What We Believe

The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Canada

We study the Bible to deepen our connection to God through Jesus, to discover what God wants us to do. 

We believe that God is calling the Christian Church (Disciples) of the 21st century to be a faithful, growing church that demonstrates true community, deep Christian spirituality, and a passion for justice. 

Our mission is to be and to share the good news of Jesus Christ - witnessing, serving, and loving from our doorsteps to the ends of the earth.  We are devoted to strengthening our congregations for this mission. 

Many Disciples have conservative views; many others have liberal views. But we share the belief that we are united in our faith that "Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, the Saviour of the world.

Two very important things to Disciples are Communion and Baptism. 

We celebrate Communion, or the Lord's Supper, each time we get together to praise God.  We believe that Jesus heals the pain of human separation around the communion table, and it is a place where we gather together as a family.

People who become Christians in a Disciples congregation
First, they state "I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and I accept him as my personal Saviour".  Second, they may be baptized, often on a different day than their profession of faith.  This is (usually) done by being fully immersed in water - this may in the church sanctuary, or perhaps in a body of water outside.  As they are baptized in Christ, the congregation pledges to support them and help them in strengthening their relationship with God through Jesus Christ.  Those who have been baptized through other forms of baptism practiced by other denominational traditions are received and welcomed - their baptism is recognized by their new community of faith.

The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a community of about 850,000 Christians in 3,800 congregations in the United States and Canada.

Two groups of frontier Christians came together in 1832 to form the foundation of today's Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).  They shared the view that people should not be excluded from fellowship in the church because they didn't adhere to a particular human-made creed.  They used to say there is "no creed but Christ."  Today's Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) still thinks that way.