Christian churches and churches of Christ

The group of Christians known as the Christian Churches or Churches of Christ are congregations within the Restoration Movement that no have formal denominational affiliation with other congregations, but still share many characteristics of belief and worship. Churches in this tradition are strongly congregationalist and have no formal denominational ties, and thus there is no proper name that is agreed to apply to the movement as a whole. Most (but not all) congregations in this tradition include the words "Christian Church" or "Church of Christ" in their congregational name. Due to the lack of formal organization between congregations, there is a lack of official statistical data, but the 2006 Directory of the Ministry documents some 5,500 congregations; many estimate the number to be over 6,000.