The Churches of God were re-formed over 120 years ago in the United Kingdom and today the Churches of God are represented in North America, Europe, Australasia, Asia, and Africa in over 100 locations.

From the back streets of India to the bustling capitals of the so-called ‘First World’, church principles laid down in the Bible over 2,000 years ago are still working in a wide variety of cultural settings.

The website of the Churches of God contains all the details of where the churches are located, as well as much more to explore – including the opportunity to listen to the latest series of “Search For Truth Radio” broadcasts.

Bible-based unity

The close inter-dependency of the Churches of God in a unique worldwide Fellowship is the realization in practical terms of the recorded prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ for his followers: “that they may be one”.

There are a number of ways that this is expressed and practically achieved.  One of the most important means of maintaining unity is the existence of a united elderhood and united practice which means that the Churches of God believe and practice the same things, based on our understanding of God’s Word, the Bible, and applied within the local cultural context.

Elders (also known as church overseers) from around the world meet every 18 months or so to discuss practical and doctrinal issues and come to an understanding of what the will of the Lord is on a particular matter – very much in the spirit of the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15.  Like that Council, the elders communicate the outcome of each gathering to the local churches so that unity of practice and belief can be maintained.  Elders also meet periodically at a district level to deal with more local matters and to discuss matters that are to be discussed at future global meetings.  Finally, elders of each church also meet regularly as a group to pray for the church, identify teaching, pastoral and practical needs, and to determine appropriate church discipline when required.

The Churches of God also publish a quarterly teaching magazine, Needed Truth (NT) which has been in existence for over 120 years and is available free of charge to interested parties as well as being downloadable from the NT website (see link from our home page).

Our publishers Hayes Press also have a website (again, find the link on our home page) where you can obtain a large selection of gospel leaflets and tracts as well as material for children’s work and special publications by the Churches of God about what we believe.  The website also has a searchable database of all NT articles over the last 120 years – a treasure trove that covers a wide variety of vital topics.

First century convictions

In our fast-changing 21st century, the Churches of God “guard the good deposit” ( 2 Tim 1:14 ) by maintaining first-century Bible convictions and applying them to everyday life in the 20th century.  You can read more about what we stand for on our website and if you have more detailed questions we would be happy to answer them.