For years I have been going to the church of Christ. Can you tell me what would be wrong with going to or visiting a conservative church of Christ as they are so close to the Bible and in some cases even closer than our church?
Answer
There are some congregations who call themselves “conservative” churches of Christ. I have been a member of some of those congregations. It doesn’t matter as much what a congregation calls themselves as what they teach. It is probably disrespectful to the person they claim to be following for a congregation to call their church by any name but Christ’s, but it is not technically wrong. Therefore, you could attend or visit a congregation that called itself a Community Church or anything else if they are following only the Bible.
In some ways the “Conservative churches of Christ” may follow some practices that are closer to what we read in the Bible. I have seen some, though, which take positions that are clearly traditional rather than scriptural, and try to bind them on others. For instance, some insist that women wear some sort of head covering in the assembly, even though the covering is nothing like what Paul referred to in 1 Corinthians 11, and in spite of Paul’s assertion that it is not a matter to be required by the church. In general, though, the differences between the conservative churches of Christ and other congregations are minor. Even the congregations that call themselves conservative may do so for a variety of doctrines, and may not all agree on what makes them “conservative.” That is, there are the no-Bible-class conservatives, the one-cup conservatives, the use-of-the-church-treasury conservatives, the no-clapping conservatives, and now even the no-songs-written-after-1965 conservatives. Any of those might agree with only one or all of the issues addressed. So even among the people who label themselves conservative there is no agreement and you would have to check out each congregation to see why they call themselves that.