Romans 16:16 says they were called churches of Christ. There were no denominations—just one church...
It was a friend who invited me to attend the church of Christ when I was a teenager. His aunt was a very devout and thoroughly indoctrinated member of the church of Christ. I'll never forget several years later running into my friend's aunt at my friend's daughter's birthday party. Since then, I had received Jesus Christ through faith and was now a born-again Christian. I shared this good news with his aunt and the only question that she had for me was, "where do you attend church?" When my answer was not "the church of Christ," she bowed her head in sadness as if to imply that I was still lost because I did not say the church of Christ and she simply walked away.
After that her husband approached me and I shared the good news with him as well that I had received Jesus Christ through faith and am now a born-again Christian and he had the same question, "where do you attend church," and when I told him and the answer was not the church of Christ, his eyes glazed over followed by a cheesy legalistic grin on his face and he simply walked away from me and neither of them would speak with me for the rest of the night. I knew that something was terribly wrong! I could hear them both over in the corner going on and on about "salvation by water baptism" and that ONLY their church, "the church of Christ" is the "true Church."
I quickly came to realize they were both deceived.
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