I am very much interested in your teachings and your church. I have therefore decided to open a branch of your church. \u00a0I have been making preparation to perform and I need your authority to enable me to do it. I should, therefore, be grateful if you would kindly assist me to enable me to establish a branch of your church.<\/p>\n
Counting very much on your cooperation and early attention.<\/p>\n
Thank you very much.<\/p>\n\t
I have no authority in such matters. That comes from Jesus, and that authority has already been given (Matthew 28:18-20). I have no church. Only Christ has a church (Matthew 16:18). Nor do you need anything other than your Bible to teach and establish a congregation of Christ’s people (Romans 10:12-17).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: I am very much interested in your teachings and your church. I have therefore decided to open a branch of your church. \u00a0I have been making preparation to perform and I need your authority to enable me to do it. I should, therefore, be grateful if you would kindly assist me to enable me…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[448],"class_list":["post-23856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-church"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":21194,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/have-you-heard-about-the-church-of-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":23856,"position":0},"title":"Have You Heard About the Church of Christ?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 27, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton The churches of Christ are not a denomination. They are neither Protestant, Catholic, or Jew. They are comprised of individuals born again through obedience to the commands of Christ (John 3:1-5; I Peter 1:22-25). The church of Christ is the church Jesus said he would build\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":55919,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-the-church-produce-the-bible-or-does-the-bible-produce-the-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":23856,"position":1},"title":"Does the Church Produce the Bible or Does the Bible Produce the Church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 17, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ryan Thomas Perhaps one of the biggest misconceptions regarding the Bible is that it is a product of the church. Many reject the Bible as our sole source of religious authority and instruction and belittle us for believing in the \"Bible alone theory.\" Thus, there is a great need\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":68161,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-choose-a-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":23856,"position":2},"title":"How Do I Choose a Church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 20, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Johnny O. Trail One radio station in Nashville does nothing but talk radio. As an avid talk radio listener, I am always interested in the questions and comments of those who call in. On one show, the host deals exclusively with emails that listeners have sent in. The other\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":55800,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-a-baptism-valid-if-the-church-believes-only-jesus-is-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":23856,"position":3},"title":"Is a baptism valid if the church believes only Jesus is God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 14, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I am a member of the church of Christ and have a question for you. My mother-in-law recently started attending the church, and I am concerned about her baptism being scriptural. She was baptized in a non-denominational \"Jesus Only\" church for the forgiveness of sins. What I mean\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":92240,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/loose-cannons\/","url_meta":{"origin":23856,"position":4},"title":"Loose Cannons","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 19, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Kevin Cauley Reading the news today, I came across an article about one of the presidential candidates, in which one of his former military commanders said he was a \"loose cannon.\" Just the other day, one of our members was telling me about a man who claimed to be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/cannon-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":38730,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-church-buy-and-sell-properties\/","url_meta":{"origin":23856,"position":5},"title":"Can a church buy and sell properties?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 4, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I've been thinking a lot about authority and what ways the church is authorized to receive money into the treasury. Freewill offerings are the only means, correct? The church does not have the authority to open a business to support its funds, correct? If those are true, a question\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23856\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}