From what reading I do, it seems to me that brethren are drifting away from a correct conception of what the church is. The church of God is the family of God, and all his children are in it. If one of his children wanders off into some institution where he should not be, he is still a child of God, still a member of God’s family. If your own child gets into something that he should not, he is still your child. A United States citizen may join an unlawful mob, but he is still a citizen. To say that the local churches of Christ constitute the church of Christ is a great mistake, for there are children of God who are not members of any congregation. When Philip baptized the Ethiopian eunuch, there was no local church in that community for the eunuch to become a member of; yet, he became a child of God, a member of God’s family, which is the church of God.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by R. L. Whiteside via Gospel Advocate, December 3, 1942 From what reading I do, it seems to me that brethren are drifting away from a correct conception of what the church is. The church of God is the family of God, and all his children are in it. If one of his children wanders…<\/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":[27],"tags":[448],"class_list":["post-83642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-church"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":44697,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/names-for-gods-people\/","url_meta":{"origin":83642,"position":0},"title":"Names for God’s People","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 23, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Download Audio by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Isaiah 62:1-5 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Names hold a particular significance in the Bible \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When a child is born in this country, parents agonize on picking out just the right name. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Often the name is selected because it has a nice \u201cring\u201d to it \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a02.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Because a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":59347,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-right-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":83642,"position":1},"title":"The “Right” Church","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 16, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Robert F. Turner A brother told me his friend asked if the church of which he was a member was the true church. The brother is an honest, conscientious man, and he said he couldn't tell his friend the church of which he was a member was perfect. He\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":54903,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/isnt-a-baptized-person-a-member-of-the-local-congregation\/","url_meta":{"origin":83642,"position":2},"title":"Isn’t a baptized person a member of the local congregation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 23, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am a bit confused. My understanding has always been that if an individual were visiting us, and they obeyed the gospel while here, I would direct them to a sound church in their area. They would not be a member of the local church here, although they obeyed\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":60057,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-good-man-be-saved-outside-the-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":83642,"position":3},"title":"Can a Good Man Be Saved Outside the Church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 24, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by N. B. Hardeman Excerpts from \"The Church- Its Unity,\" Hardeman's Tabernacle Sermons, Volume 2 I regret that there is such a teaching abroad as this - for instance, that a man does not have to become a member of the church in order to be saved; that there are\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":10450,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/am-i-doing-the-right-thing-by-getting-baptized-again-after-being-baptized-as-a-child\/","url_meta":{"origin":83642,"position":4},"title":"Am I doing the right thing by getting baptized again after being baptized as a child?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 19, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am getting baptized in a couple of days and I wanted to make sure I was doing the right thing. The problem is that I was baptized as a toddler in a Catholic Church. I am not Catholic and the baptism meant nothing because I lived a life\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":33601,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/into-what-were-you-baptized\/","url_meta":{"origin":83642,"position":5},"title":"Into What Were You Baptized?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 24, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Floyd Chappelear Sentry Magazine, March 2000 Which came first? Admission into the church universal or the local church? To some, baptism is an ordinance of the church (that is, the local church). From that perspective, one is baptized into the local church. The truth of the matter is, however,\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":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83642","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=83642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83642\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}