1st century. Members of the Churches of Christ believe that Jesus founded only one church, that the current divisions between Christians are not God's will, and that the only basis for restoring Christian unity is the Bible. They typically prefer to be known simply as "Christians", without any further religious or denominational identification. They see themselves as recreating the New Testament church established by Christ. Churches of Christ generally share these theological beliefs: Refusal to hold to any formalized creeds or statements of faith, preferring instead a reliance on the Bible alone for doctrine and practice; Autonomous, congregational church organization without denominational oversight; Local governance by a plurality of male elders; One of the largest divisions within churches of Christ was due to controversy of foreign missionary work. Opponents of what they dubbed "Institutionalism" argued against it both as a drain on local congregations and as sinful if done in cooperation with other congregations. This belief extended to cooperative support of orphanages, homes, large-scale radio and TV programs and ministries. The Restoration Movement is so averse to association with other congregations that they renounce the term "protestant" distancing their churches from any association to any denomination; even one they would have to "protest" and evolve from. See also References Sources McKibben, Bill. Eaarth. New York: Time /Henry Holt, 2010. Business & the Environment. Sep 2011, Vol. 22 Issue 9, pp. 1–4 Pugh, Michael, (30 June 2014), 'Centralism versus localism? Democracy versus efficiency? The perennial challenges of Scottish local government organisation', History & Policy. External links Foundation for Self-Sufficiency in Central America "Localism" – James Howard Kunstler's view of "Localism" "The Localization Reader" – De Young and Princen's view on the process of "localization." Communitarianism Libertarianism Agrarian politics New Urbanism Political ideologies Political theories Rural culture Social philosophy