In the last year of his ministry, Jesus said that He would build a church and that the evil forces would not overcome it (Matthew 16:18). This Church received a literal form at Pentecost when about 3,000 souls repented and were baptized upon receiving the gospel that Peter preached (Acts 2:41). The account states that the Lord added to the Church daily "such as should be saved" (Acts 2:47).
The New Testament Church is an organism consisting of mutually dependent parts with a common goal. This the Apostle Paul sets out clearly in 1 Corinthians 12, that the Church has diversity of parts, co-related, working harmoniously under the administration of the Holy Spirit. At Pentecost the Jews were convinced of their sin of crucifying Christ, and those who repented found forgiveness and were brought into the Church through water baptism. Since that time it has been Christ’s will that those who are truly converted should be added to the Church by baptism.
God has a covenanted people who are born again believers of the gospel, united in faith, and quickened by the Spirit (John 3:6). They share a mutual fellowship, and are partakers of one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, and one baptism (Ephesians 4:4-6), with Christ as their head (Colossians 1:18).
The Greek word ekklesia is understood to mean an organized church that has received, and abides in, the Word of God. The teachings of Jesus in Matthew 18:16-18, Paul’s writings in Romans 16:17, 1 Corinthians 5, and other Scriptures, cannot be exercised except in a church that is visible and united. God abides where his Word is accepted and practiced, and where the unpopular doctrines of the Word are not deleted.
The Church of God in Christ believes that there are scattered children of God who are not knowledgeable of the New Testament Church. To such believers God gives grace to live the faith, some of whom are led by the Spirit to the Church.
The Church is ordained to lead men, by the Word, to Christ who alone can save. The Church must have the witness of the Spirit, testifying that she lives in the power of the Word.
Both John the Baptist and Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven had come (Matthew 3:2; 4:17). Jesus brought the kingdom with Him when He came to earth. He said that those who would believe in Him would become the sons of God through the power of the Word (John 1:12). These sons of God the Apostle Peter refers to as “babes” (1 Peter 2:2). The Church Jesus promised has been built within the kingdom of heaven to receive these babes for protection and nurture, and is a base from which to witness for Him.
The kingdom of heaven and the Church are actually two entities, but his Church is only in the kingdom of heaven. Repentant sinners are born into the kingdom of heaven and then baptized into the Church. The Church is not a mother that bears children; the Church fosters children. The Church must be very careful to accept only those who have the witness of having been born again unto a lively hope in Christ Jesus.
God’s covenant with his people remains intact as long as the believers are faithful. When they become unfaithful, however, they are covenant breakers (Romans 1:31) and are rejected of the Lord. When a church becomes unfaithful to God, the faithful remnant is to come out from among them (2 Corinthians 6:17).
The early Church endeavored to keep the unity of the faith, but within three centuries some believers compromised with anti-scriptural views. Leaders were ambitious of position and power, causing dissension and heresies. Had the Church dealt with the heretics as Paul instructed, she would have remained pure and a separation would not have occurred (Titus 3:10). But when heresy prevailed and admonitions were rejected, the remnant who were not defiled separated from the church at Rome. The unfaithful church at Rome corresponded to Revelation 18:2.
This separation caused a wave of persecution. The church at Rome became a state church with compulsory membership by infant baptism. To this the remnant objected, for they accepted only a believer’s baptism upon faith in Christ with the witness of the Spirit. This persecution scattered the true believers to other regions. They did not go underground and become obscure, but witnessed to the truth wherever they went.
Christ said that the forces of evil would not overcome the Church. In times when the flame grew dim, He prepared particular believers, giving them a deep insight of God’s order. He endowed them richly with talent to gather the scattered believers and to reclaim many who were floundering in deception. These devout men helped many believers to become rooted and grounded in the truth as it is in Christ.
Those who adhered to the teachings of the New Testament rejected the state church organization, disregarded infant baptism, and baptized only believers. They were soon known as Anabaptist.
From the 13th to the 16th centuries the Waldenses came to the fore in the faith and practice of the apostolic church. They rejected infant baptism, baptizing only believers. They rejected the oath, and didn’t serve in the magistracy. They didn’t wage war and rejected the teachings of purgatory. This faith was also embraced by the Swiss Mennonites in the early 16th century, as well as by the Dutch believers. There were some minor differences in faith and practice between these two groups. The Dutch believers were more careful in maintaining a pure church and were more diligent in the doctrine of nonconformity than other groups.
Jesus said that the forces of evil would never overcome the Church; therefore it must remain true that there were always the covenant believers in the world. We do not believe that the Mennonite Church had a new beginning in the 16th century in Zurich, Switzerland or any other place at that time. We believe it was a continuation of evangelical Anabaptists, who had received the truth from other true believers of prior times and that the propagation of the truth came through the Dutch Anabaptists, the Waldenses, and other groups of whom there is record.
In the 16th century a Catholic priest in Friesland, Holland, by the name of Menno Simons, emerged as a believer. He was a man of 28 years who admitted to being afraid to read the Scriptures for fear of being misled. In his service as priest it had occurred to him that the bread and wine served at Mass were not the actual flesh and blood of Christ as was taught. Yielding to an inward urge to examine the Scriptures on doubtful issues, he discovered the error of his ways. He also found no scriptural basis for infant baptism. In agony of soul he began to preach repentance from dead works, pointing people to the narrow way of the New Testament, and reproving sin and unrighteousness. The Lord favored this honest heart with grace and willingness to submit his life to the cross of Christ. He rejected his infant baptism and received from the evangelical Anabaptists a believer’s baptism upon his faith. Later he was called into the gospel ministry by the same group.
Menno was especially gifted in propagating the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. Under his effective leadership the believers became known as Mennonites. Menno and his followers lived and practiced what they understood to be the teachings of Christ and the apostles, as held by the Waldenses in Holland and Zealand.
The original confessions set up by the Mennonites agree with the New Testament teaching in points as Christ’s establishing in gospel form a visible church to which the believers should be added and which would continue in this order to the end of time. The Church should be known by its faith and ordinances—baptizing only those who upon repentance are born again through the power of the Word and electing ministers by the voice of the Church and ordaining them by the laying on of hands (Acts 6:3-6). They believed in the breaking of bread and partaking of the cup, as well as in feet washing at communion. They believed in matrimony between two believing persons in the one faith and one baptism. They believed in excommunication of offending and disobedient members who rejected admonition (Matthew 18:17), and that those who were excommunicated should be avoided as taught in Matthew 18:17; 2 Thessalonians 3:6,14.
The Mennonites of the 16th century, and later, had a deep sense of their high calling in Christ Jesus. Their conviction and faith was that they were the true, apostolic Church of God established by the Lord. They took very seriously the Scriptural injunction to be “a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing . . . holy and without blemish”(Ephesians 5:27). This could only be accomplished by dedicated discipleship, effective use of church discipline, and use of the ban, exercised by a spiritual church under the direction of a consecrated ministry.
In the 17th century Mennonites from Holland and Switzerland emigrated to America. There was already a difference in faith and practice among them at that time. These differences were often between leaders who were prejudiced and had ambition for position and power. Nevertheless, God maintained a remnant through which his work was furthered. Christ’s statement that evil would not overcome the Church must be fulfilled. The Church was never extinct, thus it was unnecessary for a new church ever to come into being. The Church could have always been found by the honest seeker who followed the leading of the Holy Spirit. In periods when reformation was necessary, God prepared from the remnant such as were devoted to the building of the Kingdom and who gave themselves to restoring the old ground and foundation.
In the 19th century God used John Holdeman, a member of the Mennonite Church in Wayne County, Ohio, to help bring about a return and a closer adherence to the principles which the Church has believed and taught since the time of Christ and the apostles.
Although different individuals have been used of God to strengthen and renew the Church, they should not be considered as founders of the Church but as men whom God used to bring about a restoration and to propagate the Church. Only Christ can be regarded as the founder of the Church, and He has promised that it would endure until the end. Jesus said “Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).
The years have brought many changes in lifestyle, doctrinal interpretation, and practice among evangelical churches. Nonconformity to the world as taught in Romans 12:1-2 and 1 John 2:15-16 has become especially controversial. The conviction of belonging to a church, in particular to the New Testament Church, has been lost or is being questioned by many who would be followers of Christ. However, the Lord did see a need for the Church till the end of time.
John 1:12 states that those who receive the gospel of Christ are given power to become the sons of God by being born of water and of the Spirit. Peter refers to such as “newborn babes” (1 Peter 2:2). These are in the kingdom of heaven and need a spiritual fellowship, a place of brotherly care. The Church assumes the role of nurturing these “babes” to maturity. From within this fellowship the Lord calls forth witnesses and sends them into the world (Matthew 28:19-20).
It is very essential that those who seek this church fellowship for security, nurture, and service for the Lord examine the Word of God and its doctrines in order to determine to which church they should belong. There is a faith once delivered to the saints (Jude 3), which comes from the founder, Jesus Christ, and has been taught by the apostles. This faith needs to be accepted in the heart and lived in honesty and sincerity. The Lord abides where his Word dwells (John 14:23). Here is where the Lord walks among the candlesticks (Revelation 1:13).
The Church today, as always, embraces all the doctrines of the Word in practice, placing emphasis on nonresistance, nonconformity, and purity. The Church believes in holy baptism, holy communion, holy matrimony, and electing ministers by church vote and ordaining by the laying on of hands. Great care is exercised in proving applicants for baptism, in communion, marriage, electing and ordaining of ministers, and in following Jesus’ outline of discipline in Matthew 18:15-17. Members do not participate in the election or service of the magistracy, nor are they engaged in directing society.
The Church desires to receive into her fellowship all those whom God has forgiven and who are born again unto a lively hope in Christ Jesus, and have the witness of the Spirit (Romans 8:16; Galatians 5:22-24).
In the great judgment day all men will be judged by the Word of the Lord (John 12:48). Those who rejected his Word will be told that He never knew them (Matthew 7:23); but those who received Him (John 1:12-13), and continued to walk with Him as they received Him (Colossians 2:6), will be welcomed into eternal rest (Matthew 25:21).