| The Christian
Church (Disciples of Christ) is a community of about 850,000 Christians in
3,800 congregations in the United States and Canada. Two groups of frontier
Christians
came together in
1832 to form the foundation of
today's Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). They shared the view that
people should not be excluded from fellowship in the church because they
didn't adhere to a particular human-made creed. They used to say there is
"no creed but Christ." Today's Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) still
thinks that way. We study the Bible to deepen our connection to God through
Jesus Christ, and to discover what God wants us to do.
We believe that God
is calling the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) of the 21st century to
be a faithful, growing church that demonstrates true community, deep
Christian spirituality and a passion for justice. Our mission is to be and
to share the good news of Jesus Christ, witnessing, serving and loving from
our doorsteps to the ends of the earth. We are devoted to strengthening our
congregations for this mission.
Many Disciples have
conservative views. Many others have liberal views. But we share the
belief that we are united in our faith that "Jesus is the Christ, the Son of
the Living God, the Savior of the World.
Two really
important things to Disciples are
communion and
baptism. (click on links for more
information) We celebrate communion, or the
Lord's Supper, each time we get together to praise God. We like it when
there are a lot of different people at communion. We believe that Christ
heals the pain of human separation around the communion table.
People who become
Christians in a Disciples congregation do a couple of things. First, they
say "I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and I
accept him as my personal Savior." Then, usually on another day, they are
baptized - that is, they are fully immersed in a small pool of water located
in the sanctuary. As they are baptized in Christ, the congregation pledges
to support them and help them in strengthening their relationship with God
through Jesus Christ. Those who have been baptized through other forms of
baptism practiced by other denominational traditions are received and
welcomed. Their baptism is recognized by their new community of faith.
Disciples'
congregations own their own property and have full control of their budgets
and program. They decide whom to call as a pastor. Pastors may be men or
women.
In Canada, the Christian
Church (Disciples
of Christ) consist of about 25 congregations divided into 3 areas -
Maritimes, Central, and Western.
Western Christian
Fellowship serves 7 congregations in the three prairie provinces.
To find out more about our congregations click here.
|
