The church of Christ is God-planned (Ephesians 3:10-11), Christ-built (Matthew 16:18-19), and Holy Spirit-revealed (Ephesians 3:3-6). The church originated in the city of Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost when repentance and remission of sins were first preached among all nations (Luke 24:46-49; Acts 2). On that occasion, about three thousand souls were added to the church by the Lord (Acts 2:41, 47). The church grew and spread as saints “went every where preaching the word” (Acts 8:4).

 

Jesus told a parable about a sower who went out to sow his seed (Luke 8:5-18). “The seed is the word of God” (Luke 8:11) and our hearts are represented as soil. It is a fundamental law of agriculture that seed produces “after his kind” (Genesis 1:11-12). For this reason, you would not expect to plant corn seed and reap tomatoes. If we were to preserve corn seed planted in Washington County, Ohio this spring and plant it in Africa 2,000 years from now, if the climate and soil conditions were right, what would it produce? It would produce the same kind of corn which was harvested in Ohio in the fall. In like manner, when the original seed of the word of God is planted in honest and good hearts, in any community and age, it will produce Christians identical with those we read about in the New Testament. The church of Christ at Marietta, Ohio came into existence as the original gospel seed was planted in this community and folks heard it, believed it, and obeyed it.

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We are not Jewish, Muslim, Catholic, or Protestant. We are simply Christians, after the New Testament kind, who are committed to holding fast the pattern of sound words (2 Timothy 1:13). We wear no name but the name of Christ (Acts 11:26; Romans 16:16). The Bible, the word of God, is our only standard of authority (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:3; Jude 3). We are dedicated to doing all in the name of the Lord (Colossians 3:17). It is our desire to be what the Bible makes us, to do what it teaches us, and to go in the way in which it leads us. We invite you to come and see.