This is an important question. Where does the church of Christ come from? In Caesarea Philippi Jesus promised: “I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18). The church is indestructible. Throughout the last two millennia, the church of Jesus Christ has thrived wherever people have truly followed him.
Think of the gospel message as a seed (Luke 8:11). If you plant seed in fertile soil, it produces. A vegetable seed may lose its potency after a few years, but God’s word is different. “The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord abides forever” (1 Pet. 1:24-25). So if I travel to a place where the name of Jesus has never been heard and proclaim his saving grace, anyone who responds obediently to the message is added by God to his church.
When the United States was in its infancy, a number of preachers began urging people to just listen to God’s word. They said, “Let’s call Bible things by Bible names and do Bible things in Bible ways.” I know the names of some of those men but very little about them. I have never studied their messages or read their books. I certainly appreciate their appeal for the restoration of the New Testament church, though. Anyone visiting the Seagoville Church of Christ notices that I simply preach the Bible.