What Church in Christianity do you believe is the TRUE church?

Every Christian believes that Jesus Christ established and sustains a community of faith, hope and love for all believers. This community we call His Church. The Church that Christ founded is the Catholic Church which has a formal earthly structure established by Christ and which continues under His authority and protection.

Jesus did three things that established the framework of His Church. First, He chose humans to carry out His work. He appointed Peter to be the visible head of the Church. Jesus said to Peter, "You are Rock and on this rock I will build my Church." (Matthew 16: 18) Jesus said "build," as in to create a structure. Jesus built His structure on specifically chosen human beings Peter and the apostles.

Second, Jesus gave Peter and the apostles the power and authority to carry out His work. "Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven."(Matthew 16:19; 18:18) "Receive the Holy Spirit, whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven, whose sins you retain, they are retained."(John 20:23)

Third, Jesus gave Peter and the apostles commands as to what that work should be. At the last supper, He commanded, "Do this in memory of Me." (Luke 22:19) He commanded them to "Make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19), and to "Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature." (Mark 16:15)

The early Church was structured in a hierarchical manner as it is today. We see in Acts, chapter 15 how the apostles and the elders came together under the leadership of St. Peter to decide the question of what was required of Gentiles. We also see how St. Peter was regarded as the head of the Church when St. Paul, "Went up to Jerusalem to confer with Kephas [Peter] and remained with him fifteen days." (Galatians 1:18) There is no Scriptural evidence of independent local churches.

The Catholic Church is the only church that can claim to have been founded by Christ personally. Every other church traces its lineage back to a mere human person such as Martin Luther or John Wesley. The Catholic Church can trace its lineage back to Jesus Christ who appointed St. Peter as the first pope. This line of popes has continued unbroken for almost 2,000 years.

God rules, instructs and sanctifies His people through His Church. Under her teaching office, the Catholic Church preserves the Word of God. She is the custodian, keeper, dispenser and interpreter of teachings of Christ. And she accomplishes this under the protection of the Holy Spirit.

AN UNBROKEN HISTORY

Jesus said his Church would be "the light of the world." He then noted that "a city set on a hill cannot be hid" (Matt. 5:14). This means his Church is a visible organization. It must have characteristics that clearly identify it and that distinguish it from other churches. Jesus promised, "I will build my Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18). This means that his Church will never be destroyed and will never fall away from him. His Church will survive until his return.

Among the Christian churches, only the Catholic Church has existed since the time of Jesus. Every other Christian church is an offshoot of the Catholic Church. The Eastern Orthodox churches broke away from unity with the pope in 1054. The Protestant churches were established during the Reformation, which began in 1517. (Most of today’s Protestant churches are actually offshoots of the original Protestant offshoots.)

Only the Catholic Church existed in the tenth century, in the fifth century, and in the first century, faithfully teaching the doctrines given by Christ to the apostles, omitting nothing. The line of popes can be traced back, in unbroken succession, to Peter himself. This is unequaled by any institution in history.

Even the oldest government is new compared to the papacy, and the churches that send out door-to-door missionaries are young compared to the Catholic Church. Many of these churches began as recently as the nineteenth or twentieth centuries. Some even began during your own lifetime. None of them can claim to be the Church Jesus established.

The Catholic Church has existed for nearly 2,000 years, despite constant opposition from the world. This is testimony to the Church’s divine origin. It must be more than a merely human organization, especially considering that its human members— even some of its leaders—have been unwise, corrupt, or prone to heresy.

Any merely human organization with such members would have collapsed early on. The Catholic Church is today the most vigorous church in the world (and the largest, with a billion members: one sixth of the human race), and that is testimony not to the cleverness of the Church’s leaders, but to the protection of the Holy Spirit.

FOUR MARKS OF THE TRUE CHURCH

If we wish to locate the Church founded by Jesus, we need to locate the one that has the four chief marks or qualities of his Church. The Church we seek must be one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.

The Church Is One (Rom. 12:5, 1 Cor. 10:17, 12:13, CCC 813–822)

Jesus established only one Church, not a collection of differing churches (Lutheran, Baptist, Anglican, and so on). The Bible says the Church is the bride of Christ (Eph. 5:23–32). Jesus can have but one spouse, and his spouse is the Catholic Church.

His Church also teaches just one set of doctrines, which must be the same as those taught by the apostles (Jude 3). This is the unity of belief to which Scripture calls us (Phil. 1:27, 2:2).

Although some Catholics dissent from officially-taught doctrines, the Church’s official teachers—the pope and the bishops united with him—have never changed any doctrine. Over the centuries, as doctrines are examined more fully, the Church comes to understand them more deeply (John 16:12–13), but it never understands them to mean the opposite of what they once meant.

The Church Is Holy (Eph. 5:25–27, Rev. 19:7–8, CCC 823–829)

By his grace Jesus makes the Church holy, just as he is holy. This doesn’t mean that each member is always holy. Jesus said there would be both good and bad members in the Church (John 6:70), and not all the members would go to heaven (Matt. 7:21–23).

But the Church itself is holy because it is the source of holiness and is the guardian of the special means of grace Jesus established, the sacraments (cf. Eph. 5:26).

The Church Is Catholic (Matt. 28:19–20, Rev. 5:9–10, CCC 830–856)

Jesus’ Church is called catholic ("universal" in Greek) because it is his gift to all people. He told his apostles to go throughout the world and make disciples of "all nations" (Matt. 28:19–20).

For 2,000 years the Catholic Church has carried out this mission, preaching the good news that Christ died for all men and that he wants all of us to be members of his universal family (Gal. 3:28).

Catholic Christian

You can read "Nelson's Guild To Denominations" where ALL Christian religions are described. If you want a religion that is general, (without going off to odd beliefs, self made beliefs, false claims) The United Church of Christ (Congregational) or Presbyterian would be good choices. IF you want a religion that is doing its best to obey ALL of the Bible (takes more effort, more Love) "Messianic Judaism" is first there. It even has its own TV stations! Then would put Seventh Day Adventists next; one I did go to was not obey all they are suppose to, so be careful. Others of this religions have told me they are not as it. I joined the Mormon church in 1990 and it has their D&C book that no one sees until after they have joined and it conterdics the Bible and Book of Mormon over and over! I quickly left it! Stay away from religions that insists they Only use the King James Bible! They do so because they believe IF they do Not know what it means that they do Not have to obey it. They are very wrong! King James had his made with 400 words times each used changed to very different words! Because he believed, as the Catholic religion, that it is wrong for anyone others that their priests to read a Bible. They even believe that "unicorn"s and "monster"s are real....

Don't ask us, ask God. Reading the Bible will not get you anywhere. There are a million Christian Churches that have their own spin on the Bible, but there is only one Christian Church on this Earth, that has a second book, and that is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints with the Bible AND the Book of Mormon.

The Holy Spirit of God is the one who builds the Church. If we talk about ancient churches, then only Catholic and Orthodox churches are the ones, established by Apostles. I am an Orthodox Christian. But, I honor all Churches, since all of them worship one God. There may be some differences in teachings, but I think that too is inspired by the Spirit of God, so that everyone truly verifies the scriptures and understands the word correctly. People have different tastes and in worship also, their tastes differ. That is the reason why God has permitted different denominations. All kinds of worships are accepted by him. But above all, what God looks for is one's cleanliness and generosity.

What one "church" was around at the time of the Apostles?

The church then was made up a many different, and scattered bodies of believers. Each to a large extent independant of each other, yet all supporting each other when the need arose. You can see that in the different letters that Paul wrote to the churches of that time.

The first of the so-called established churches came into being a little over 300 years A.D. when the emperor Constantine declared Christianity to be the state religion of the Roman empire. He wanted the spiritual power he though that would bring him, as well as the riches he thought to gain.

But in return the "church" had to move away from some of the teachings of Jesus, and through him, the apostles (of course by this time they were all dead a long time).

The true church is in the heart and soul of the true believer, in his acceptance of Jesus Christ as the only way to salvation. And his ongoing personal relationship with Jesus. And he should choose a church family which (to him) is closest to biblical doctrine.

For those who have placed their hope of salvation in following the doctrines of any one denomination, they are lost and will go to hell. And any denomination that places its doctrines above the doctrines of Gods inspired word, or changes that word to suit their own ends, is not led by God.

"the true church MUST be the one that was around at the time of the Apostles."

And which church was that? The evidence that we have from careful reading of the the New Testament and other early Christian literature is that there was a number of different versions of "the church" right from the earliest days.

The version of Christianity which became the most successful and eventually supplanted all the others was Catholic Christianity - not to be confused with the Roman Catholic Church, which evolved later.

As this mainstream catholic Chritianity developed it changed from the comparatively simple church/churches of the apostolic period. It abosrbed supersitious practices and beliefs from pagamism. After Constantine recognized the Catholic version of the church as a legitimate religion, and later emperors adopted it as the official faith of the late Roman Empire, many abuses crept into the Church. It became wealthy, worldly, power seeking and corrupt.

In the 11th century this universal (i.e catholic) church split. The Western Church stayed loyal to Rome (to the papacy - a sort of ecclesiastical Roman Empire). The Eastern Church became known as the Orthodox (Correct Believing) Church. In the 16th century the Catholic Church split to form the Roman Catholic Church (still loyal to the pope) and the Protestant or Reformed churches, which rejected the pope and a lot of the doctrines which had developed since Constantine's time.

So, which of the many churches should we choose to be the true one? The Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church and the Protestant Churches can all trace their origins back to Jesus and the Twelve Apostles. None of them is the same as the primitive apostolic church. All of them have changed almost beyond all recognition. Each of them is true in its own way to the spirit of the early apostolic church, and each of them is subject to different errors.

An earlier respondent is right, the true church is not found in stituitions but is found where believers honour God the Father and Jesus Christ and try to live their lives following Christ's precepts and example. It has many outward forms. Jesus said, "God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth."

The Holy Roman Catholic Church and Her Sisters, the Orthodox. All the others are are only echoes of the truth.

Jack, the answer is the Catholic Church, whether our friends believe it or not. Only the Catholic Church and our Orthodox brothers can demonstrate a continuous history, leadership, laws, doctrines, sacraments, and practices from 33 AD till 2008.

Wouldn't it be a great step toward ecumenism if our Protestant friends would honestly admit that the Catholic Church was 1500 years old when Luther first started revising Christianity?

CDF

The "church" is the person themselves. The building and doctrines are made by man.

Side note to : the catholic church itself was founded by men, NOT Jesus. Jesus just wanted people to be kinder, gentler Jews that had a possibility of some sort of afterlife. So that is what they teach you all! wow.

go here to learn a little about the history of your own religion! There have been ruptures throughout history in the Catholic church, what you are seeing now is a lot of hard work by a lot of people, it is ongoing and ever changing...just like people!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholicism

I don't believe there is a "true" church only true Christians!! Churches consist of people and where there are people there are always going to be imperfections, mistakes, mistranslations of the Bible e.t.c. Different churches work for different ages, races and cultures and to me as long as we worship the same God, it doesn't matter. I attend an Apostolic Church, but I think that what you do with the rest of the week makes more of a difference than what Sunday Service you attend!!

I believe that Catholicasm is the 'true' Church, since I am a Roman-Catholic.