In John 17 our Lord Jesus Christ prayed for the unity of His disciples, not only the ones that He had chosen to serve as Apostles but each and every person that would believe in Christ as a result of the message that the Apostles would take throughout the world. In verse 20 of chapter 17 we read,

• "My prayer is not only for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message. 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in You."

 

Indeed, Christ Jesus desired unity among His Church so that the world may believe that He was sent to them by the One True Living God. However, as history proves, those within the "church world" chose to develop man-made creeds and doctrines. These "inventions" served not to unite the church but to divide her.

 

Around the beginning of the nineteenth century there began a movement within "Christendom." This movement was initiated with the only intention of promoting unity within the church by the rejection of all man-made creeds and doctrines and by returning to simple New Testament Christianity. This "movement" to restore the church to the image of the church established within the Scriptures was lead by men (of varied denominational affiliations) in Europe as well as in the United States of America. Among these men are James and Robert Haldane, Thomas Campbell, Alexander Campbell, Barton W. Stone, and Walter Scott, just to name a few. These men were aware of the division that was present in the church and they desired to bring the church into unity by "Calling Bible things by Bible names and doing Bible things in Bible ways." Another of the numerous pleas within the Restoration Movement is, "Where the Bible speaks we speak and where the Bible is silent we are silent." The "Restoration Movement" was never intended to result in another church denomination but rather to extinguish denominationalism altogether. The name of Christian Church or Church of Christ was chosen because it draws attention to the One that died to establish the church and not to men that are simply a part of the Lord's church.

In 1830 Manville Christian Church was born out of the efforts of these God fearing men. Today we strive to stay true to the Bible alone as our only source of faith and practice, as we have "no creed but Christ and no book but the Bible." We are still an autonomous independent non-denominational church and are happy to carry the name of Jesus alone as we are "Christians only." The body of Christ at Manville is still true to the pattern of the New Testament church, to the hope of the "Restoration Movement", and most importantly to the desire of Jesus, that we would all become unified so that the world will believe and thusly be saved. We are thankful to God for His faithfulness to this congregation throughout the years and pray for His continued blessings. We invite you to join us for worship one Lord's Day.

 

Plan of Salvation

The Church of Christ sticks to the Plan of Salvation as the only way to be saved as God's word teaches us.

 

"37 Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 'Brethren, what shall we do?' 38 Peter said to them, 'Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

 

Acts 2:37-38