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<title>Church in Oklahoma City--Concerning the Church Life</title>
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<p align="center"><img src="graphics/chOKCnam.gif"
alt="The church in Oklahoma City, a Bible-believing and genuine Christian believer-receiving church. (3480 bytes)"
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<img src="graphics/harvline.gif" alt="line of leaves" WIDTH="492" HEIGHT="19"></p>
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<td valign="top"><a href="index.asp"><img src="graphics/okcHome.gif" border="0" alt="Home Page"
WIDTH="119" HEIGHT="34"></a></td>
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<td valign="top"><a href="chOKCOB.asp"><img src="graphics/okcPADS.gif" border="0" alt="Parenthood--A Divine Stewardship" WIDTH="119" HEIGHT="34"></a></td>
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<td valign="top"><a href="chOKCOB.asp"><img src="graphics/okcOB.gif" border="0" alt="Our Belief"
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<td valign="top"><a href="chOKCOM.asp"><img src="graphics/okcOM.gif" border="0" alt="Our Mission"
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<td valign="top"><a href="chOKCOS.asp"><img src="graphics/okcOS.gif" border="0" alt="Our Standing"
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<td valign="top"><a href="chOKCOH.asp"><img src="graphics/okcOH.gif" border="0" alt="Our Hope"
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<td valign="top"><a href="chOKCgGPL.asp"><img src="graphics/okcOG.gif" border="0"
alt="Our Gospel Work" WIDTH="119" HEIGHT="34"></a></td>
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<td valign="top"><a href="chOKCCCL.asp"><img src="graphics/okcCCL.gif" border="0"
alt="Concerning the Christian Life" WIDTH="119" HEIGHT="34"></a></td>
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<td valign="top"><a href="chOKCCChL.asp"><img src="graphics/okcCChL.gif" border="0"
alt="Concerning the Church Life" WIDTH="119" HEIGHT="34"></a></td>
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<td valign="top"><a href="chOKCCS.asp"><img src="graphics/okcCS.gif" border="0"
alt="Concerning Salvation" WIDTH="119" HEIGHT="34"></a></td>
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<td valign="top"><a href="chOKCCtR.asp"><img src="graphics/okcCtR.gif" border="0"
alt="Concerning the Recovery" WIDTH="119" HEIGHT="34"></a></td>
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<td valign="top"><a href="chOKCCW.asp"><img src="graphics/okcCW.gif" border="0"
alt="Children's Work" WIDTH="119" HEIGHT="34"></a></td>
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<td valign="top"><a href="chOKCYW.asp"><img src="graphics/okcYW.gif" border="0" alt="Youth Work"
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<td valign="top"><a href="chOKCClg.asp"><img src="graphics/okcColW.gif" border="0"
alt="Campus Work" WIDTH="119" HEIGHT="34"></a></td>
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<td valign="top"><a href="chOKCAFW.asp"><img src="graphics/okcAFW.gif" border="0"
alt="Adults and Family Work" WIDTH="119" HEIGHT="34"></a></td>
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<td valign="top"><a href="chOKCMSCC.asp"><img src="graphics/okcMC.gif" border="0"
alt="Meetings and Conferences Schedule" WIDTH="119" HEIGHT="34"></a></td>
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<td valign="top"><a href="chOKCBT.asp"><img src="graphics/okcBRTL.gif" border="0"
alt="Book Room and Tape Library" WIDTH="119" HEIGHT="34"></a></td>
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<td valign="top"><a href="chOKCRS.asp"><img src="graphics/okcRS.gif" border="0"
alt="Reading Schedule through the Recovery Version New Testament and Footnotes"
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<td valign="top"><a href="chOKCMR.asp"><img src="graphics/okcMRA.gif" border="0"
alt="Announcements and Morning Revival Schedule" WIDTH="119" HEIGHT="34"></a></td>
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<td valign="top"><a href="chOKCLL.asp"><img src="graphics/okcLL.gif" border="0" alt="Life Links"
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<td valign="top"><p align="center"><font face="Arial" color="#000099" size="4"><b>Concerning
the Church Life...</b></font></p>
<p><font face="Arial" color="#000099"><b>A CORPORATE LIFE:</b> By its very nature the
Christian life, which is the living out of Christ as life from within us, is a corporate
life. Many expressions in the New Testament confirm this: we are sheep in God's flock, we
are living stones in God's building, we are branches in the vine, we are members of the
Body of Christ. Although we remain individuals, as Christians we should no longer live
individualistically, that is, caring only for our own interest, activities, and goals. On
the contrary, God desires that we live a cooperate life, conscious of the Body of Christ,
mindful of the things of others, and concerned for the building up of the church.
Therefore, we are experiencing a recovery not only of the normal Christian life, but also
of the normal church life.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial" color="#000099"><b>THE HEADSHIP OF CHRIST:</b> In the church life we
all need to honor the headship of Christ. We are the Body, and He is the unique Head of
the Body. No one and nothing can presume to usurp Christ's headship. We cannot tolerate
any system, organization, or leadership that insults the headship of Christ. Among us
there is no permanent, official, organized leadership. Furthermore, there is no hierarchy.
Rather, all the members of the Body are encouraged to have direct fellowship with the Head
and receive from him all directions concerning their life and movements. We recognize no
intermediaries between Christ and the members of His Body.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial" color="#000099"><b>FELLOWSHIP:</b> Even as we honor the headship of
Christ, we also enjoy the fellowship of the Body of Christ. We recognize that, in Christ,
we should no longer live in an individualistic way. On the contrary, we greatly value the
fellowship among the members of the Body. How we enjoy the flow of life that circulates
through the Body of Christ! We testify that this flow, this fellowship, is a blessed
reality.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial" color="#000099"><b>ONENESS:</b> Another vital concern in the church
life is the keeping of the oneness. Before He was crucified, the Lord prayed that those
who believe in Him would be one even as He and the Father are one. Therefore, we must
diligently maintain the unique oneness of the Body of Christ, which is expressed in local
churches established on the ground of oneness, we receive all believers according to the
common faith, and we seek to grow in Christ so that we may be with Him in the Father and
in the Father's glory, where we are perfected into one. We believe that the Lord's prayer
in John 17 will be answered on earth and that as we are perfected into one, the world will
believe and know that the Father has sent the Son.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial" color="#000099"><b>MUTUAL CARE FOR ONE ANOTHER:</b> In the practice
of the church life, we care for the saints, the believers in Christ, in a practical way.
We delight to bear one another's burdens, to extend hospitality to visitors, to open our
homes for fellowship, and to meet the practical needs of the brothers and sisters through
loving service in the name of Christ. We encourage one another, refresh one another,
minister Christ as life to one another, and build up one another. Our church life is not
limited to meetings in our place of meeting; it goes on all the time.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial" color="#000099"><b>THE CONSCIENCE:</b> In the church life we also
honor the conscience of others. This means that all the believers in Christ have liberty
to follow the Lord according to their conscience and in the light they have received from
God through His Word. There is no external control molding and manipulating our daily
lives, and there is no authoritarian disregard of our conscience. There is neither
coercion nor compulsion. Rather, all are encouraged to deal thoroughly with their
conscience in the sight of God and to maintain a conscience void of offense toward God and
toward man. Thus, we care for conscience and for the conscience of others.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial" color="#000099"><b>MEETINGS:</b> Because the church life is a
meeting life, we usually have meetings several times a week. To us, meetings are not
drudgery; they are an enjoyment. In the church meetings we are supplied, instructed,
strengthened, encouraged, enlightened, inspired, equipped, build up, and commissioned by
the Lord. In the proper church life there is a balance between the personal Christian life
and the corporate meeting life. The personal time with the Lord cannot replace the
meetings, and the meetings cannot replace the personal time. We delight to meet with Him
individually, and we enjoy even the more meeting with Him corporately. We testify that in
the church meetings the resurrected Christ truly is with us as we are gathered into His
name.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial" color="#000099"><b>THE FUNCTION OF ALL THE MEMBERS:</b> In the
church life every member of the Body can function. Although we do not all have the same
function, we all have a function, and the function of every member is appreciated. We
absolutely repudiate the clergy-laity system as a strategy of Satan to frustrate the
function of the members of the Body of Christ. In the local churches we have no clergy and
we have no laity; rather, we are members of the Body, all of whom have the right to
function according to their measure. Furthermore, we have no pastor and no janitor. All
the saints may share in the meetings, and all may also partake of the cleaning service.</font></p>
<p align="center"><font size="2" face="Arial" color="#000099"><i>Quoted from </i>The
Beliefs and Practices of the Local Churches <br>
<i>© 1978 Living Stream Ministry. Used by permission.</i></font></td>
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<td align="right" valign="top"><a href="mailto:letters@churchinokc.org"><img src="graphics/email1.gif" alt="Click to send email to the church in Oklahoma City" border="0" height="34" width="119"></a></td>
<td align="center" width="400"><img src="graphics/bulletL.gif" alt="left arrow (887 bytes)"><img src="graphics/bulletL.gif" alt="left arrow (887 bytes)"><img src="graphics/bulletL.gif" alt="left arrow (887 bytes)">&nbsp; <font face="Arial" color="#006600"><big><a href="mailto:letters@churchinokc.org">Write us!</a> We welcome all inquiries that spring
from a sincere desire to know the truth.</big><br>
<i>Website comments? Email the <a href="mailto:webmaster@churchinokc.org">Webmaster</a>.</i></font></td>
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<p align="center"><img src="graphics/harvline.gif" alt="line of leaves"></p>
<blockquote>
<p align="center"><font face="Arial" color="#990000" size="2"><i>This page and all
contents are Copyright © 1998-2000 The Church in Oklahoma City (unless otherwise
indicated). All Rights Reserved.</i></font></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p align="center"><font color="#000099" size="2" face="Arial"><i>Scripture quoted from </i>The
New Testament<i>, Recovery Version © 1985, 1991 Living Stream Ministry and Witness Lee.
Used by permission.</i></font></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p align="center"><font color="#800040" face="Arial" size="1"><i>Online design by <a href="mailto:webmaster@churchinokc.org">E. C. Gruhler III,</a> --Copyright © 1998-2000--All
Rights Reserved.</i></font></p>
</blockquote>
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