Can one be Just a Christian in Christ's Church without being in a

Denomination?

Many years ago I asked a lady this very question – can one be just a
Christian in Christ’s church without being in a denomination? Her answer
was that while that was once possible it is no longer possible today. I have
never understood that kind of thinking. To her the church that is Christ’s
simply cannot exist today alone by itself outside of denominationalism. That
raises all kinds of problems.

If what she said is true then of what value is the Bible in our generation? In
the early years of Christianity the Bible (the gospel message) made
Christians and Christians only that were added by God to the church. “And
the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:47
NKJV) If the pure gospel message of the New Testament will not do that
today then of what value is it?

Does the gospel message now add you both to the church Jesus built and to
a denomination simultaneously? If so when did that begin? If so where can I
read about it? If so which denomination does it add me to in addition to the
Lord’s church? If so why is it needful now that it do that but was not needful
for hundreds of years after the first century had come and gone. If so when
did the gospel lose its power to make me just a Christian, no more, no less?
At what point in time was it that both the gospel and the Lord lost the power
to save without the aid of men in building denominations?

When did Jesus and the gospel begin to need help in the saving business?
When did his church alone cease to be the body of the saved? “He is the
Savior of the body.” (Eph. 5:23 NKJV) The body is his spiritual body, his
church, “He is the head of the body, the church.” (Col. 1:18 NKJV) The Lord
adds us to the church when we believe and obey the gospel (Acts 2:47). Paul
says of Christians, “you are the body of Christ, and members individually.” (1
Cor. 12:27 NKJV)

But it is now said that that is not enough - if the lady was correct. Now to be
saved you must also be a member of a denomination (the assumption being
that all Christians are). So, you must be both in the Lord’s church and a
denomination to be saved, is that right? It is if the church Christ built is not
sufficient by itself. But, most denominationalists would say it is not essential
to be a member of their denomination to be saved. Then please tell me of
what earthly or heavenly good the denomination serves other than to be a
divider of men?
The truth is the church Jesus built does still exist on this earth today without
the help of any denomination. The Bible has not lost its power. The church
of Christ can exist anywhere in the world today when men and women are
willing to forget everything they have been taught in denominationalism and
just take the Bible alone as their guide. If the church Jesus built does not
exist as an operating entity upon earth today in your locality, wherever that
be, as it did in the first century in the Middle East, there is only one reason
for it in lands where the Bible is readily available – men love their
denominations and would rather have them and their creeds and councils
and governing bodies than just the simple New Testament church and its
worship regulated by the word of God alone.

Let us be honest. If we take the New Testament alone as our guide a lot of
things will have to be given up. One does not read in his New Testament of,
just as examples, sprinkling of infants, christenings, sprinkling of any one at
any age and calling it baptism, baptism for any other purpose than the
remission of sins (Acts 2:38), the washing away of sins (Acts 22:16), of
entering into Christ (Gal. 3:27, Rom. 6:3, 1 Cor. 12:13), as a part of the new
birth (John 3:5).

One reads nothing about dramas, plays, special music, instrumental music,
one man rule of a congregation by a single individual designated as a pastor
(each N.T. congregation had multiple pastors), oversight of a congregation by
a national church organization, church sponsored ball teams, raising funds by
business ventures, seminars for everything from weight loss to how to do
your taxes, and the list could go on and on and on.

No, if you want the New Testament church that Christ built a lot of things will
have to go by the wayside and in its place you will end up with nothing much
that is attractive to worldly men. The worship service will not be like
attending a rock concert or an entertainment event. It will be very simple –
singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, prayers, partaking of the Lord’s
Supper on the first day of the week, the word of God will be preached, and a
collection will be taken on the first day of the week to carry on the work of
preaching the gospel and carrying for the needy.

It is a hard transition from a denomination into the simple New Testament

church that is led not by a single man or a national oversight organization
but by a few select men who meet the biblical qualifications to be elders as
found in 1 Tim. 3 and Titus 1. These men have no authority to legislate for
God. Their role is simply that of overseers, as administrators, to ensure that
the work is done that God has given the church to do. These men will be
chosen by the members of the congregation and will be men of the local
community who are fellow Christians. No one designated a pastor by the
denominational world brought in from parts unknown will run the affairs of
the congregation nor will a national organization.

The name on the sign out front will not matter as long as it is a scriptural
designation. It could simply be called the church (for that is what it is), or
the church of God, or the church of Christ, or any other scriptural
designation. The name is more descriptive than it is an actual name.

You will not be voted into the membership. You cannot join this group of
believers. Why not? Because God adds you when you obey the gospel. As I
heard one man say recently, and he had it right but I had never thought
about it that way, you cannot join the church because you are adopted into it
and God is the one who does the adopting.

Critics say that in the very act of organizing such a group you immediately
become just another denomination. That goes along with the way they think
okay for they do not want to leave denominationalism behind and thus insist
one has to be a member of a denomination and cannot be just a Christian. If
they admit we can have just the New Testament church on earth today and
worship in it they condemn themselves and they are not about to do that so
all they can do is shout and shout over and over again “denomination.”

But what they are really saying, if they would think it through, is that God’s
word has lost its power to make just a Christian and to keep his church on
earth today. They are saying that the seed, “the seed is the word of God”
(Luke 8:11 NKJV), produces a different crop today than what it did back in the
first century. Back then it produced just Christians, now you plant it and you
get both a Christian and a denominationalist. Strange seed this is that has
under gone a transformation like no other seed in human history.

They are caught in a bind really. On the one hand they do not want to say
you must be in a denomination to be saved but then on the other hand they
want to insist you must because to them it is impossible to reestablish the
New Testament church today and just have it alone. They are wanting it both
ways, want to eat the cake and save it all at the same time. Life doesn’t
work that way. They cannot have it both ways. But, that is their problem not
mine.
I think most people who are serious about their religion see the great
contradictions in denominationalism. However, they either do not know what
to do about it or else their love for it is such that they will not give it up. I
readily admit it is hard to start over but that is what must be done if we are
going back to the church Jesus built.

There is a group that has been trying to do that for nearly 200 years now –
go back to the church Jesus built and that alone and stay out of
denominationalism. Sadly, in recent years some of the brethren have
decided they prefer denominationalism and have drifted or are drifting into
it. When you say you do not need Bible authority for what you do you are
stepping into denominationalism lock, stock, and barrel. Denominationalism
will always have a greater appeal to man than the Lord’s church for it allows
more freedom of expression and gives man more say so in what is done and
how it is done. Man has a desire for that. It has always been that way long
before the church ever came into existence.

The fact that some congregations are not what they ought to be should
surprise no one. Read about the 7 churches of Asia in Rev. 2 and 3.
However, the concept of restoration is a valid one and there are many
churches of Christ in the land today still operating on the principal that it is
possible to be just a Christian alone outside of denominationalism, just be a
member of the church Jesus built. Take the Bible and do what they did in the
first century, that and that alone, and be just a Christian. Unless God’s word
has lost its power it is still possible to do that.

True, many congregations have or are departing from the concept but it is
also true that many, many are still holding true to the principal. I would
encourage you to check them out in your locality. However, it is not a matter
of either or.

The church can be established in its New Testament purity in any area where
men and women are willing to leave denominationalism and just take the
Bible alone. As I have said, it is not necessary to call it the church of Christ
although no man should be ashamed to call the local congregation by that
Christ honoring name. Just give it a scriptural designation, organize it by
what you read in your New Testament, accept members based on the way
men were made members in the original church Christ built, worship as they
worshipped, do the work they did, and leave all man made inventions out of
it.
To answer the question that was the title of this article, “Can one be Just a
Christian in Christ's Church without being in a Denomination?” the answer is
yes if the desire is great enough to do so. It is the only church any of us
need to be in or should be in.