The Christ's Assembly

The Christ's Assembly Worldwide, or The Christ's Assembly for short, is an independent and historic Seventh Day Baptist congregation known for inter-denominational unity. Leadership has been passed down through the Knott family, generation to generation. They continue on today with the traditions of the original General Baptists, upholding the original 1660 General Baptist Confession.

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the General Baptists were feared because they took the bible literally, so the 1660 Confession was put together to set the record straight, that they do not want to overthrow the government. The confession was specially Delivered to King Charles II on July 26, 1660. Many famous martyrs are recorded to have attended the Knott's earliest church, the Eythorne Baptist Church. This is well recorded throughout the centuries of persecutions; such members that were martyred included Joan Bocher, who was burned at the stake on the 2nd of May 1550.

Unity with other denominations is demonstrated in the history and practices of this independent assembly. Which is the reason they're labeled "independant" as they claim to be an inter-denominational Fellowship open to all Christians worldwide. Since the Christ's Assembly is independent, elders have worked in unity with many denominations including Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Seventh Day Baptists, and Pentecostals. This is outlined in their doctrinal beliefs that they work with all Historic Denominations because each were founded on biblical doctrines.

Statement of Beliefs

From Christsassembly.com:

"Among all the basic mainstream truths of Christianity, we also keep the 7th Day Sabbath, declare the primitive way in keeping all of His commandments, as well as using the Hebrew Calendar (as the 1660 General Baptist Confession states "the first month of the year called March", and gives an outline as above). The most widely used prayer book in Christianity called "the Book of Common Prayer", originally from the early 1600's, also tells us how to calculate the Hebrew calendar and has many Israelite festival services and songs. We are primarily composed of Seventh Day Baptists."

The original creeds of the church go back to the Apostles Creed of 200AD, the persecuted Waldensians Creeds of Early Medieval Europe, and the major body of believers in every Western European Country before their governments saw these literal bible believers as too powerful and outlawed them. The Pope had even declared a crusade against the Sabbath keeping, bible believing Waldensians.

Knott Family Ministers

In the Church at Eythorne there is a memorial:-

In memory of The Four John Knotts, who For One Hundred and Eighty Years 1600-1780 In Succession were Pastors of this ancient Church. This tablet is erected in the year 1900 by One of their descendants

As the Kent Anabaptists were known for founding dozens of new churches per year, James Knott and Abbot Evangelist Francis Jeffery migrated to America along with the Religious Society of Friends the Jeffery brothers were instrumental in forming.. It was around 1650 that Knott, along with Jeffery brought the general baptist church to Monmouth County New Jersey, forming the Shrewsbury Seventh Day Baptist church. His son Peter Knott was recorded as an elder in both the Shrewsbury Presbyterian and Seventh Day Baptist churches evidencing the inter-denominational nature of the church.

A few generations later this Seventh Day Baptist family moved to Ohio where a great many more of their churches were founded. Many of their relatives are recorded by the World Wide Church of God as important Seventh Day Baptist Ministers paving the way for forming their church. World Wide Church of God is now defunct, reogranized under the name United Church of God with over 40,000 current members. In related and splinter groups there are over 200,000 members. The Christ's Assembly, as being Independant and holding all historic doctrines, does claim to have and represent many millions of believers.

The Present day Elders of the church claim to be actual successor heirs descended directly back to the historic Knott family of Kent, proven and confirmed by genealogy, and in the writings of several widely published books. They teach this is prophecy being fulfilled that The Seed of Levi and Aaron would for ever be anointed and multiplied.

It was traditional for Abbots, even moreso than the persons of other trades to pass their family trades down to their heirs. It was even more strictly practiced by the earliest Culdee priests of England from which this family line leads directly into.

Links to Independent Seventh Day Baptists

• The Christ's Assembly Online
• Open Bible Ministries Ireland
• St. Peter's Cathedral
• United Seventh-Day Brethren

References

• "The Baptists In All Ages" by J. S. Newman Chapter XV
• "A Sketch of the Rise and Progress of the Ancient Order of the General or Six Principle Baptists" by Richard Knight, 1827 Providence, Rhode-Island
• "General Baptist History, From Restoration to Revolution", Chapter 2
• "Seventh Day Baptists in Europe and America" volume 1 Rev. J. Lee Gamble and Charles H. Greene. (1910)
• History section of Eythorne Baptist Church's website
• "Memorials of Baptist Martyrs" by J. Newton Brown (1854)
• "Bye-Paths in Baptist History", by Rev. Joseph Jackson Goadby, Chapter 2 (London 1871)
• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (DNB): articles on Joan Bocher and Esther Copley
• Throughout the World An Eye Witness Chapter from "When and How Was The Sabbath Changed..." by Ralph Larson
• Sabbath Reform In Scandinavia, Chapter 18 from "Facts of Faith", by Christian Edwardson

Further Reading

• A.C.Miller, Eythorne: the story of a village Baptist church (London: Baptist Union 1924)
• F.J. Landes, Silent Men, Ch. Peter Knott and Descendants (1957)
• F. Randolph, A History of Seventh Day Baptists in West Virginia: Including the Woodbridgetown and Salemville Corliss Churches in Pennsylvania and the Shrewsbury Church in New Jersey (1905)