No. The Bible is clear that salvation is a free gift from God (Ephesians 2:8-9).  Those verses teach us that forgiveness is a gift from God that is given through faith.

But faith isn’t without works. Both Hebrews 11:1 and James 2:14-26 claim that faith only exists when it is manifested in the lives of God’s people. Faith must be demonstrated or else it doesn’t exist.

For more on this subject, we have an entire article dedicated to what the Bible says about salvation. We encourage you to check it out!

A lot of churches worship using a live band. In fact, so many churches choose to do so that it can be odd to see a church that chooses to only sing.

We get this question a lot from visitors. The reason we don’t have a band is not because we don’t have musical members, and it’s not because we can’t afford instruments. 

We choose not to have instruments because God commands us to sing (Eph. 5:18 and Col. 3;16). What pleases God is our voices — not instruments (Hebrews 13:15-16).

And if worship is intended to be honor Him, shouldn’t we give Him what He wants?

The Monterey church of Christ is a fully independent, non-denominational church that only claims Christ as its head (Ephesians 1:18-23). 

As such, there is no governing body or council that we answer to. Our members make the best (Scriptural) decision we can for our own church.

Yes. Just as Acts 20:7 says that the Christians gathered together “every first day of the week” to “break bread,” so we make it a part of every Sunday service.

Communion is important. It symbolizes Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross for our sins (1 Corinthians 11:23-26). As such, it’s an honor for us to take some time every week to meditate on that fact.