Christian Reviewer

I accepted Christ as my Savior as a ninth grade student. Although the church I attended primarily taught us about civil rights and social issues (1960s), it did preach about Jesus Christ at least once a year.

During my years as a College student (late 1966-1970), I came in contact with an organization called Campus Crusade for Christ. I discovered there were people who studied the Bible every day and actively shared their faith with others. This was exciting to me and I spent my Junior-Senior years in college as an active member of this group.

My first teaching position after college graduation wound up being for a group I now classify as a "cult". They taught strange things like: if you sit in a chair, you are really sitting on Jesus Christ. They had other beliefs that I couldn't line up with the New Testament . I finished the school year and returned to my home State. Two years later, I happened to meet someone that had been at the school at the same time. They told me this group broke up over false doctrine which validated my feelings about the group. This experience helped me "trust my guts" when choosing to join or not to join a church.

As an adult, I have passed through several church denominations. With each change, the denomination was just a little closer to being the church described in the New Testament. Each group had some doctrines that just didn't line up with scripture. Some call me a legalist because I believe the Bible is the rule book for Christian living and for running the church.

Thirteen years ago I discovered the Restoration Movement churches. I now belong to an independent church that believes Christians are to live in unity with each other. We are to agree on the essentials (salvation by grace, obeying God's Word), show love when dealing with non-essentials, and to be silent where the Bible is silent. We are called New Testament churches because we teach what is clearly stated in the Bible. Our leaders "cut it straight" even if it means some walk out and never return. We don't get watered down sermons or sermons designed to "tickle our ears". Here is our Statement of Faith.

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