Adelaide Christadelphians

Our name:

 Christadelphians are a Bible based community with convictions based on Bible teaching.

 Those who don't know us well sometimes have difficulty in remembering our name. We have been referred to as 'Philadelphians' and even 'Chrysanthemums'!!

 So we should explain what our name means.

 In Hebrews 2:11 the writer says 'He (Jesus) is not ashamed to call them brethren'.

Two Greek words 'Christou adelphoi’ in English convey the thought 'Brethren in Christ'. The name 'Christadelphian' was coined from these two Greek words to reflect the fact that Christadelphians are both 'brethren in Christ' and 'brethren of Christ'. 

The word 'brethren' used in this Biblical sense includes both genders - male and female - 'brothers and sisters'.

 We rejoice in the thought of being 'children of God by faith in Christ Jesus' (Galatians 3:26)

 Christadelphian Ecclesias

 Christadelphians choose to call their individual communities 'ecclesias' rather than 'churches'.

 The English word 'church' is often thought of today as a building rather than a group of believers.

 The Greek word 'ekklesia' which is translated 'church' in most English Bibles literally means 'out of a calling'.

 It was used by the Greeks to refer to a body of citizens called to meet together to discuss the affairs of State e.g. Acts 19:39.

 In Acts 15:14 we are told 'God at the first did visit the Gentiles (non Jews) to take out of them (call them) a people for His name.'

 Jesus and the first century believers used the Greek word 'ekklesia' to describe the believers as a whole and as individual groups. (Matthew 16:18 & Acts 2:47 - compare the King James version to modern translations)

 Christadelphians therefore choose to use the original Greek word - ekklesia (in its Latin form - ecclesia) to emphasise that we are a body of believers in Almighty God and His Son the Lord Jesus Christ.