Building, Christ being the Foundation. And it is also envisaged as the Flock, of which Christ is the Shepherd. Again, in its final form, as seen at Christ's Return as the Bridegroom, the Church is designated as His Bride. All of these figures emphasise the unity of the Church.

      BAPTISM, as practised by Churches of Christ, is the "Baptism" of the New Testament Church. It is the baptism of believers only, by total immersion in, and emergence from, water (Acts 8:38). In this symbolic, pictorial representation, the committed follower of Christ declares his death to sin by burial beneath the water and his spiritual emergence to new life in Christ, identifying himself with His Lord in His Death, Burial and Resurrection (Rom. 6:3-5).

      THE LORD'S SUPPER is observed by Churches of Christ every Sunday, since this was the practice of the early Church. They met every "first day of the week," not only in New Testament times (Acts 20:7), but also in the 2nd and 3rd Centuries, as is evident from the writings of Justin and Tertullian. The Lord's Supper was regarded as the central act of worship, celebrated on "The Lord's Day," the day Christ rose from the dead. For this reason, Churches of Christ endeavour to observe this feast as it was in the beginning, and with the simplicity of the recorded institution of the Supper (Matt. 26, Mk. 14, Lk. 22, 1 Cor. 11).

MINISTRY:

      In regard to the "Ministry" of the Church, members of Churches of Christ firmly believe in "the priesthood of all believers," but follow the New Testament Church in recognising a special "ministry." This consists of a ministry to the whole of the churches, and a ministry to the local church. Those serving in the ministry to the churches, move from church to church as circumstances demand, serving either as "elders," "pastors" or "shepherds" of the local flock, or as "evangelists." Those serving in the local church only as "elders" if engaged in pastoral oversight, and "deacons" if they carry out other duties of responsibility and leadership.

      But throughout the churches, Christ is the HEAD, His Kingdom is an absolute monarchy, and all who occupy positions of leadership owe all allegiance to Him as LORD, and are among their brethren "as those who serve."

WITNESS:

      Churches of Christ, while contending for a return to New Testament Christianity strive also, through submission to the indwelling Holy Spirit, to foster within the life of the churches a faithful and practical daily witness to Jesus Christ.

      A "Christian" is a called-out, blood-bought believer in Christ, owing total allegiance to Him as Saviour and Lord, and obeying Him in all things, in accord with the teaching of the New Testament. Such a Christian is a living witness to Christ. His life belongs to Christ and Christ lives in Him.

      This was the ideal of practical Christianity current in the First Century Church. Therefore it is the practical goal of witness that Churches of Christ set themselves to emulate.

      This is not their standard. It is the standard set by Christ. This life, lived by all who have accepted the programme of Churches of Christ, for unity on the basis of a restoration of New Testament teaching and life, will commend it to others. Such a life is both negative and positive. On the negative side, true followers of Christ will abstain from all that is sinful and avoid all appearance of evil.

      From the positive point of view, this life will be lived in the assurance and strength of Christ, in love and loyalty and selfless service.

      A witness of this quality alone will commend to others the message and mission of Churches of Christ in their effort to uplift CHRIST, and to make known His Word, His Gospel, His Church and the Unity of His Spirit.

BEYOND DENOMINATIONS

      I like the idea of churches being merely simple fellowships in free association with one another and this is the aim of the Churches of Christ or Christian Churches, as they are sometimes called. There is no intention to imply that these churches are the only Churches of Christ but rather that this is all that they are. In fact there are, of course, many, many churches of Christ which do not belong to this Brotherhood at all.

      For practical purposes a certain amount of centralisation or denominationalism is necessary but the Churches of Christ are insistent that this should be kept to a bare minimum. Never under any circumstances can a local church surrender its autonomy to a central body but it is perfectly within its rights to choose to act co-operatively.

NO CREEDS

      I have always felt that creeds or doctrinal statements serve no useful purpose and, in many cases, are quite pernicious. God's truth is beyond human definition, and human attempts to so confine it only cause distortion. Anything beyond the actual words of the Bible, also leads to divisions as people cannot agree on theological differences. Every person should be free to determine his own beliefs on the authority of the Bible. This is an essential position of the Churches of Christ.

COMMITTAL TO CHRIST

      The Churches of Christ have always had a very solid teaching on what it takes to become a Christian. They agree with all other Protestants that religious deeds are not sufficient to purchase salvation, that this is a gift of God which He gives when faith is exercised. But this faith has to be far more than mere intellectual assent, it is the total surrender of the whole heart and mind to God land involves the willingness to be obedient to all His commands both in the Bible and in personal guidance. I like this approach because I think that many "decisions" are too superficial.

GOVERNED BY GOD

      Churches of Christ are governed by what looks like a democratic process, but it isn't, or it should not be. It is really theocratic, each member is seeking to find out what the will of God is, when faith is placed in Christ the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in the heart and therefore each believer becomes a representative of God. To me, this is very meaningful because it makes each church a potential centre of divine action.

PRIESTHOOD OF ALL BELIEVERS

      In the Churches of Christ every believer is a priest or minister. Of course, we have specially trained professional ministers but these do not possess any powers that the average church member does not have. For instance, any member may baptise or officiate at the Communion. In fact, the presiding office at the Lord's Supper is usually a layman. I like this because it makes Christianity the job of all of us, not just a favoured professional class.

BAPTISM

      Churches of Christ will not baptise infants and baptism is always by immersion. The reason why they do not baptise infants is because they believe that a religious act to be meaningful must be the conscious deed of the participant. Candidates for baptism must therefore be believers. Immersion is used because it more adequately symbolises conversion which is the burial of the old self-centred life and the resurrection to the new life in Christ. I am all for this because I think that religious acts too easily become a substitute for real heart devotion anyway.

THE RESTORATION MOVEMENT

      Finally, I like the Churches of Christ because there is no feeling that they have already achieved. They often call themselves the Restoration Movement because they are continually trying to restore the essential principles of New Testament Christianity. They not only try to persuade other Churches to do this, they want to achieve this in their own, and they are always conscious of the drift away from the primitive faith. It is a dynamic rather than a static movement and I like to be associated with ventures whose vision is ahead rather than behind.

[NOF 579-582]