Articles for tag: Open Communion

April 19, 2013

By Paul Boatman Jon Keck is a staff pastor with First Christian Church, Decatur, Illinois, a once-dwindling traditional church affiliated with the Disciples of Christ that has turned around to become a thriving Evangelical congregation. Introduce us to First Christian Church of Decatur. This is a growing church that gathers 1,000 Christians each weekend to worship Jesus. We date back to 1833 and have been historically affiliated with the Disciples of Christ. As changes evolved in the Disciples of Christ, we became an autonomous Christian church affiliated with the Disciple Heritage Fellowship. We are growing at the rate

April 19, 2009

Christian Standard

Church & Ministry Church Leadership

Congregational Membership and Worshiping Community”“A Reflection on Church Polity

Â By C. Robert Wetzel One of the most divisive issues to plague the heirs of the Restoration Movement was the question of “open membership.” It became a symbol for a number of growing differences that were emerging among Christian churches early in the 20th century. But in many respects it was an unresolved question from the earliest days of the movement. That history is well documented, and I will not go into it here. In its starkest form, the issue centered on the recognition that the Scriptures taught baptism by immersion of repentant believers for the remission of sins