What Is the Church of Christ? A Plain Answer from Scripture

More people are opening a Bible for the first time than at any point in a generation. U.S. Bible sales reached a 21-year high in 2025, and many of those buyers have no church background at all. Sooner or later, someone reading the New Testament may ask: where is the church I'm reading about? If you've driven past a building with "Church of Christ" on the sign and wondered who meets there, this is for you.

A Name Taken from the Bible

Paul closed his letter to Rome with greetings from congregations scattered across the Mediterranean: All the churches of Christ send you greetings, Romans 16:16. That's where the name comes from. It simply says whose church it is.

Jesus said it first. On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it, Matthew 16:18. Look at the possessive. He calls it his. He purchased it with his own blood (Acts 20:28), and he remains its head: He is also the head of the body, the church, Colossians 1:18. When congregations wear the name churches of Christ, they are trying to give him the credit.

No Headquarters and No Creed but the Bible

You won't find a national office for the churches of Christ. Each congregation stands on its own, overseen by its own elders, the way Paul and Barnabas left things in the first century. They appointed elders for them in every church, Acts 14:23. There is no denominational handbook either. What ties thousands of congregations together is a shared conviction that the New Testament is enough.

Why does that matter? Because Scripture says so about itself. All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work, 2 Timothy 3:16-17. If God's Word equips us for every good work, we have no need to add to it. The aim is to read the New Testament and do what the first Christians did.

What You'll See on a Sunday

Worship in a church of Christ will look familiar to anyone who has read the book of Acts. The first believers devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer, Acts 2:42. You'll hear the Bible taught, and you'll see the Lord's Supper shared every Sunday, following the disciples at Troas who gathered on the first day of the week to break bread (Acts 20:7).

The singing is congregational and unaccompanied. The New Testament tells us to be singing and making music with your heart to the Lord, Ephesians 5:19, and we take that instruction at its word. First-time guests are often surprised by how beautiful a room full of voices can sound.

How a Person Becomes Part of It

The Lord is the one who adds people to his church. On the day it began, Peter told the crowd, Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, Acts 2:38. Those who accepted his message were baptized that day, and by the end of the chapter Luke reports that every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved, Acts 2:47.

It still happens that way. A person hears the gospel, believes it, turns from sin, and is baptized into Christ. God adds that person to his church.

We’re Always Restoring 

I've preached among churches of Christ for more than thirty years, and I'll tell you that we haven't arrived. Our understanding of Scripture is never finished. Some of us have argued the pattern so hard that we lost sight of the grace behind it. Restoring New Testament Christianity is a worthy aim, and it was always meant to be the heart's response to what Jesus did on the cross. A church can have the right name on the sign and still miss him. Look for a congregation that loves the Lord and is glad to open his Word with you.

If You Want to Keep Reading

I wrote Getting to Know the Churches of Christ for exactly this conversation. It's a short, ten-chapter booklet on who we are, what we believe, and how we worship, with the Scriptures on every page and questions at the end of each chapter. It works for a seeker reading alone or a class studying together.

If you'd rather start smaller, the tract What is the Church of Christ? covers the essentials in a few minutes. Many congregations keep a stack in the foyer for guests. You'll find the rest of my studies in the Matthew Allen collection.

When you read about the church in Acts, would you recognize it if you walked into it today?