dasilvaayodele

Incidentaly, i  am a member of the International Church of Christ and i came to be a member of the Church by studying the bible myself, not following some man made manuals. I think people become members of the Church because they see that the truths of the bible are preached. Take salvation for example, the bible teaches in Acts 2:36-38 that one must repent of sin, be baptised for the forgiveness of sin, to receive the gift of this holy spirit. How can this, according to you, be 'stepping out of grace'? I think those who preach that people can be saved merely by saying the sinners prayer are those who have led people astray. In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus said to go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them...

Those to be baptised are those who are already living like disciples of Christ, after repenting of sin.

Our Church is not perfect and i agree that we made some mistakes. However, they were not intended for evil. Discipling relationships should not be over/under, but it is quite biblical as Jesus asked older disciples to continue to teach youger disciples everything he has taught. I am not aware of anyone being forced to make decisions, rather, people are adviced in the light of what may be beneficial based on the scriptures. I agree that our motive for reaching out to people should be to seek and save the lost and not just populate our churches and this practice has since stopped. The one man at the top heirachical leadership style you mentioned has since been dismantled. This was never the original intent and as with church history, one man, if unchecked may assume more power and authority over the others which is never Jesus style of leadership for his Church. We have swung into action to make sure this never happens again.

The people who leave our churches are men and women who fell into sin and didn't want to repent or who became uncomfortable in a lifestyle of sin among other members and it is not true that we avoid them like a plague. Our main services are on Sunday and midweek. Members have the rest of the days of the week to do other things they need to do. We do not force people to become members. They study the bible and decide to follow Jesus or not. I understand that just as Jesus was attacked by the Pharisees, it is natural to attack whatever we do not understand or that call us to a more radical Christian living than we are already used to. It is so easy to label such a movement a cult. Our love for one another is genuine and never a disguise to lure people in. We strive to teach the bible and the bible only and people are always welcome to question our beliefs. I did before becoming a member some 18 years ago and i have never regretted my decistion to follow Christ as a discple and member of the International Church of Christ. Thank you.