Independent Christian Ministries

The following was originally written on Christmas Day 1992,

myself.

Today is a good day to describe the role of Independent

Christian ministries. Christ spoke of “His Church from him” from him. The man has

established churches with names like “First East” of “Second

That.” I specifically remember a sermon where the guest

speaker referred to the church in which he was speaking as

“the only light in town” while my three children were

attending a Sunday school down the street. This was

about the most flagrant example I know of with miscommunication

within the Christian community.

Returning to a personal experience: when I was a young adult,

I attended a youth group at a church while attending

other. The church where we went to the youth group saw the

organization as being strictly an outreach of that church

instead of an arm of the body of Christ.

I have been a member of a church for about ten years. For

another ten years, he was not associated with any Church. I

have come to see churches acting as if they own a

“franchise” and operated accordingly. These churches alone

worked within his own denomination despite the fact that the current

the teaching done in the churches was very similar to the teaching

made in churches of other denominations with which they did not have

interest in participating.

I have no intention of trying to combine denominations or

even obtaining denominations at work with another denomination.

Unfortunately, it all comes down to the proprietary name of the

real estate and if the local church wants independence, they

have to leave the church building to the denomination and

start over in another piece of real estate. the church has

become the institution rather than the Church of Christ

The institution.

The purpose and concept of Independent Christian is to serve

Christ by being at the service of the Body and Church of Christ

without establishing any allegiance to any denomination or any

existing church.

Since this was written, I have moved from Northern New Jersey.

to central Virginia. The religion of northern New Jersey is

predominantly Catholic with many Jews. Like a bible believing

Protestant evangelical, I was in a clear minority,

especially when I lived in Kearny, New Jersey.

Central Virginia is quite different. is the proverb

“Bible Belt”. Our county, Fluvanna, has 23 Baptist churches.

In addition to other Protestant churches, two Catholic churches that

they actually share the same pastor, and no synagogue.

But now I have found that the Catholic Church must be included

together with the Protestant churches when we speak of “being of

service to the Body and Church of Christ”.

I have been associated with several independent Christians

Ministries since my youth, some 50 years ago. Some of these

included Jack Wyrtzen Word of Life Fellowship, Percey Craford,

Billy Graham, Rex Humbard, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson,

Kenneth Copeland, Oral Roberts, Kenneth Hagin, and Kathryn

Kuhlman.

My sister worked for Jack Wyrtzen’s Word of Life Fellowship in

New York City when I was in my teens. My sister and I

I participated in Billy Graham’s New York Crusade in 1957. I

attended the meetings of the Committee of Christian Entrepreneurs. I

participated with the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship. I

supported Oral Roberts Ministries and I sent my daughter to Oral

Roberts University.

There were also large Independent Christian Ministries before

My time. Billy Sunday was in my parents’ time. blacksmith

Wigglesworth was a contemporary of William Booth, founder of

The Salvation Army.

All these independent Christian ministries that Christians are

Christians, regardless of their denominational affiliation.

The Catholic Church has formalized the definition of

common elements of Christians to be believers first, and

verbalizing that belief, what is historically called the

Apostles’ Creed and, in obedience, follow Jesus by being

baptized.

While many Protestants speak different words, the creed

summarizes common Christian beliefs, namely:

I believe in God, Father Almighty, Creator of heaven

and the earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who

He was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary,

He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was

buried. He descended into hell. On the third day he rose

from the dead He ascended into heaven and sits at the right

hand of God the Almighty Father, from whence he shall come to judge

the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the

holy catholic church, communion of saints, forgiveness

of sins, the resurrection of the body and eternal life.

Amen.

Now Protestants typically point to the reference to “hell” in

the creed does not refer to the “lake of fire” but to the “place

of the dead”, which is not clearly understood.

The versions use the word “hades” or “death”.

Protestants also emphasize that the words “Catholic church” mean

“universal church” instead of the Catholic Church. Of course,

when the creed was first used, there were no Protestants

existing denominations. But there were different

apostolic churches that include not only the Greek Orthodox and the

Roman Church, but also a number of smaller groups founded by

other Apostles. The phrase clearly referred to all of them.

Protestants also tend to ignore “the communion of saints.” In

my more than 50 years of attending various Protestant churches,

I don’t recall ever hearing any reference to that concept. Me

the best understanding is that Christians are Christians. But that

is the point of this document.