A position must stand or fall based on what the Scriptures actually teach. More than seventy years ago, a division took place among the churches of Christ. Most of those who live with its consequences today have never had the division fairly explained to them. This book states both positions — institutional and non-institutional — in the way their best advocates would state them, walks the relevant Scriptures text by text, and lets the text carry the conclusion. The questions it works through are the questions actually in dispute: the authority of the New Testament for church practice, the work God gave the church, the relationship between the church and the individual Christian, church-supported institutions, the sponsoring-church arrangement, the treasury and benevolence, and fellowship halls and social meals. Eleven chapters across four parts, written for the reader who wants to think for himself in front of the open Bible. Every claim is shown from the text, every inference is labeled, and every Scripture citation is from the New American Standard Bible. Read with the Book open.