Is anyone a member of the Church of Christ or ICOC? Or have any thoughts?

Question

I am curious about the Church of Christ or ICOC (are they the same thing?) Anyone a member, previous member, visitor, have any opinions, thoughts, ect. I once attended the Toronto church of Christ and I went to their site which provided a link to the ICOC where I found a church nearby. I also found another church in Toronto called the International church of Christ who do not associate with the Toronto church of Christ (the one I attended) anyways, can anyone tell me more about these type of churches, both positive and negative, if you know anything. Thanks...oh also do they believe that they are the only church you can be saved by, only their members are saved? (I am strongly against this)

Answer 1

The Church of Christ and the ICOC are not the same.

Any group which claims that they are the ONLY REAL Christians is obviously a false cult. And yes that is what they teach.

The Churches of Christ teach salvation by works, not Grace thru Faith as the Bible teaches. By that I mean they teach that one must be baptized in water in one of their churches in order to be saved.

They also totally ignore the Old Testament, which is why many of the Churches of Christ don't allow any use of musical insturments. Even thou Psalms 150 tells us to worship God with lot of different musicial insturments.

Pastor Art

Answer 2

A word to the wise.....No church has a copy of "judgement day" so i am not sure if any church can say they are the chosen church or better than the other church...(if you believe there is a judgement day...)

Depending on the location of the church, the ICOC churches went through changes about 3 to 4 years ago. here in central europe, they are trying to develope a bible training program, as there was none before hand.

If I was in your shoes, i would do a little bit more shopping and try other churches, which may be more established and have proper training for the leaders and longer experience helping other christains.

Good luck

Answer 3

From what I know about the Church of Christ, there are some that are very cultic in their practices and do believe that they are the one true church. They are very strict in their practices that women are not allowed to speak, pray out loud, and they do not use any kind of instruments during worship. However, not all COC's are like this, but the majority do not use instruments during worship. Now, I have heard varying things about teh ICOC if what you are refering to is the International Church of Christ. They are in fact a cult. There was a group on our campus that was trying to get started up, but was nipped in the bud real quick.

Answer 4

Raised in Church of Christ for 18 years. Very negative experience for me. Gives you lots of guilt without any possibility of relief. Yes, they do believe they are the only ones who will be saved.

Regular Churches of Christ belong to no associations, even each other, although they will sometimes cooperate on a big crusade or something. And they have what they call "anti's", which are Churches of Christ who do something they don't approved of, like not having Sunday school or giving communion from one cup.

But the International Church of Christ is not the same thing, although I was never affiliated with them, so I can't talk about their doctrines.

Answer 5

'Churchof Christ' is a label used by several groups in Christianity at present world wide. Yes,I was a member of a 'church of Christ' even being a deacon at one time. I knew 'something' was not right then and there; but I alloweed for growth and my youthfulness. I have since left it, and the '7 deviations' in Christianity partially comes from it.
The congregation I grew up in;
1. Was independent.
2. No instrumental music in worship to God.
3.Collection and Lord's Supper only on first day of week.
4. Only their members saved; depends on who one talks to.
5. No outside colleges or schools (formally) supported financially.
etc.

Answer 6

ICOC ????

LMAO - the people in LGBT are going to love that one!

Answer 7

The “church of Christ” is neither Catholic, nor Protestant. The church of Christ is not a denomination. The church of Christ identifies itself by name as a church that is trying to follow the “doctrine of Christ” (2 John 9). The “church of Christ” identifies itself by name as a church that belongs to Christ. The name points to the owner and builder. The name points to the one who purchased the church. (Matthew 16:18, Acts 20: 28)

In contrast to this the name of many denominations point to the name of a man, a particular practice, or the way they are organized. A member of a denomination identifies himself by name as one who submits to the authority of that denomination and tries to follow the doctrine (teaching) of that denomination. Why not just follow the doctrine and authority of Christ?

The church of the Bible is compared to a bride, with Christ being the groom. A bride honors the groom when she agrees to wear his name. But many churches today wear man made names.

Suppose, for example, Mr. Smith asks his girlfriend to marry him. She agrees, but says, “Our friend Mr. Jones is a good man, so when we get married, instead of being called Mrs. Smith, I want to be called Mrs. Jones.” Would Mr. Smith have a reason to question her loyalty to him? Would he feel honored? Why would a bride wear another man’s name? Why would a church want to wear a man-made name? The “church of Christ” wears a name found in scripture (Romans 16: 16).


The church of Christ wishes to restore the church to the teaching that was established and authorized by Christ and his apostles. We wish to have Biblical authority for everything we practice and teach. (Col. 3:17)

The Bible teaches that Jesus is the head of the church and the church is his body. (Eph. 1:22-23) The church of Christ recognizes this, and therefore there is no “headquarters” on earth. Each congregation is independent and goes directly to the Bible to learn what should be taught and how we should worship. We believe the Bible is sufficient and we need no other authority or creed books. (2 Timothy 3:16-17, 2 Peter 1:3) Christ has “all authority” and we wish to follow this authority by following the things He taught. (Matt 28:18-20) We don’t want to add any man-made doctrine. (If we follow the authority or teaching of men, then Christ does not have “all authority” in our spiritual lives.) If we teach as doctrine the commandments of men, this makes our worship vain! (Matthew 15:9)

Please do not confuse the church of Christ with the “United Church of Christ”, the “International Church of Christ”, the “Church of Christ Scientists”, or the “Church of Jesus Christ of Later-Day Saints (Mormons)”. These groups are not the same and they teach drastically different things!

If you wish to know more about those who simply want to be New Testament Christians (nothing more, nothing less, nothing else), I invite you to investigate the church of Christ by comparison to the Scriptures! I have included a few web sites below that you might wish to visit, or you can e-mail me with any additional questions.

Thank you for your good question and interest in the church.


As for the Church of Christ thinking they are the only ones going to heaven, please consider the following:

Again, the name "Church of Christ" indicates that this is a church that belongs to Christ or a church that tries to follow the doctrine of Christ.

If the church of Christ, or the church that belongs to Christ, is not the only one going to heaven, then whose church will also be saved? The church of Buddah? The church of Elvis? etc.

Salvation is only found in Christ.

Below is quoted from an article written by a friend of mine. He is a preacher at Jackson Heights Church of Christ in Florence, Alabama (USA).

(Also, please see the second link below. It has an article that discusses some ways the Church of Christ IS and IS NOT the only church.)

__________________

Will only the Church of Christ be in heaven ?

An oft-heard assumption and criticism by those in denominationalism or with no religious affiliation is that those in the Church of Christ think that they are the only ones going to heaven. An answer to this 'loaded' question can be found by looking at the authoritative New Testament with an honest, open, and loving heart.

First, we can affirm that besides those in Christ's church, there will be the faithful from many generations on the other side of the cross. The righteous from both the patriarchal and Mosaic dispensations will be there. These pre-date the church Jesus established. Also, heaven will be inhabited by the souls of those who are 'safe' (including the mentally handicapped and retarded, young children who die before reaching an age of accountability, the aborted, etc.). These are blessed not by virtue of their conscious obedience to the gospel but through their innocence.

Second, we need to tactfully affirm that salvation is in Christ and the body He purchased with His own blood (Acts 20:28; Eph. 1:20,21; Eph. 5:23). The Bible teaches that we are saved by many things: grace (Eph. 2:5), mercy (Titus 3:5), Jesus (Acts 4:12), His blood (Rev. 1:5), the Holy Spirit (John 3:5), the word (James 1:21), faith (Eph. 2:8), repentance (Acts 2:38), confession (Rom. 10:9,10) and baptism (1 Pet. 3:21). Many mistakenly submit to one or some of these Biblical prerequisites to salvation. Churches of Christ, in the main, strive for balance in stressing the divine and human sides to salvation. We should not insist on doing more, less, or other than what the Bible teaches.

Third, we sadly confess that not all members of the Church of Christ will be saved. Without setting ourselves up as judges, or trying to do God's work for Him, we realize that some who wear Christ's name are guilty of open or hidden sins that will condemn them in the judgment if not repented of. Being a member of the church has never eternally insured salvation in the New Testament, any more than being an Israelite insured salvation in the Old Testament (1 Cor. 10:1-12).

"Speaking the truth in love" (Eph. 4:15), we can kindly and firmly say that salvation today is in Christ and His church. We can and should urge honest-hearted people to follow the Bible pattern of obedience to receive God's wonderful reward (Rev. 2:10)

Answer 8

i dont know but your cute