Churches of Christ are a theologically conservative, Protestant Christian body with roots in the American Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement that began in the early 1800s. The movement’s goal was to bring about Christian unity by restoring simple New Testament faith and practice. Two other American religious bodies emerged from the Stone-Campbell movement–the “independent” Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Churches of Christ were recognized as a separate body in the 1906 Religious Census.
The church has no central headquarters and no official organization beyond the elders of each local congregation. These local churches cooperate voluntarily to support missions and social services. Worship is conducted without the use of instrumental music – only a capella singing. The Lord’s Supper is celebrated each Sunday. In 2009, Churches of Christ currently had approximately 1.3 million members with over 13,000 congregations in the United States.
The participation of Churches of Christ in FACT2000 included a survey of 1,679 churches randomly chosen from a listing of Churches of Christ congregations in the United States. 289 usable questionnaires were returned for a 17% response rate.
If you are interested in obtaining specific information about the results of the Churches of Christ survey, please get in touch with their contact person Thomas Winter at wintert@acu.edu.
You can read the press release they distributed to the public.
Churches of Christ are quite diverse today. Furthermore, the group’s congregational polity precludes anyone speaking officially for the entire body. However, several helpful web sites provide insight into the history and theology of this church. You can find more information ab out Churches of Christ here:church-of-christ.org/ and read an international newspaper for those churches here: The Christian Chronicle
