One true church

The expression "one true church" refers to an ecclesiological position asserting that Jesus gave his authority in the Great Commission solely to a particular visible Christian institutional church—what is commonly called a denomination.

As such, it also relates to claims of both catholicity and apostolic succession: asserting inheritance of the spiritual, ecclesiastical and sacramental authority and responsibility that Jesus Christ gave to the apostles.

For example, the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches each regard the other as schismatic and at very least heterodox, if not heretical,[5] yet both have held dialogues and even partaken in Councils in attempts to resolve the division that exists between them.

Some Anglicans of Anglo-Catholic churchmanship espouse a version of branch theory which teaches that the true Christian Church comprises Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, Old Catholic, Oriental Orthodox, Scandinavian Lutheran, Moravian, Persian, and Roman Catholic branches.

[11] Catholic belief holds that the Church "is the continuing presence of Jesus on earth",[12] and that all duly-consecrated bishops have a lineal succession from the apostles.

"[16] In Humani Generis, Pope Pius XII declared that "the Mystical Body of Christ and the Catholic Church are one and the same thing."

The 1215 Fourth Lateran Council declared that: "There is one universal Church of the faithful, outside of which there is absolutely no salvation",[18] a statement of what is known as the doctrine of extra Ecclesiam nulla salus.

In the encyclical Mortalium animos of 6 January 1928, Pope Pius XI wrote that "in this one Church of Christ no man can be or remain who does not accept, recognize and obey the authority and supremacy of Peter and his legitimate successors" and quoted the statement of Lactantius: "The Catholic Church is alone in keeping the true worship.

"[19] Accordingly, the Second Vatican Council of 1962–1965 declared: "Whosoever, [...] knowing that the Catholic Church was made necessary by Christ, would refuse to enter or to remain in it, could not be saved.

[9] In the same document, the Council continued: "The Church recognizes that in many ways she is linked with those who, being baptized, are honored with the name of Christian, though they do not profess the faith in its entirety or do not preserve unity of communion with the successor of Peter.

"[20] And in a decree on ecumenism, Unitatis redintegratio, it stated: "Catholics must gladly acknowledge and esteem the truly Christian endowments from our common heritage which are to be found among our separated brethren.

[23] This nuanced view applies especially to the churches of Eastern Christianity, more particularly still to the Eastern Orthodox Church,[23] though doctrinal impediments still remain, such as disagreement over the primacy of the Roman See, papal infallibility, the nature of Purgatory, indulgences, the Immaculate Conception, and a few other important doctrines.

Answer: "The whole number of those who have, teach and confess the entire doctrine of the Word of God in all its purity, and among whom the Sacraments are duly administered according to Christ's institution."

Only that one is the true visible Church which teaches and confesses the entire doctrine of the Word of God in all its purity, and in whose midst the Sacraments are duly administered according to Christ's institution.

[2][29] These Baptists maintain that those who held their views throughout history, including the "Montanists, Novatians, Patarenes, Bogomils, Paulicians, Arnoldists, Henricians, Albigenses, and Waldenses", were persecuted for their faith, a belief that these Baptists maintain to be "grand distinguishing mark of the true church".

"[31] J. M. Carroll, the author of the said text The Trail of Blood, also appeals to historian Johann Lorenz von Mosheim, who stated "Before the rise of Luther and Calvin, there lay secreted in almost all the countries of Europe persons who adhered tenaciously to the principles of modern Dutch Baptists.

Furthermore, the church is "known by her evangelical faith, doctrine, love, and godly conversation; also by her pure walk and practice, and her observances of the true ordinances of Christ."

[36]The Martyr's Mirror by Thieleman Van Braght is often quoted as a source for this assertion, giving 1200 pages of evidence in favour of this belief.

[38] George Fox and his followers "believed that they were called to carry out the true reformation, to restore apostolic Christianity, and to make a fresh beginning".

"[51] According to Seventh-day Adventist theology, these apostates are referred to as "Babylon", which they state is an amalgam of religions (including other Christian denominations) that worship on Sunday rather than the Lord's Sabbath, Saturday (Exodus 20:8–11).

[54] Originating from the Bible Student Movement under Charles Taze Russell, the Jehovah's Witnesses were founded under Joseph Franklin Rutherford, who, after a presidency dispute, was recognized as the second president of the Watch Tower and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, the official publishing company and organization of the Bible Students, first founded in 1881.

The Organization since the time of Rutherford, has long laid claim to being "Jehovah's one and only true Organization"[56] which is led or guided by a class of "anointed Christians", and represented by a leading group known as the "Faithful and Discreet Slave", which claims to be operating under the direct control of Jesus Christ to exercise teaching authority in all matters pertaining to doctrine and articles of faith since the year 1919, when Jesus was said to have "appointed his 'Slave' over his 'Domestics'",[57] after his "Invisible Presence" or "Parousia" in the year 1914.

[60] Smith later reported in some versions of his First Vision in his teenage years, Jesus had told him that all churches that then existed "were all wrong; [and] that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight".

[61] The Latter Day Saints combined their religion with "the spirit of nineteenth-century Romanticism" and, as a result, "never sought to recover the forms and structures of the ancient church as ends in themselves" but "sought to restore the golden age, recorded in both Old Testament and New Testament, when God broke into human history and communed directly with humankind.

[62] The church teaches that all people who achieve the highest level of salvation must be baptized by one who holds the proper authority to perform such an ordinance; however, those who missed that opportunity in their lifetime may be included through a proxy baptism for the dead, in which a church member is baptized on their behalf inside a temple.

The Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) a Philippine-based Christian religion, like other restorationist groups, professes that it is the one church founded by Jesus.

Bring My sons from afar, And My daughters from the ends of the earth.Members believe that the Iglesia ni Cristo is the fulfillment of the passage above.

Stained glass window in a Catholic church depicting St. Peter's Basilica in Rome sitting "Upon this rock," a reference to Matthew 16:18
...one holy Church is to continue forever. The Church is the congregation of saints, in which the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered. — Augsburg Confession [ 25 ]
Graph from The Trail of Blood , a popular Baptist book that teaches the doctrine of Baptist successionism .
An Amish family in Lyndonville, New York .
Methodist preachers are known for promulgating the doctrines of the new birth and entire sanctification to the public at events such as tent revivals and camp meetings , which they believe is the reason that God raised them up into existence. [ 42 ]
A stained glass depiction of Joseph Smith's First Vision . He said that Jesus and God the Father told him that all the churches of his day were corrupt and abominable.