The Restoration Movement (also known as the American Restoration Movement or the Stone–Campbell Movement, and pejoratively as
Campbellism) is a
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
movement that began on the United States frontier during the
Second Great Awakening
The Second Great Awakening was a Protestant religious revival during the early 19th century in the United States. The Second Great Awakening, which spread religion through revivals and emotional preaching, sparked a number of reform movements. R ...
(1790–1840) of the early 19th century. The pioneers of this movement were seeking to reform the church from within and sought "the unification of all Christians in a single body patterned after the church of the New Testament."
Rubel Shelly
Dr. Rubel Shelly is an author, minister, and professor at Lipscomb University. He is the former president of Rochester University .
Life
Shelly began as an instructor in the department of Religion and Philosophy at Freed-Hardeman University in 19 ...
, ''I Just Want to Be a Christian'', 20th Century Christian, Nashville, TN 1984,
The Restoration Movement developed from several independent strands of religious revival that idealized early Christianity. Two groups, which independently developed similar approaches to the Christian faith, were particularly important.
The first, led by
Barton W. Stone
Barton Warren Stone (December 24, 1772 – November 9, 1844) was an American evangelist during the early 19th-century Second Great Awakening in the United States. First ordained a Presbyterian minister, he and four other ministers of the Washingt ...
, began at
Cane Ridge
Cane Ridge was the site, in 1801, of a huge camp meeting that drew thousands of people and had a lasting influence as one of the landmark events of the Second Great Awakening, which took place largely in frontier areas of the United States. Th ...
, Kentucky, and identified as "
Christians
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
". The second began in western Pennsylvania and Virginia (now West Virginia) and was led by
Thomas Campbell and his son,
Alexander Campbell, both educated in Scotland; they eventually used the name "
Disciples of Christ". Both groups sought to restore the whole Christian church based on visible patterns set forth in the
New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...
, and both believed that
creed
A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community (often a religious community) in a form which is structured by subjects which summarize its core tenets.
The ea ...
s kept Christianity divided. In 1832 they joined in fellowship with a handshake.
Among other things, they were united in the belief that
Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
is the Christ, the
Son of God; that Christians should celebrate the
Lord's Supper
The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instit ...
on the
first day of each week; and that
baptism of adult believers was necessarily by
immersion in water.
Because the founders wanted to abandon all
denominational labels, they used the biblical names for the followers of Jesus.
Both groups promoted a return to the purposes of the
1st-century churches as described in the New Testament. One historian of the movement has argued that it was primarily a unity movement, with the restoration motif playing a subordinate role.
The Restoration Movement has since divided into multiple separate groups. The three main groups are: the
Churches of Christ, the
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. The denomination started with the Restoration Movement during the Second Great Awakening, first existing during the 19th ...
, and the independent
Christian Church/Church of Christ congregations
The group of churches known as the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ is a fellowship of congregations within the Restoration Movement (also known as the Stone-Campbell Movement and the Reformation of the 19th Century) that have no forma ...
. Additionally, there are the
, the
International Christian Church
Thomas Wayne "Kip" McKean II (born May 31, 1954) is an American former minister of the International Churches of Christ and is a current minister of the City of Angels International Christian Church and World Missions Evangelist of the Interna ...
, the
Churches of Christ in Europe
The Churches of Christ in Europe are Christian groups of autonomous congregations using the name "church of Christ" which may or may not have a historical association with the Restoration Movement. These groups are characterized by an emphas ...
, and the
Evangelical Christian Church in Canada
The Evangelical Christian Church (Christian Disciples) as an evangelical Protestant Canadian church body. The Evangelical Christian Church's national office in Canada is in Waterloo, Ontario.
History
The church has its origins in the formal ...
, and the
Churches of Christ in Australia
The Churches of Christ in Australia is a Reformed Restorationist denomination. It is affiliated with the Disciples Ecumenical Consultative Council and the World Communion of Reformed Churches.
Key features of the church's worship are the weekly ...
. Some characterize the divisions in the movement as the result of the tension between the goals of
restoration
Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to:
* Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage
** Audio restoration
** Film restoration
** Image restoration
** Textile restoration
* Restoration ecology
...
and
ecumenism
Ecumenism (), also spelled oecumenism, is the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships among their churches and promote Christian unity. The adjec ...
: the
Churches of Christ and unaffiliated
Christian Church/Church of Christ congregations
The group of churches known as the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ is a fellowship of congregations within the Restoration Movement (also known as the Stone-Campbell Movement and the Reformation of the 19th Century) that have no forma ...
resolved the tension by stressing restoration, while the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) resolved the tension by stressing ecumenism.
[Leroy Garrett, ''The Stone-Campbell Movement: The Story of the American Restoration Movement'', College Press, 2002, , 573 pp.]
Name of the movement
Because the Restoration Movement lacks any centralized structure, having originated in a variety of places with different leaders, there is no consistent nomenclature for the movement as a whole.
[.] The term "Restoration Movement" became popular during the 19th century; this appears to be due to the influence of Alexander Campbell's essays on "A Restoration of the Ancient Order of Things" in the ''
Christian Baptist
The ''Christian Baptist'', established in 1823 by Alexander Campbell, was the first magazine associated with the early Restoration Movement.Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christia ...
.'' The term "Stone-Campbell Movement" emerged towards the end of the 19th century as a way to avoid the difficulties associated with some of the other names that have been used, and to maintain a sense of the collective history of the movement.
Key principles
The Restoration Movement has been characterized by several key principles:
*
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
should not be divided,
Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, names and titles), was ...
intended the creation of church.
[.]
* Creeds divide, but Christians should be able to find agreement by standing on the
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
itself (from which they believe all creeds are but human expansions or constrictions)
[.]
* Ecclesiastical traditions divide, but
Christians
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
should be able to find common ground by following the practice (as best as it can be determined) of the early church.
* Names of human origin divide, but Christians should be able to find common ground by using biblical names for the church (i.e., "Christian Church", "Church of God" or "Church of Christ" as opposed to "Methodist" or "Lutheran", etc.).
Thus, the church "should stress only what all Christians hold in common and should suppress all divisive doctrines and practices".
A number of slogans have been used in the Restoration Movement, which are intended to express some of the distinctive themes of the Movement.
[.] These include:
* "Where the Scriptures speak, we speak; where the Scriptures are silent, we are silent."
* "The church of Jesus Christ on earth is essentially, intentionally, and constitutionally one."
* "We are Christians only, but not the only Christians."
* "In essentials, unity; in opinions, liberty; in all things love."
* "No creed but Christ, no book but the Bible, no law but love, no name but the divine."
* "Do Bible things in Bible ways."
* "Call Bible things by Bible names."
Background influences
![Ulrich-Zwingli-1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Ulrich-Zwingli-1.jpg)
During the late
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
, dissenters such as
John Wycliff
John Wycliffe (; also spelled Wyclif, Wickliffe, and other variants; 1328 – 31 December 1384) was an English scholastic philosopher, theologian, biblical translator, reformer, Catholic priest, and a seminary professor at the University of ...
and
John Huss
Jan Hus (; ; 1370 – 6 July 1415), sometimes anglicized as John Hus or John Huss, and referred to in historical texts as ''Iohannes Hus'' or ''Johannes Huss'', was a Czech theologian and philosopher who became a Church reformer and the insp ...
called for a restoration of a primitive form of Christianity, but they were driven underground. As a result, it is difficult to find any direct links between such early dissenters and the restoration movement.
Beginning with the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
, intellectual roots become easier to discern. At the heart of the
Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
was an emphasis on the principle of "
Scripture
Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They differ from literature by being a compilation or discussion of beliefs, mythologies, ritual prac ...
alone" (''
sola scriptura
, meaning by scripture alone, is a Christian theological doctrine held by most Protestant Christian denominations, in particular the Lutheran and Reformed traditions of Protestantism, that posits the Bible as the sole infallible source of au ...
''). This, along with the related insistence on the right of individuals to read and interpret the Bible for themselves and a movement to reduce ritual in worship, formed part of the intellectual background of early Restoration Movement leaders. The branch of the Reformation movement represented by
Huldrych Zwingli
Huldrych or Ulrich Zwingli (1 January 1484 – 11 October 1531) was a leader of the Reformation in Switzerland, born during a time of emerging Swiss patriotism and increasing criticism of the Swiss mercenary system. He attended the Unive ...
and
John Calvin
John Calvin (; frm, Jehan Cauvin; french: link=no, Jean Calvin ; 10 July 150927 May 1564) was a French theologian, pastor and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system ...
contributed an emphasis on "restoring biblical forms and patterns."
![John Locke by Herman Verelst](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/John_Locke_by_Herman_Verelst.jpg)
The rationalism of
John Locke
John Locke (; 29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "father of liberalism ...
provided another influence. Reacting to the
deism
Deism ( or ; derived from the Latin ''deus'', meaning "god") is the Philosophy, philosophical position and Rationalism, rationalistic theology that generally rejects revelation as a source of divine knowledge, and asserts that Empirical evi ...
of
Lord Herbert, Locke sought a way to address religious division and persecution without abandoning Scripture. To do this, Locke argued against the right of government to enforce religious orthodoxy and turned to the Bible to supply a set of beliefs that all Christians could agree upon. The core teachings which he viewed as essential were the
messiah
In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; ,
; ,
; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of ''mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach'' ...
ship of
Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
and Jesus' direct commands. Christians could be devoutly committed to other Biblical teachings but, in Locke's view, these were non-essentials over which Christians should never fight or try to coerce each other. Unlike the
Puritans
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...
and the later Restoration Movement, Locke did not call for a systematic restoration of the early church.
One of the basic goals of the
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
Puritans was to restore a pure, "primitive" church that would be a true apostolic community. This conception was a critical influence in the development of the Puritans in
Colonial America
The colonial history of the United States covers the history of European colonization of North America from the early 17th century until the incorporation of the Thirteen Colonies into the United States after the Revolutionary War. In the ...
.
It has been described as the "oldest
ecumenical
Ecumenism (), also spelled oecumenism, is the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships among their churches and promote Christian unity. The adjec ...
movement in America":
During the
First Great Awakening
The First Great Awakening (sometimes Great Awakening) or the Evangelical Revival was a series of Christian revivals that swept Britain and its thirteen North American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s. The revival movement permanently affecte ...
, a movement developed among those
Baptists
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...
known as
Separate Baptists
The Separate Baptists were an 18th-century group of Baptists in the United States, primarily in the South, that grew out of the Great Awakening.
The Great Awakening was a religious revival and revitalization of piety among the Christian churche ...
. Two themes of this movement were the rejection of
creed
A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community (often a religious community) in a form which is structured by subjects which summarize its core tenets.
The ea ...
s and "freedom in the Spirit." The Separate Baptists saw Scripture as the "perfect rule" for the church. However, while they turned to the Bible for a structural pattern for the church, they did not insist on complete agreement on the details of that pattern. This group originated in
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
, but was especially strong in the
South
South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...
where the emphasis on a biblical pattern for the church grew stronger. In the last half of the 18th century, Separate Baptists became more numerous on the western frontier of
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...
and
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
, where the Stone and Campbell movements would later take root. The development of the Separate Baptists in the southern frontier helped prepare the ground for the Restoration Movement. The membership of both the Stone and Campbell groups drew heavily from the ranks of the Separate Baptists.
Separate Baptist restorationism also contributed to the development of the
Landmark Baptists in the same region as the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement and at about the same time. Under the leadership of
James Robinson Graves
James Robinson Graves (April 10, 1820 – June 26, 1893) was an American Baptist preacher, publisher, evangelist, debater, author, and editor. He is most noted as the original founder of what is now the Southwestern family of companies. Graves was ...
, this group wanted to define a precise blueprint for the primitive church, believing that any deviation from that blueprint would prevent a person from being part of the true church.
![1839-meth](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/1839-meth.jpg)
The ideal of restoring a "primitive" form of Christianity grew in popularity in the US after the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...
. This desire to restore a purer form of Christianity played a role in the development of many groups during this period, known as the
Second Great Awakening
The Second Great Awakening was a Protestant religious revival during the early 19th century in the United States. The Second Great Awakening, which spread religion through revivals and emotional preaching, sparked a number of reform movements. R ...
. These included the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The c ...
,
Baptists
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...
and
Shakers.
The Restoration Movement began during, and was greatly influenced by, this second Awakening.
[.] While the Campbells resisted what they saw as the spiritual manipulation of the
camp meetings
The camp meeting is a form of Protestant Christian religious service originating in England and Scotland as an evangelical event in association with the communion season. It was held for worship, preaching and communion on the American frontier ...
, the Southern phase of the Awakening "was an important matrix of Barton Stone's reform movement" and shaped the evangelistic techniques used by both Stone and the Campbells.
James O'Kelly
James O'Kelly (1735 – October 16, 1826) was an American clergyman during the Second Great Awakening and an important figure in the early history of Methodism in America. He was also known for his outspoken views on abolitionism, penning the str ...
was an early advocate of seeking unity through a return to New Testament Christianity.
[, 248 pp.] In 1792, dissatisfied with the role of bishops in the
Methodist Episcopal Church
The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself on a national basis. In ...
, he separated from that body. O'Kelly's movement, centering in
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
and
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
, was originally called Republican Methodists. In 1794 they adopted the name Christian Church.
During the same period, Elias Smith of
Vermont
Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...
and
Abner Jones of
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
led a movement espousing views similar to those of O'Kelly.
[.] They believed that members could, by looking to scripture alone, simply be Christians without being bound to human traditions and the denominations brought by immigrants from Europe.
Stone movement
Barton W. Stone
Barton Warren Stone (December 24, 1772 – November 9, 1844) was an American evangelist during the early 19th-century Second Great Awakening in the United States. First ordained a Presbyterian minister, he and four other ministers of the Washingt ...
was born to John and Mary Warren Stone near
Port Tobacco, Maryland
Port Tobacco, officially Port Tobacco Village, is a town in Charles County, in southern Maryland, United States. The population was 13 at the 2010 census, making Port Tobacco the smallest incorporated town in Maryland.
Overview
This was historical ...
on December 24, 1772.
[Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, , , 854 pages, entry on "Stone, Barton Warren"] His immediate family was upper middle class, with connections to Maryland's upper class.
Barton's father died in 1775, and his mother moved the family to
Pittsylvania County, Virginia
Pittsylvania County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 60,501. Chatham is the county seat.
Pittsylvania County is included in the Danville, VA Micropolitan Statistical A ...
in 1779.
Mary Stone was a member of the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
and Barton was
christened by a
priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...
named Thomas Thornton; after the move to Virginia she joined the
Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...
s.
[Dr. Adron Doran, ''Restoring New Testament Christianity: Featuring Alexander Campbell, Thomas Campbell, Barton W. Stone, and Hall L. Calhoun,'' 21st Century Christian, 1997] Barton was not himself notably religious as a young man; he found the competing claims of the
Episcopalians
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
,
Baptists
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...
and Methodists confusing, and was much more interested in politics.
(After the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...
the Church of England was disestablished and the
Episcopal Church was organized.)
Barton entered the Guilford Academy in
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
in 1790.
While there, Stone heard
James McGready (a
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
minister) speak.
A few years later, he was ordained as a Presbyterian minister.
But, as Stone looked more deeply into the beliefs of the Presbyterians, especially the
Westminster Confession of Faith
The Westminster Confession of Faith is a Reformed confession of faith. Drawn up by the 1646 Westminster Assembly as part of the Westminster Standards to be a confession of the Church of England, it became and remains the "subordinate standard" ...
, he doubted that some of the church beliefs were truly Bible-based.
He was unable to accept the
Calvinist
Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...
doctrines of
total depravity
Total depravity (also called radical corruption or pervasive depravity) is a Protestant theological doctrine derived from the concept of original sin. It teaches that, as a consequence of man's fall, every person born into the world is enslav ...
,
unconditional election, and
predestination
Predestination, in theology, is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God, usually with reference to the eventual fate of the individual soul. Explanations of predestination often seek to address the paradox of free will, whereby G ...
.
He also believed that "Calvinism's alleged theological sophistication had... been bought at the price of fomenting division" and "blamed it... for producing ten different sects within the Presbyterian tradition alone."
[Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, , , 854 pages, entry on "Calvinism"]
Cane Ridge revival
![Cane Ridge Meeting House Interior](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Cane_Ridge_Meeting_House_Interior.JPG)
In 1801, the
Cane Ridge Revival
The Cane Ridge Revival was a large camp meeting that was held in Cane Ridge, Kentucky, from August 6 to August 12 or 13, 1801.E. Michael, & Rusten, S. (2005). The complete book of when & where in the Bible and throughout history. Wheaton, IL: Tynd ...
in
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...
planted the seed for a movement in
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...
and the
Ohio River
The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...
valley to disassociate from
denominationalism
A religious denomination is a subgroup within a religion that operates under a common name and tradition among other activities.
The term refers to the various Christian denominations (for example, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, and the many variet ...
. In 1803 Stone and others withdrew from the Kentucky Presbytery and formed the
Springfield Presbytery. The defining event of the Stone wing of the movement was the publication of ''Last Will and Testament of The
Springfield Presbytery,'' at Cane Ridge, Kentucky, in 1804. The Last Will is a brief document in which Stone and five others announced their withdrawal from Presbyterianism and their intention to be solely part of the body of Christ. The writers appealed for the unity of all who follow Jesus, suggested the value of congregational self-governance, and lifted the Bible as the source for understanding the will of God. They denounced the 'divisive' use of the
Westminster Confession of Faith
The Westminster Confession of Faith is a Reformed confession of faith. Drawn up by the 1646 Westminster Assembly as part of the Westminster Standards to be a confession of the Church of England, it became and remains the "subordinate standard" ...
,
and adopted the name "Christian" to identify their group.
Christian Connection
By 1804 Elias Smith had heard of the Stone movement, and the O'Kelly movement by 1808.
The three groups merged by 1810.
At that time the combined movement had a membership of approximately 20,000.
This loose fellowship of churches was called by the names
"Christian Connection/Connexion" or "Christian Church."
Characteristics of the Stone movement
The cornerstone for the Stone movement was Christian freedom.
This ideal of freedom led them to reject all the historical creeds, traditions and theological systems that had developed over time and to focus instead on a primitive Christianity based on the Bible.
While restoring primitive Christianity was central to the Stone movement, they believed that restoring the lifestyle of members of the early church is essential. During the early years, they "focused more... on holy and righteous living than on the forms and structures of the early church.
The group also worked to restore the primitive church.
Due to concern that emphasizing particular practices could undermine Christian freedom, this effort tended to take the form of rejecting tradition rather than an explicit program of reconstructing New Testament practices.
The emphasis on freedom was so strong that the movement avoided developing any ecclesiastical traditions; it was "largely without dogma, form, or structure."
What held "the movement together was a commitment to primitive Christianity."
Another theme was that of hastening the
millennium
A millennium (plural millennia or millenniums) is a period of one thousand years, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting point (ini ...
.
Many Americans of the period believed that the millennium was near and based their hopes for the millennium on their new nation, the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
.
Members of the Stone movement believed that only a unified Christianity based on the
apostolic
Apostolic may refer to:
The Apostles
An Apostle meaning one sent on a mission:
*The Twelve Apostles of Jesus, or something related to them, such as the Church of the Holy Apostles
*Apostolic succession, the doctrine connecting the Christian Churc ...
church, rather than a country or any of the existing denominations, could lead to the coming of the millennium.
Stone's millennialism has been described as more "apocalyptic" than that of Alexander Campbell, in that he believed people were too flawed to usher in a millennial age through human progress.
Rather, he believed that it depended on the power of God, and that while waiting for God to establish His kingdom, one should live as if the rule of God were already fully established.
For the Stone movement, this millennial emphasis had less to do with
eschatological
Eschatology (; ) concerns expectations of the end of the present age, human history, or of the world itself. The end of the world or end times is predicted by several world religions (both Abrahamic and non-Abrahamic), which teach that nega ...
theories and more about a countercultural commitment to live as if the kingdom of God were already established on earth.
This apocalyptic perspective or world view led many in the Stone movement to adopt pacifism, avoid participating in civil government, and reject violence, militarism, greed, materialism and
slavery
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
.
Campbell movement
![CampbellThomas](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/CampbellThomas.png)
The Campbell wing of the movement was launched when
Thomas Campbell published the ''
Declaration and Address of the Christian Association of Washington'' in 1809.
The Presbyterian Synod had suspended his ministerial credentials. In ''The Declaration and Address,'' he set forth some of his convictions about the church of Jesus Christ. He organized the
Christian Association of Washington The Christian Association of Washington was an organization established by Thomas Campbell in 1809 to promote Christian unity.Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disci ...
, in
Washington County, Pennsylvania
Washington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 209,349. Its county seat is Washington.
Washington County is part of the Pittsburgh, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area.
The county i ...
on the western frontier of the state, not as a church but as an association of persons seeking to grow in faith.
On May 4, 1811, the Christian Association reconstituted itself as a
congregationally governed church. With the building it constructed at Brush Run,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
, it became known as
Brush Run Church
The Brush Run Church was one of the earliest congregations associated with the Restoration Movement that arose during the Second Great Awakening of the early 19th century. In 1811, a congregation of Christian reformers known as the Christian Assoc ...
.
When their study of the New Testament led the reformers to begin to practice
baptism by immersion
Immersion baptism (also known as baptism by immersion or baptism by submersion) is a method of baptism that is distinguished from baptism by affusion (pouring) and by aspersion (sprinkling), sometimes without specifying whether the immersion is ...
, the nearby
Redstone Baptist Association The Redstone Baptist Association was an association of Baptist churches in Western Pennsylvania.Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churc ...
invited Brush Run Church to join with them for the purpose of fellowship. The reformers agreed, provided that they would be "allowed to preach and to teach whatever they learned from the Scriptures."
[Davis, M. M. (1915)]
''How the Disciples Began and Grew, A Short History of the Christian Church''
Cincinnati: The Standard Publishing Company
![Alexander Campbell Age 65](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Alexander_Campbell_Age_65.jpg)
Thomas' son
Alexander
Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...
came to the US to join him in 1809.
Before long, he assumed the leading role in the movement.
The Campbells worked within the Redstone Baptist Association during the period 1815 through 1824. While both the Campbells and the Baptists shared practices of baptism by immersion and
congregational polity
Congregationalist polity, or congregational polity, often known as congregationalism, is a system of ecclesiastical polity in which every local church (congregation) is independent, ecclesiastically sovereign, or " autonomous". Its first articu ...
, it quickly became clear the Campbells and their associates were not traditional Baptists. Within the Redstone Association, some of the Baptist leaders considered the differences intolerable when Alexander Campbell began publishing a journal, ''The
Christian Baptist
The ''Christian Baptist'', established in 1823 by Alexander Campbell, was the first magazine associated with the early Restoration Movement.Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christia ...
,'' which promoted reform. Campbell anticipated the conflict and moved his membership to a congregation of the
Mahoning Baptist Association The Mahoning Baptist Association was an association of Baptist churches that was established in 1820 in Ohio's Mahoning Valley.Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Discip ...
in 1824.
Alexander used ''The Christian Baptist'' to address what he saw as the key issue of reconstructing the apostolic Christian community in a systematic and rational manner.
He wanted to clearly distinguish between essential and non-essential aspects of primitive Christianity.
Among what he identified as essential were "congregational autonomy, a
plurality of
elders in each congregation, weekly communion and immersion for the remission of sins."
Among practices he rejected as non-essential were "the holy kiss, deaconesses, communal living, footwashing and charismatic exercises."
![Walter Scott (Evangelist)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Walter_Scott_%28Evangelist%29.jpg)
In 1827, the Mahoning Association appointed
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'', ''Rob Roy (n ...
as an
evangelist
Evangelist may refer to:
Religion
* Four Evangelists, the authors of the canonical Christian Gospels
* Evangelism, publicly preaching the Gospel with the intention of spreading the teachings of Jesus Christ
* Evangelist (Anglican Church), a c ...
. Through Scott's efforts, the Mahoning Association grew rapidly. In 1828, Thomas Campbell visited several of the congregations formed by Scott and heard him preach. Campbell believed that Scott was bringing an important new dimension to the movement with his approach to
evangelism
In Christianity, evangelism (or witnessing) is the act of preaching the gospel with the intention of sharing the message and teachings of Jesus Christ.
Christians who specialize in evangelism are often known as evangelists, whether they are i ...
.
Several Baptist associations began disassociating congregations that refused to subscribe to the
Philadelphia Confession. The Mahoning Association came under attack. In 1830, The Mahoning Baptist Association disbanded. The younger Campbell ceased publication of the ''Christian Baptist''. In January 1831, he began publication of the ''
Millennial Harbinger
The ''Millennial Harbinger'' was a religious magazine established by the early Restoration Movement leader Alexander Campbell in 1830.Douglas A. Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church ...
''.
Influence of the Enlightenment
The
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment or the Enlightenment; german: Aufklärung, "Enlightenment"; it, L'Illuminismo, "Enlightenment"; pl, Oświecenie, "Enlightenment"; pt, Iluminismo, "Enlightenment"; es, La Ilustración, "Enlightenment" was an intel ...
had a significant influence on the Campbell movement.
Thomas Campbell was a student of the Enlightenment
philosopher
A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
John Locke
John Locke (; 29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "father of liberalism ...
.
While he did not explicitly use the term "essentials" in the ''Declaration and Address'', Thomas proposed the same solution to religious division as had been advanced earlier by
Herbert
Herbert may refer to:
People Individuals
* Herbert (musician), a pseudonym of Matthew Herbert
Name
* Herbert (given name)
* Herbert (surname)
Places Antarctica
* Herbert Mountains, Coats Land
* Herbert Sound, Graham Land
Australia
* Herbert ...
and Locke: "
duce religion to a set of essentials upon which all reasonable persons might agree."
The essentials he identified were those practices for which the Bible provided: "a 'Thus saith the Lord,' either in express terms or by approved precedent."
Unlike Locke, who considered the earlier efforts by Puritans to be inherently divisive, Thomas argued for "a complete restoration of apostolic Christianity."
Thomas believed that creeds served to divide Christians. He also believed that the Bible was clear enough that anyone could understand it and, thus, creeds were unnecessary.
Alexander Campbell was also deeply influenced by Enlightenment thinking, in particular the
Scottish School of Common Sense of
Thomas Reid
Thomas Reid (; 7 May ( O.S. 26 April) 1710 – 7 October 1796) was a religiously trained Scottish philosopher. He was the founder of the Scottish School of Common Sense and played an integral role in the Scottish Enlightenment. In 1783 he wa ...
and
Dugald Stewart
Dugald Stewart (; 22 November 175311 June 1828) was a Scottish philosopher and mathematician. Today regarded as one of the most important figures of the later Scottish Enlightenment, he was renowned as a populariser of the work of Francis Hut ...
.
This group believed that the Bible related concrete facts rather than abstract truths, and advocated a
scientific
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...
or "
Baconian" approach to interpreting the Bible. It would begin with those facts, arrange the ones applicable to a given topic, and draw conclusions from them in a way that has been described as "nothing less than the scientific method applied to the Bible."
Alexander reflected this Baconian approach when he repeatedly argued that "the Bible is a book of facts, not of opinions, theories, abstract generalities, nor of verbal definitions."
Just as a reliance on facts provides the basis for agreement among scientists, Alexander believed that if Christians limited themselves to the facts found in the Bible they would necessarily come to agreement.
He believed that those facts, approached in a rational and scientific manner, provided a blueprint or constitution for the church.
Alexander was attracted to this scientific approach to the Bible because it offered a reliable basis for Christian unity.
Characteristics of the Campbell movement
Thomas Campbell combined the Enlightenment approach to unity with the
Reformed and Puritan traditions of restoration.
The Enlightenment affected the Campbell movement in two ways. First, it provided the idea that Christian unity could be achieved by finding a set of essentials that all reasonable people could agree on. Second, it also provided the concept of a rational faith that was formulated and defended based on facts derived from the Bible.
Campbell's solution to achieve Christian unity combined forsaking the creeds and traditions, which he believed had divided Christians, and recovering the primitive Christianity, found in scripture, that was common for all Christians.
Alexander Campbell's millennialism was more optimistic than Stone's.
He had more confidence in the potential for human progress and believed that Christians could unite to transform the world and initiate a millennial age.
Campbell's conceptions were
postmillennial, as he anticipated that the progress of the church and society would lead to an age of peace and righteousness before the
return of Christ
The Second Coming (sometimes called the Second Advent or the Parousia) is a Christian (as well as Islamic and Baha'i) belief that Jesus will return again after his ascension to heaven about two thousand years ago. The idea is based on mess ...
.
This optimistic approach meant that, in addition to his commitment to primitivism, he had a progressive strand in his thinking.
Merger of the Stone and Campbell movements
The Campbell movement was characterized by a "systematic and rational reconstruction" of the early church, in contrast to the Stone movement, which was characterized by radical freedom and lack of dogma. Despite their differences, the two movements agreed on several critical issues. Both saw restoring apostolic Christianity as a means of hastening the millennium. Both also saw restoring the early church as a route to Christian freedom. And both believed that unity among Christians could be achieved by using apostolic Christianity as a model. The commitment of both movements to restoring the early church and to uniting Christians was enough to motivate a union between many in the two movements.
The Stone and Campbell movements merged in 1832.
[.][.] This was formalized at the
Hill Street Meeting House in
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...
with a handshake between Barton W Stone and
"Raccoon" John Smith.
Smith had been chosen by attendees as spokesman for the followers of the Campbells.
A preliminary meeting of the two groups had been held in late December 1831, culminating with the merger on January 1, 1832.
Two representatives of the assembly were appointed to carry the news of the union to all the churches: John Rogers, for the Christians and "Raccoon" John Smith for the reformers. Despite some challenges, the merger succeeded.
Many believed the union held great promise for the future success of the combined movement, and greeted the news enthusiastically.
When Stone and
Alexander Campbell's Reformers (also known as Disciples and Christian Baptists) united in 1832, only a minority of Christians from the Smith/Jones and O'Kelly movements participated. Those who did were from congregations west of the
Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They ...
that had come into contact with the Stone movement. The eastern members had several key differences with the Stone and Campbell group: an emphasis on conversion experience, quarterly observance of
communion, and
nontrinitarianism
Nontrinitarianism is a form of Christianity that rejects the mainstream Christian doctrine of the Trinity—the belief that God is three distinct hypostases or persons who are coeternal, coequal, and indivisibly united in one being, or essenc ...
. Those who did not unite with Campbell merged with the
Congregational Churches
Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs it ...
in 1931 to form the
Congregational Christian Churches
The Congregational Christian Churches were a Protestant Christian denomination that operated in the U.S. from 1931 through 1957. On the latter date, most of its churches joined the Evangelical and Reformed Church in a merger to become the United ...
. In 1957, the Congregational Christian Church merged with the
Evangelical and Reformed Church
The Evangelical and Reformed Church (E&R) was a Protestant Christian denomination in the United States. It was formed in 1934 by the merger of the Reformed Church in the United States (RCUS) with the Evangelical Synod of North America (ESNA). A ...
to become the
United Church of Christ
The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Calvinist, Lutheran, and Anabaptist traditions, and with approximatel ...
.
United movement (1832–1906)
The merger raised the question of what to call the new movement. Finding a biblical, non-sectarian name was important. Stone wanted to continue to use the name "Christians," while Alexander Campbell insisted upon "Disciples of Christ".
Stone advocated using the name "Christians" based on its use in , while Campbell preferred the term "disciples" because he saw it as both a more humble and an older designation. As a result, both names were used, and the confusion over names has continued ever since.
After 1832, use of the term "Reformation" became frequent among leaders of the movement. The Campbells had designated themselves as "Reformers," and other early leaders also saw themselves as reformers seeking Christian unity and restoring apostolic Christianity. The movement's language at the time included phrases such as "religious reformation," the "present reformation," the "current reformation" and "the cause of reformation." The term "Restoration Movement" became popular as the 19th century progressed. It appears to have been inspired by Alexander Campbell's essays on "A Restoration of the Ancient Order of Things" in the ''Christian Baptist.''
The combined movement grew rapidly over the period from 1832 to 1906.
[.] According to the 1906 US Religious Census the combined membership of the movement made it the 6th largest Christian group in the country at that time.
Journals
From the beginning of the movement, the free exchange of ideas among the people was fostered by the journals published by its leaders. Alexander Campbell published ''The
Christian Baptist
The ''Christian Baptist'', established in 1823 by Alexander Campbell, was the first magazine associated with the early Restoration Movement.Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christia ...
'' and ''The
Millennial Harbinger
The ''Millennial Harbinger'' was a religious magazine established by the early Restoration Movement leader Alexander Campbell in 1830.Douglas A. Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church ...
''. Stone published ''The
Christian Messenger''.
Both men routinely published the contributions of persons whose positions differed radically from their own.
Following Campbell's death in 1866, the journals were used to keep the discussions going. Between 1870 and 1900, two journals emerged as the most prominent. The ''
Christian Standard
The ''Christian Standard'' is a religious periodical associated with the Restoration Movement that was established in 1866.Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Discipl ...
'' was edited and published by
Isaac Errett of
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
. ''The Christian Evangelist'' was edited and published by
JH Garrison from
St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
. The two men enjoyed a friendly rivalry, and kept the dialog going within the movement.
The ''Gospel Advocate'' was founded by the
Nashville
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...
-area preacher
Tolbert Fanning
Tolbert Fanning (May 10, 1810 – May 3, 1874) was one of the most influential leaders of what came to be called the American Restoration Movement. Born in what would later become Cannon County, Tennessee. He was man of many talents in both religi ...
in 1855.
[.] Fanning's student,
William Lipscomb
William Nunn Lipscomb Jr. (December 9, 1919April 14, 2011) was a Nobel Prize-winning American inorganic and organic chemist working in nuclear magnetic resonance, theoretical chemistry, boron chemistry, and biochemistry.
Biography
Overview
Li ...
, served as co-editor until the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
forced them to suspend publication in 1861. After the end of the Civil War, publication resumed in 1866 under the editorship of Fanning and William Lipscomb's younger brother
David Lipscomb; Fanning soon retired and David Lipscomb became the sole editor. While David Lipscomb was the editor, the focus was on seeking unity by following scripture exactly, and the ''Advocates editorial position was to reject anything that is not explicitly allowed by scripture.
''The Christian Oracle'' began publication in 1884. It was later known as ''The Christian Century'' and offered an interdenominational appeal.
In 1914, Garrison's Christian Publishing company was purchased by R.A. Long. He established a non-profit corporation, "The Christian Board of Publication" as the Brotherhood publishing house.
Anabaptism and materialism controversies
The
Christadelphians
The Christadelphians () or Christadelphianism are a restorationist and millenarian Christian group who hold a view of biblical unitarianism. There are approximately 50,000 Christadelphians in around 120 countries. The movement developed in the ...
,
Church of the Blessed Hope
The Church of the Blessed Hope (or Church of God of the Abrahamic Faith) is a small first-day Adventist Christian body. The churches have common roots with the Christadelphians and the Church of God General Conference (Abrahamic Faith).
Back ...
, and
Church of God (General Conference) also have roots in the restoration movement, but took their own direction about this time.
In 1832
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'', ''Rob Roy (n ...
baptised
John Thomas, an English doctor who had emigrated to the United States. Thomas was a strong supporter of
Alexander Campbell and the principles of the Disciples movement, and he quickly became a well-known leader and teacher. In 1834, however, Thomas took a contrary position to Alexander Campbell on the significance of baptism which led to a sharp conflict between the two men. While Campbell believed baptism by immersion to be very important, he recognised as Christians all who believed Jesus of Nazareth to be Messiah and Lord, and recognised any prior baptism. For this reason, members of Baptist churches who joined the Disciples movement were not required to be baptised again. Thomas, on the other hand, insisted that a baptism based on a different understanding of the gospel to that held in the Disciples movement was not a valid baptism, and called for rebaptism in his periodical, the ''Apostolic Advocate''. Campbell viewed this as sectarianism, which cut across the fundamental commitment of the Disciples movement to "the union of all Christians," and rejected "
anabaptism
Anabaptism (from Neo-Latin , from the Greek : 're-' and 'baptism', german: Täufer, earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re-baptizers"), considering it biased. ...
." The two men became estranged.
Thomas began to refuse to share prayer, worship, or communion with those he considered not to be validly baptised Christians. His theological views also continued to develop. By 1837 he was teaching
annihilationism
In Christianity, annihilationism (also known as extinctionism or destructionism) is the belief that after the Last Judgment, all unsaved human beings, all fallen angels (all of the damned) and Satan himself will be totally destroyed so as to not ...
, and debated a Presbyterian clergymen, Isaac Watts. Campbell interpreted this as
materialism, and believed that it undermined the biblical doctrine of the resurrection, and reacted strongly. In the ''Millennial Harbinger'' he announced that he could no longer consider Thomas a brother. Many congregations of Disciples took this as an indication that they should withhold fellowship from Thomas, and he found himself on the margins of the movement.
Thomas continued to have supporters among the Disciples, but moved further and further from Christian orthodoxy. In 1846 he published a "Confession and Abjuration" of the faith he held at his baptism, and arranged to be baptised again. Despite this, when he toured the United Kingdom to give prophetic lectures in 1848–1850 he played down his separation from the Disciples movement, in an endeavour to access congregations in Britain. But his true position was discovered by James Wallis and David King, and the movement closed ranks against him.
In 1864 he coined the name "Christadelphian" for those who shared his views and sought to register as conscientious objectors to military service. The new name was adopted by
Robert Roberts, the Scottish protege of Thomas, for the periodical which he had just begun to publish in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
; and the sect began to grow rapidly.
Benjamin Wilson left the Disciples about the same time as Thomas, but split with Thomas in 1863 over disagreements about eschatology, forming the
Church of God of the Abrahamic Faith. During the American Civil War his followers also sought to register as conscientious objectors. Some congregations were unable to register this name due to local regulations, and chose an alternative name,
Church of the Blessed Hope
The Church of the Blessed Hope (or Church of God of the Abrahamic Faith) is a small first-day Adventist Christian body. The churches have common roots with the Christadelphians and the Church of God General Conference (Abrahamic Faith).
Back ...
; but the two names referred to the same sect. The sect divided in 1921, and the
Church of God (General Conference) was formed by the larger grouping.
Missionary society controversy
In 1849, the first National Convention was held at Cincinnati, Ohio.
Alexander Campbell had concerns that holding conventions would lead the movement into divisive
denominationalism
A religious denomination is a subgroup within a religion that operates under a common name and tradition among other activities.
The term refers to the various Christian denominations (for example, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, and the many variet ...
. He did not attend the gathering.
Among its actions, the convention elected Alexander Campbell its president and created the
American Christian Missionary Society The American Christian Missionary Society (ACMS) was the first missionary organization associated with the Restoration Movement.Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disci ...
(ACMS).
By the end of the century, the
Foreign Christian Missionary Society
Foreign Christian Missionary Society (FCMS) was a Christian missionary society established by the Disciples of Christ.Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of ...
and the
Christian Woman's Board of Missions The Christian Woman's Board of Missions (CWBM) was a missionary organization associated with the Restoration Movement.Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Ch ...
were also engaged in missionary activities. Forming the ACMS did not reflect a consensus of the entire movement, and these para-church organizations became a divisive issue. While there was no disagreement over the need for
evangelism
In Christianity, evangelism (or witnessing) is the act of preaching the gospel with the intention of sharing the message and teachings of Jesus Christ.
Christians who specialize in evangelism are often known as evangelists, whether they are i ...
, many believed that missionary societies were not authorized by scripture and would compromise the autonomy of local congregations.
[Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, , , 854 pages, entry on ''Missionary Societies, Controversy Over'', pp. 534-537]
The ACMS was not as successful as proponents had hoped.
[Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, , , 854 pages, entry on ''Louisville Plan, The'', pp. 496-497] It was opposed by those who believed any extra-congregational organizations were inappropriate; hostility grew when the ACMS took a stand in 1863 favoring the
Union
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
side during the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
.
[Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, , , 854 pages, entry on ''American Christian Missionary Society'', pages 24-26] A convention held in
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
in 1869 adopted a plan intended to address "a perceived need to reorganize the American Christian Missionary Society (ACMS) in a way that would be acceptable to more members of the Movement."
The "Louisville Plan," as it came to be known, attempted to build on existing local and regional conventions and to "promote the harmonious cooperation of all the state and District Boards and Conventions."
[Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, , , 854 pages, entry on ''Conventions'', pp. 237-240] It established a General Christian Missionary Convention (GCMC).
Membership was congregational rather than individual.
Local congregations elected delegates to district meetings, which in turn elected delegates to state meetings.
States were given two delegates, plus an additional delegate for every 5,000 members.
The plan proved divisive, and faced immediate opposition.
Opponents continued to argue that any organizational structure above the local congregational level was not authorized by scripture, and there was a general concern that the Board had been given too much authority.
By 1872 the Louisville Plan had effectively failed.
Direct contributions from individuals were sought again in 1873, individual membership was reinstated in 1881, and the name was changed back to the American Christian Missionary Society in 1895.
Use of musical instruments in worship
![American Organ Odilienberg 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/American_Organ_Odilienberg_1.jpg)
The use of
musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person who pl ...
s in worship was discussed in journal articles as early as 1849, but initial reactions were generally unfavorable.
[Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, , , 854 pages, entry on ''Instrumental Music''] Some congregations, however, are documented as having used musical instruments in the 1850s and 1860s.
An example is the church in
Midway, Kentucky
Midway is a home rule-class city in Woodford County, Kentucky, in the United States. Its population was 1,641 at the time of the year 2010 U.S. census. It is part of the Lexington-Fayette Metropolitan Statistical Area.
The town sits just off ...
, which was using an instrument by 1860.
A member of the congregation, L. L. Pinkerton, brought a
melodeon
Melodeon may refer to:
* Melodeon (accordion), a type of button accordion
*Melodeon (organ), a type of 19th-century reed organ
*Melodeon (Boston, Massachusetts), a concert hall in 19th-century Boston
* Melodeon Records, a U.S. record label in the ...
into the church building.
[, 135 pp.] The minister had been distressed to his "breaking point" by the poor quality of the congregation's singing.
At first, the instrument was used for singing practices held on Saturday night, but was soon used during the worship on Sunday.
One of the elders of that assembly removed the first melodeon, but it was soon replaced by another.
Both acceptance of instruments and discussion of the issue grew after the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
.
Opponents argued that the New Testament provided no authorization for their use in worship, while supporters argued on the basis of expediency and
Christian liberty
Adiaphoron (; plural: adiaphora; from the Greek (pl. ), meaning "not different or differentiable") is the negation of ''diaphora'', "difference".
In Cynicism, adiaphora represents indifference to the s of life. In Pyrrhonism, it indicates thing ...
.
Affluent
Wealth is the abundance of valuable financial assets or physical possessions which can be converted into a form that can be used for transactions. This includes the core meaning as held in the originating Old English word , which is from an I ...
,
urban
Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to:
* Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas
* Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities
Urban may also refer to:
General
* Urban (name), a list of people ...
congregations were more likely to adopt musical instruments, while poorer and more
rural
In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are describ ...
congregations tended to see them as "an accommodation to the ways of the world."
The ''Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement'' notes that Restoration Movement historians have tended to interpret the controversy over the use of musical instruments in worship in ways that "reflect their own attitudes on the issue."
Examples are given of historians from different branches of the movement interpreting it in relation to the statements of early Restoration Movement leaders, in terms of social and cultural factors, differing approaches to interpreting scripture, differing approaches to the authority of scripture, and "ecumenical progressivism" versus "sectarian primitivism."
Role of clergy
The early 19th-century Restoration Movement encompassed very different views concerning the role of clergy: the Campbell branch was strongly anti-clergy, believing there was no justification for a clergy/lay distinction, while the Stone branch believed that only an ordained minister could officiate at communion.
Biblical interpretation
Early leaders of the movement had a high view of scripture, and believed that it was both
inspired and
infallible
Infallibility refers to an inability to be wrong. It can be applied within a specific domain, or it can be used as a more general adjective. The term has significance in both epistemology and theology, and its meaning and significance in both fi ...
.
Dissenting views developed during the 19th century.
As early as 1849, LL Pinkerton denied the inerrancy of the Bible.
According to the ''Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement'' Pinkerton is "sometimes labeled the first 'liberal' of the Stone-Campbell Movement."
In addition to rejecting the plenary inspiration of the Bible and supporting the use of instruments in worship, Pinkerton also supported "open membership" (recognizing as members individuals who have not been
baptized by immersion)
[.] and was a strong supporter of the
temperance
Temperance may refer to:
Moderation
*Temperance movement, movement to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed
*Temperance (virtue), habitual moderation in the indulgence of a natural appetite or passion
Culture
*Temperance (group), Canadian danc ...
and
abolition movements.
As the 19th century progressed, the denial of the inerrancy of the Bible slowly spread.
In 1883 the editor of the ''
Christian Standard
The ''Christian Standard'' is a religious periodical associated with the Restoration Movement that was established in 1866.Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Discipl ...
'',
Isaac Errett, said "Admitting the fact of inspiration, have we in the inspired Scriptures an ''infallible'' guide?... I do not see how we can answer this question affirmatively."
Others, including
JW McGarvey, fiercely opposed these new liberal views.
Separation of the Churches of Christ and Christian Churches
Factors leading to the separation
Disagreement over centralized organizations above the local congregational level, such as missionary societies and conventions, was one important factor leading to the separation of the
Churches of Christ from the
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. The denomination started with the Restoration Movement during the Second Great Awakening, first existing during the 19th ...
.
After the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
more congregations began using instruments, which led to growing controversy.
The greatest acceptance was among
urban
Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to:
* Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas
* Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities
Urban may also refer to:
General
* Urban (name), a list of people ...
congregations in the Northern states; very few congregations in the
Southern United States
The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...
used instruments in worship.
While music and the approach to missionary work were the most visible issues, there were also some deeper ones, such as basic differences in the underlying approach to Biblical interpretation. For the Churches of Christ, any practices not present in accounts of New Testament worship were not permissible in the church, and they could find no New Testament documentation of the use of instrumental music in worship. For the Christian Churches, any practices not expressly forbidden could be considered.
The
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
exacerbated the cultural tensions between the two groups.
[.]
As the 19th century progressed, a division gradually developed between those whose primary commitment was to unity, and those whose primary commitment was to the restoration of the primitive church.
Those whose primary focus was unity gradually took on "an explicitly
ecumenical
Ecumenism (), also spelled oecumenism, is the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships among their churches and promote Christian unity. The adjec ...
agenda" and "sloughed off the restorationist vision."
This group increasingly used the terms "Disciples of Christ" and "Christian Churches" rather than "Churches of Christ."
At the same time, those whose primary focus was restoration of the primitive church increasingly used the term "Churches of Christ" rather than "
Disciples of Christ."
Reports on the changes and increasing separation among the groups were published as early as 1883.
The rise of women leaders in the temperance
[Zuber, Glenn (2004). "Temperance", ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement,'' edited by Douglas A. Foster, Paul Blowers, and D. Newell Williams. Grand Rapids, Erdmans Publishing, 728–729.] and missionary movements, primarily in the North, also contributed to the separation of the unaffiliated
Christian Church/Church of Christ congregations
The group of churches known as the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ is a fellowship of congregations within the Restoration Movement (also known as the Stone-Campbell Movement and the Reformation of the 19th Century) that have no forma ...
. In the Christian Churches, many women spoke in public on behalf of the new
Christian Woman's Board of Missions The Christian Woman's Board of Missions (CWBM) was a missionary organization associated with the Restoration Movement.Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Ch ...
(CWBM) and
Woman's Christian Temperance Union
The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is an international temperance organization, originating among women in the United States Prohibition movement. It was among the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program th ...
(WCTU). In contrast, the
Churches of Christ largely discouraged women from joining activist women's organizations such as the WCTU and speaking in public about any issue.
[Zuber, Glenn (2002). "Mainline Women Ministers: Women Missionary and Temperance Organizers Become 'Disciples of Christ' Ministers, 1888–1908." In ''The Stone-Campbell Movement: An International Religious Tradition,'' ed. Michael Casey and Douglas A. Foster, 292–316.] In 1889 the
Erie
Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 a ...
Christian Church confirmed the leadership role of women by ordaining
Clara Babcock Clara Celestia Hale Babcock (31 May 1850 – 12 December 1925) was one of the first women preachers to be Ordination of women, ordained within the Restoration Movement, and was a leader within the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU).
Biograph ...
as the first known woman Disciple preacher.
[Zuber, Glenn (1993). "The Gospel of Temperance: Early Disciple Women Preachers and the WCTU," ''Discipliana'', 53 (47–60).]
Formal recognition in 1906
The
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...
began a religious census in 1906.
Douglas A. Foster
Douglas A. Foster (born August 30, 1952) is author and scholar known for his work on the history of Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement.
Life
Douglas A. Foster was born in Sheffield, Alabama. He grew up in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Upon completing his ...
"What really happened in 1906? A trek through history reveals role of Census,"
''The Christian Chronicle
''The Christian Chronicle'' is a religious newspaper associated with the Churches of Christ.Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churche ...
'', April 2006 (accessed November 20, 2013)Douglas A. Foster
Douglas A. Foster (born August 30, 1952) is author and scholar known for his work on the history of Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement.
Life
Douglas A. Foster was born in Sheffield, Alabama. He grew up in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Upon completing his ...
"1906: The True Story,"
''The Christian Standard'', June 25, 2006 (accessed November 20, 2013) Special Agents were used to collect information on those groups which had little or no formal organizational structure, such as the churches associated with the Restoration Movement.
Officials working on the census noticed signs that the movement was no longer unified: the ''
Gospel Advocate
The ''Gospel Advocate'' is a religious magazine published monthly in Nashville, Tennessee for members of the Churches of Christ. The ''Advocate'' has enjoyed uninterrupted publication since 1866.
The ''Gospel Advocate'' was founded by Nashville-a ...
'' appeared at times to distance itself from the Disciples of Christ, and the Bureau had received at least one letter claiming that some "churches of Christ" were no longer affiliated with the "Disciples of Christ."
To resolve the question, the
Census Director, Simon Newton Dexter North, wrote a letter to
David Lipscomb, the editor of the ''Advocate''.
He asked:
Lipscomb summarized the early history of the movement, described the "general organization of the churches under a missionary society with a moneyed membership" and the "adoption of instrumental music in the worship" as "a subversion of the fundamental principles on which the churches were based," and then continued:
The 1906 U.S. Religious Census for the first time listed the "
Churches of Christ" and the "
Disciples of Christ" as separate and distinct groups.
[.] This, however, was simply the recognition of a division that had been growing for years, with published reports as early as 1883.
The process that led to this separation had begun prior to the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
.
For Lipscomb, an underlying theological concern was the adoption of German liberal theology by many among the Disciples wing of the Restoration Movement.
[Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, , , 854 pages, entry on ''Lipscomb, David''] He saw them as taking a direction very different from the principles enunciated by
Thomas
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas the A ...
and
Alexander Campbell.
Lipscomb's response to the Census Bureau, and its official listing of the two groups in 1906, became another source of friction between the groups.
James Harvey Garrison, editor of the "Disciples" journal, ''The Christian-Evangelist,'' accused Lipscomb of "sectarianism." Lipscomb said that he had "done nothing to bring about the present condition of affairs," the Census Bureau had started the discussion, and he had simply answered the question they brought to him.
Movement historian
Douglas Foster has summarized the events this way:
Aftermath
When the 1906 U.S. Religious Census was published in 1910 it reported combined totals for the "Disciples or Christians" for comparison to the 1890 statistics on the movement, as well as separate statistics for the "Disciples of Christ" and the "Churches of Christ."
The Disciples were by far the larger of the two groups at the time.
Generally speaking, the Disciples of Christ congregations tended to be predominantly urban and Northern, while the Churches of Christ were predominantly rural and Southern. The Disciples favored college-educated clergy, while the Churches of Christ discouraged formal theological education because they opposed the creation of a professional clergy. Disciples congregations tended to be wealthier and constructed larger, more expensive church buildings. Churches of Christ congregations built more modest structures, and criticized the wearing of expensive clothing at worship.
One commentator has described the Disciples "ideal" as reflecting the "businessman," and the Church of Christ "ideal" as reflecting "the simple and austere
yeoman
Yeoman is a noun originally referring either to one who owns and cultivates land or to the middle ranks of servants in an English royal or noble household. The term was first documented in mid-14th-century England. The 14th century also witn ...
farmer."
Churches of Christ have maintained an ongoing commitment to purely
congregational
Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...
structure, rather than a denominational one, and have no central headquarters, councils, or other organizational structure above the local church level.
[Samuel S Hill, Charles H Lippy, Charles Reagan Wilson, ''Encyclopedia of Religion in the South'', Mercer University Press, 2005, pp. 854][.][, 426 pp.][Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, page 206, entry on ''Church, Doctrine of the''] The Disciples developed in a different direction. After a number of discussions throughout the 1950s, the 1960 International Convention of Christian Churches adopted a process to "restructure" the entire organization. The Disciples restructured in a way that has been described as an "overt recognition of the body's denominational status,"
[Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, , , 854 pages, entry on ''Denominationalism''] resulting in what has been described as "a Reformed North American Mainstream Moderate Denomination."
[.]
After the separation from the Churches of Christ, tensions remained among the Disciples of Christ over theological liberalism, the nascent
ecumenical movement
Ecumenism (), also spelled oecumenism, is the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships among their churches and promote Christian unity. The adjec ...
and "open membership."
[Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, , , 854 pages, entry on ''Christian Churches/Churches of Christ''] While the process was lengthy, the more conservative unaffiliated
Christian Church/Church of Christ congregations
The group of churches known as the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ is a fellowship of congregations within the Restoration Movement (also known as the Stone-Campbell Movement and the Reformation of the 19th Century) that have no forma ...
eventually emerged as a separately identifiable religious body from the
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. The denomination started with the Restoration Movement during the Second Great Awakening, first existing during the 19th ...
.
Some commentators believe divisions in the movement have resulted from the tension between the goals of restoration and ecumenism, and see the
Churches of Christ and unaffiliated
Christian Church/Church of Christ congregations
The group of churches known as the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ is a fellowship of congregations within the Restoration Movement (also known as the Stone-Campbell Movement and the Reformation of the 19th Century) that have no forma ...
resolving the tension by stressing restoration while the
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. The denomination started with the Restoration Movement during the Second Great Awakening, first existing during the 19th ...
resolve the tension by stressing ecumenism.
All of the three major U.S. branches of the Movement share the following characteristics:
* A high view, compared to other Christian traditions, of the office of the
elder; and
[Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, , , 854 pages, entry on ''Ministry'']
* A "commitment to the priesthood of all believers".
The term "restoration movement" has remained popular among the
Churches of Christ and the unaffiliated
Christian Church/Church of Christ congregations
The group of churches known as the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ is a fellowship of congregations within the Restoration Movement (also known as the Stone-Campbell Movement and the Reformation of the 19th Century) that have no forma ...
.
Because of the emphasis it places on the theme of restoration, it has been a less comfortable fit for those whose primary focus has been on the theme of unity.
Historically, the term "Disciples of Christ" has also been used by some as a collective designation for the movement.
It has evolved, however, into a designation for a particular branch of the movement – the
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. The denomination started with the Restoration Movement during the Second Great Awakening, first existing during the 19th ...
– as a result of the divisions of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The movement as a whole grew significantly over the course of the 20th century, and the relative size of the different groups associated with the movement shifted as well.
[ Churches were asked for their membership numbers.]
Subsequent development of the Christian Churches
Following the 1906 separation of the
Churches of Christ, controversy still existed within the movement over whether the missionary efforts should be cooperative or independently sponsored by congregations. Questions on the role of the methods of Biblical Criticism to the study and interpretation of the Bible were also among the issues in conflict.
An awareness of
historical criticism began developing in the 1880s, and by the 1920s many Disciples accepted the work of the higher critics.
By that time the question of "open membership," or "admission of the pious unimmersed to membership" had arisen as an additional source of tension.
[Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, , , 854 pages, entry on ''Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)''][Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, , , 854 pages, entry on ''Baptism'']
During the first half of the 20th century the opposing factions among the Christian Churches coexisted, but with discomfort. The three Missionary Societies were merged into the United Christian Missionary Society in 1920.
Human service ministries grew through the National Benevolent Association providing assistance to orphans, the elderly and the disabled. By mid century, the cooperative Christian Churches and the independent Christian Churches were following different paths.
By 1926 a split began to form within the Disciples over the future direction of the church. Conservatives within the group began to have problems with the perceived liberalism of the leadership, upon the same grounds described earlier in the accepting of instrumental music in worship. In 1927 they held the first North American Christian Convention, and the unaffiliated
Christian Church/Church of Christ congregations
The group of churches known as the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ is a fellowship of congregations within the Restoration Movement (also known as the Stone-Campbell Movement and the Reformation of the 19th Century) that have no forma ...
began to emerge as a distinct group from the Disciples, although the break was not totally formalized until the late 1960s. By this time the decennial religious census was a thing of the past and it is impossible to use it as a delineation as it was in 1906.
Following World War II, it was believed that the organizations that had been developed in previous decades no longer effectively met the needs of the postwar era.
After a number discussions throughout the 1950s, the 1960
International Convention of Christian Churches
International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations".
International may also refer to:
Music Albums
* International (Kevin Michael album), ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011
* International (New Order album), ' ...
adopted a process to plan the "restructure" of the entire organization.
The Commission on Restructure, chaired by Granville T. Walker, held its first meeting October 30 & November 1, 1962.
In 1968, at the International Convention of Christian Churches (Disciples of Christ), those Christian Churches that favored cooperative mission work adopted a new "provisional design" for their work together, becoming the
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. The denomination started with the Restoration Movement during the Second Great Awakening, first existing during the 19th ...
.
Those congregations that chose not to be associated with the new denominational organization went their own way as the unaffiliated
Christian Church/Church of Christ congregations
The group of churches known as the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ is a fellowship of congregations within the Restoration Movement (also known as the Stone-Campbell Movement and the Reformation of the 19th Century) that have no forma ...
, completing a separation that had begun decades before.
The Disciples of Christ still have their own internal conservative-liberal tension. In 1985, a movement of conservative congregations and individuals among the Disciples formed the "Disciple Renewal."
[Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, , , 854 pages, entry on ''Disciple Heritage Fellowship''] They thought that others in the Disciples fellowship had increasingly liberal views on issues such as the lordship of Christ, the authority of the Bible, and tolerance of homosexuality.
In 1985 the Disciples General Assembly rejected a resolution on the inspiration of scripture; afterward, the Disciple Renewal planned to encourage renewal from within the fellowship through founding a journal entitled ''Disciple Renewal''.
Conservative members were concerned that the Disciples had abandoned the fundamental principles of the Restoration Movement.
In 1995 the Disciple Heritage Fellowship was established. It is a fellowship of autonomous congregations, about half of which are formally associated with the Disciples of Christ.
the Disciples Heritage Fellowship included 60 congregations and 100 "supporting" churches.
Restructuring and development of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
In 1968, the International Convention of Christian Churches (Disciples of Christ) adopted the commission's proposed "Provisional Design of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)."
The restructuring was implemented in 1969 by the first General Assembly, and the name officially changed to the "Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)".
[Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, , , 854 pages, entry on ''Restructure''] This restructuring has been described as an "overt recognition of the body's denominational status,"
and the modern Disciples have been described as "a Reformed North American Mainstream Moderate Denomination."
Membership trends
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) has experienced a significant loss of membership since the middle of the 20th century. Membership peaked in 1958 at just under 2 million.
[Christian Church (Disciples of Christ): Denominational Profile](_blank)
Association of Religion Data Archives The Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) is a free source of online information related to American and international religion. One of the primary goals of the archive is to democratize access to academic information on religion by making th ...
website (accessed November 27, 2013) In 1993, membership dropped below 1 million. In 2009, the denomination reported 658,869 members in 3,691 congregations.
As of 2010, the five states with the highest adherence rates were Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Kentucky and Oklahoma.
[Christian Church (Disciples of Christ): Distribution](_blank)
Association of Religion Data Archives The Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) is a free source of online information related to American and international religion. One of the primary goals of the archive is to democratize access to academic information on religion by making th ...
website (accessed November 27, 2013) The states with the largest absolute number of adherents were Missouri, Texas, Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio.
[Christian Church (Disciples of Christ): Map by Number of Adherents](_blank)
Association of Religion Data Archives The Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) is a free source of online information related to American and international religion. One of the primary goals of the archive is to democratize access to academic information on religion by making th ...
website (accessed November 27, 2013)
Subsequent development of the unaffiliated congregations
Independent Christian churches and churches of Christ have both organizational and hermeneutic differences with the churches of Christ.
For example, they have a loosely organized convention, and they view scriptural silence on an issue more permissively.
Nonetheless, they are much more closely related to the churches of Christ in their theology and ecclesiology than they are with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
The development of the unaffiliated
Christian Church/Church of Christ congregations
The group of churches known as the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ is a fellowship of congregations within the Restoration Movement (also known as the Stone-Campbell Movement and the Reformation of the 19th Century) that have no forma ...
as a separately identifiable religious body from the
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. The denomination started with the Restoration Movement during the Second Great Awakening, first existing during the 19th ...
(DoC) was a lengthy process.
The roots of the separation can be found in the polarization resulting from three major controversies that arose during the early 20th century.
One, which was a source of division in other religious groups, was "the theological development of modernism and liberalism."
The early stages of the ecumenical movement, which led in 1908 to the
Federal Council of Churches
The Federal Council of Churches, officially the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America, was an ecumenical association of Christian denominations in the United States in the early twentieth century. It represented the Anglican, Baptist, Ea ...
, provide a second source of controversy.
The third was the practice of open membership, in which individuals who had not been baptized by immersion were granted full membership in the church.
Those who supported one of these points of view tended to support the others as well.
The Disciples of Christ were, in 1910, a united, growing community with common goals.
[.] Support by the
United Christian Missionary Society
United may refer to:
Places
* United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community
* United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community
Arts and entertainment Films
* United (2003 film), ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film
* United (2011 film) ...
of missionaries who advocated open membership became a source of contention in 1920.
Efforts to recall support for these missionaries failed in a 1925 convention in
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...
and a 1926 convention in
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...
.
Many congregations withdrew from the missionary society as a result.
A new convention, the
North American Christian Convention
The North American Christian Convention (1927–2018) was an annual summer convention supported by churches, colleges, institutions, and missions programs associated with the Christian churches and churches of Christ, mainly across the United Stat ...
, was organized by the more conservative congregations in 1927.
An existing brotherhood journal, the ''
Christian Standard
The ''Christian Standard'' is a religious periodical associated with the Restoration Movement that was established in 1866.Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Discipl ...
'', also served as a source of cohesion for these congregations.
From the 1960s on, newer unaffiliated missionary organizations like the
Christian Missionary Fellowship (today,
Christian Missionary Fellowship International
Christian Missionary Fellowship International (CMFI or CMF International) is a non-denominational, non-profit, Christian organization that sends out missionaries and partners with Christian ministries around the globe. Based in Indianapolis, CMF ...
) were working more on a national scale in the United States to rally Christian Church/Church of Christ congregations in international missions.
By this time the division between liberals and conservatives was well established.
The official separation between the independent Christian churches and churches of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is difficult to date.
Suggestions range from 1926 to 1971 based on the events outlined below:
* 1926: The first
North American Christian Convention
The North American Christian Convention (1927–2018) was an annual summer convention supported by churches, colleges, institutions, and missions programs associated with the Christian churches and churches of Christ, mainly across the United Stat ...
(NACC) in 1927
was the result of disillusionment at the DoC Memphis Convention.
* 1944: International Convention of Disciples elects as president a proponent of open membership
* 1948: The Commission on Restudy, appointed to help avoid a split, disbands
* 1955: The Directory of the Ministry was first published listing only the "Independents" on a voluntary basis.
* 1968: Final redaction of the Disciples Year Book removing Independent churches
* 1971: Independent churches listed separately in the Yearbook of American Churches.
Because of this separation, many independent Christian churches and churches of Christ are not only non-denominational, they can be anti-denominational, avoiding even the appearance or language associated with
denominationalism
A religious denomination is a subgroup within a religion that operates under a common name and tradition among other activities.
The term refers to the various Christian denominations (for example, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, and the many variet ...
holding true to their Restoration roots.
Subsequent development of the Churches of Christ
One of the issues leading to the 1906 separation was the question of organizational structures above the level of the local congregation. Since then, Churches of Christ have maintained an ongoing commitment to
church governance that is
congregational
Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...
only, rather than denominational. Churches of Christ purposefully have no central headquarters, councils, or other organizational structure above the local church level.
Rather, the independent congregations are a network with each congregation participating at its own discretion in various means of service and fellowship with other congregations (see
Sponsoring church (Churches of Christ)
The sponsoring church arrangement describes a resource-pooling strategy employed by some "mainstream" congregations of the Churches of Christ.
Under this arrangement, one congregation (specifically, the congregation's eldership or, if it lacks eld ...
).
[.] Churches of Christ are linked by their shared commitment to restoration principles.
Since Churches of Christ are autonomous and purposefully do not maintain an ecclesiastical hierarchy or doctrinal council, it is not unusual to find variations from congregation to congregation. There are many notable consistencies, however; for example, very few Church of Christ buildings display a cross, a practice common in other Christian churches. The approach taken to restoring the New Testament church has focused on "methods and procedures" such as church organization, the form of worship, and how the church should function. As a result, most divisions among Churches of Christ have been the result of "methodological" disputes. These are meaningful to members of this movement because of the seriousness with which they take the goal of "restoring the form and structure of the primitive church."
Three quarters of the congregations and 87% of the membership are described by ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement'' as "mainstream", sharing a consensus on practice and theology.
[Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, , , 854 pages, entry on ''Churches of Christ''] The remaining congregations may be grouped into four categories which generally differ from the mainstream consensus in specific practices, rather than in theological perspectives, and tend to have smaller congregations on average.
The largest of these four categories is
the "non-institutional" churches of Christ. This group is notable for opposing congregational support of institutions such as orphans homes and Bible colleges. Approximately 2,055 congregations fall in this category.
The remaining three groups, whose congregations are generally considerably smaller than those of the mainstream or "non-institutional" groups, also oppose institutional support but differ from the "non-institutional" group by other beliefs and practices:
*One group opposes separate "
Sunday School" classes; this group consists of approximately 1,100 congregations.
*Another group opposes the use of multiple
communion cups (the term "one-cupper" is often used, sometimes pejoratively, to describe this group); there approximately 550 congregations in this group and this group overlaps somewhat with those congregations that oppose separate Sunday School classes.
*The last and smallest group "emphasize
mutual edification by various leaders in the churches and oppose
one person doing most of the preaching." This group includes roughly 130 congregations.
While there are no official membership statistics for the Churches of Christ, growth appears to have been relatively steady through the 20th century.
One source estimates total US membership at 433,714 in 1926, 558,000 in 1936, 682,000 in 1946, 835,000 in 1965 and 1,250,000 in 1994.
Separation of the International Churches of Christ
The
(ICOC) had their roots in a "discipling" movement that arose among the mainline Churches of Christ during the 1970s.
[Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, , , 854 pages, entry on ''International Churches of Christ''] This discipling movement developed in the campus ministry of Chuck Lucas.
In 1967, Chuck Lucas was minister of the 14th Street Church of Christ in
Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gaine ...
(later renamed the Crossroads Church of Christ). That year he started a new project known as Campus Advance (based on principles borrowed from the
Campus Crusade
Cru (until 2011 known as Campus Crusade for Christ—informally "Campus Crusade" or simply "crusade"—or CCC) is an interdenominational Christian parachurch organization. It was founded in 1951 at the University of California, Los Angeles by ...
and the
Shepherding Movement). Centered on the
University of Florida
The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...
, the program called for a strong evangelistic outreach and an intimate religious atmosphere in the form of ''soul talks'' and ''prayer partners. Soul talks'' were held in student residences and involved prayer and sharing overseen by a leader who delegated authority over group members. ''Prayer partners '' referred to the practice of pairing a new Christian with an older guide for personal assistance and direction. Both procedures led to "in-depth involvement of each member in one another's lives", and critics accused Lucas of fostering cultism.
The Crossroads Movement later spread into some other Churches of Christ. One of Lucas' converts,
Kip McKean, moved to the Boston area in 1979 and began working with the Lexington Church of Christ.
He asked them to "redefine their commitment to Christ," and introduced the use of discipling partners. The congregation grew rapidly, and was renamed the Boston Church of Christ.
In the early 1980s, the focus of the movement moved to Boston, Massachusetts where
Kip McKean and the Boston Church of Christ became prominently associated with the trend. With the national leadership located in Boston, during the 1980s it commonly became known as the "Boston movement."
In 1990 the Crossroads Church of Christ broke with the Boston movement and, through a letter written to ''
The Christian Chronicle
''The Christian Chronicle'' is a religious newspaper associated with the Churches of Christ.Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churche ...
'', attempted to restore relations with the mainline Churches of Christ.
By the early 1990s some first-generation leaders had become disillusioned by the movement and left.
The movement was first recognized as an independent religious group in 1992 when John Vaughn, a church growth specialist at Fuller Theological Seminary, listed them as a separate entity.
[Stanback, C. Foster. Into All Nations: A History of the International Churches of Christ. IPI, 2005] TIME magazine ran a full-page story on the movement in 1992 calling them "one of the world's fastest-growing and most innovative bands of Bible thumpers" that had grown into "a global empire of 103 congregations from California to Cairo with total Sunday attendance of 50,000".
A formal break was made from the mainline Churches of Christ in 1993 when the movement organized under the name "
."
This new designation formalized a division that was already in existence between those involved with the Crossroads/Boston Movement and "mainline" Churches of Christ.
Other names that have been used for this movement include the "Crossroads movement," "Multiplying Ministries," and the "Discipling Movement".
Reunion efforts
Efforts have been made to restore unity among the various branches of the Restoration Movement. In 1984 a "Restoration Summit" was held at the
Ozark Christian College, with fifty representatives of both the
Churches of Christ and the unaffiliated
Christian Church/Church of Christ congregations
The group of churches known as the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ is a fellowship of congregations within the Restoration Movement (also known as the Stone-Campbell Movement and the Reformation of the 19th Century) that have no forma ...
.
[Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, , , 854 pages, entry on ''Restoration Forums''] Later meetings were open to all, and were known as "Restoration Forums."
Beginning in 1986 they have been held annually, generally in October or November, with the hosting venue alternating between the Churches of Christ and the Christian churches and churches of Christ.
Topics discussed have included issues such as instrumental music, the nature of the church, and practical steps for promoting unity.
Efforts have been made in the early 21st century to include representatives of the
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. The denomination started with the Restoration Movement during the Second Great Awakening, first existing during the 19th ...
.
These efforts followed the "Stone-Campbell Dialogue," which was a series of meetings beginning in 1999 that included representatives of all three major US branches of the Restoration Movement.
[Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, , , 854 pages, entry on ''Stone-Campbell Dialogue''] The first full meeting in 1999 included six representatives from each of the three traditions.
Meetings were held twice annually, and in 2001 were expanded to include anyone associated with the Restoration Movement who was interested in attending.
Also, special efforts were made in 2006 to create more intentional fellowship between the various branches of the Movement.
[.][.] This was in conjunction with the one hundredth anniversary of the "official" recognition of the split between the Christian Church and the Churches of Christ by the U.S. Census in 1906.
One example of this was the hosting by
Abilene Christian University
Abilene Christian University (ACU) is a Private university, private Churches of Christ, Christian university in Abilene, Texas. It was founded in 1906 as ''Childers Classical Institute''. ACU is one of the largest private universities in the Sout ...
(ACU) of the annual Restoration Unity Forum for 2006 as part of the university's annual Bible Lectureship. During the program Don Jeanes, president of
Milligan College
Milligan University is a private Christian university in Milligan College, Tennessee. Founded in 1866 as the Buffalo Male and Female Institute, and known as Milligan College from 1881 to May 2020, the school has a student population of more tha ...
and
Royce Money
Royce Lynn Money (born July 13, 1942) is an American academic administrator who served as president of Abilene Christian University) from 1991 to 2010, whereupon he became Chancellor. He was succeeded as president by Phil Schubert. Education
Aft ...
, president of ACU, jointly gave a presentation on the first chapter of the
Gospel of John
The Gospel of John ( grc, Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ἰωάννην, translit=Euangélion katà Iōánnēn) is the fourth of the four canonical gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "sig ...
.
Timeline
Churches outside North America
Restoration Movement churches are found around the world and the
World Convention of Churches of Christ
The World Convention of Churches of Christ is a Christianity, Christian world communion that links Restoration Movement churches known by a range of names including Christian churches and churches of Christ, Christian Churches, Churches of Christ ...
provides ''many national profiles''.
Their genealogies are representative of developments in North America. Their theological orientation ranges from fundamentalist to liberal to ecumenical. In some places they have joined with churches of other traditions to form united churches at local, regional or national level.
Africa
There are believed to be 1,000,000 or more members of the Churches of Christ in
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
.
The total number of congregations is approximately 14,000.
[Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, , , 854 pages, entry on ''Africa, Missions in''] The most significant concentrations are in "
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
,
Malawi
Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast ...
,
Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
,
Zambia
Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...
,
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...
,
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
and
Kenya
)
, national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Nairobi
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Nairobi
, ...
".
Asia
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
has historically been a target for missionary efforts; estimates are that there are 2,000 or more Restoration Movement congregations in India,
[Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, , , 854 pages, entry on ''Asia, Missions in''] with a membership of approximately 1,000,000.
More than 100 congregations exist in the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
.
Growth in other Asian countries has been smaller but is still significant.
Australia and New Zealand
Historically, Restoration Movement groups from Great Britain were more influential than those from the United States in the early development of the movement in Australia.
Churches of Christ grew up independently in several locations.
While early Churches of Christ in Australia saw creeds as divisive, towards the end of the 19th century they began viewing "summary statements of belief" as useful in tutoring second generation members and converts from other religious groups.
The period from 1875 through 1910 also saw debates over the use of musical instruments in worship, Christian Endeavor Societies and Sunday Schools. Ultimately, all three found general acceptance in the movement.
Currently, the Restoration Movement is not as divided in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
as it is in the United States.
[Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, , , 854 pages, entry on ''Australia, The Movement in''] There have been strong ties with the
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. The denomination started with the Restoration Movement during the Second Great Awakening, first existing during the 19th ...
, but many conservative ministers and congregations associate with the unaffiliated
Christian Church/Church of Christ congregations
The group of churches known as the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ is a fellowship of congregations within the Restoration Movement (also known as the Stone-Campbell Movement and the Reformation of the 19th Century) that have no forma ...
instead.
Others have sought support from non-instrumental
Churches of Christ, particularly those who felt that "conference" congregations had "departed from the restoration ideal."
Great Britain
A group in Nottingham withdrew from the Scotch Baptist church in 1836 to form a Church of Christ.
[Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, , , 854 pages, entry on ''Great Britain and Ireland, Churches of Christ in''] James Wallis, a member of that group, founded a magazine named ''
The British Millennial Harbinger
The ''British Millennial Harbinger'' was a religious magazine established by the early Restoration Movement leader James Wallis in 1837. Wallis was a member of a group in Nottingham that withdrew from the Scotch Baptist church in 1836 to form a Ch ...
'' in 1837.
In 1842 the first Cooperative Meeting of Churches of Christ in Great Britain was held in Edinburgh.
Approximately 50 congregations were involved, representing a membership of 1,600.
The name "Churches of Christ" was formally adopted at an annual meeting in 1870.
Alexander Campbell influenced the British Restoration Movement indirectly through his writings; he visited the Britain for several months in 1847, and "presided at the Second Cooperative Meeting of the British Churches at Chester."
At that time the movement had grown to encompass 80 congregations with a total membership of 2,300.
Annual meetings were held after 1847.
The use of instrumental music in worship was not a source of division among the Churches of Christ in Great Britain before World War I. More significant was the issue of
pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...
; a national conference was established in 1916 for congregations that opposed the war.
A conference for "Old Paths" congregations was first held in 1924.
The issues involved included concern that the Christian Association was compromising traditional principles in seeking ecumenical ties with other organizations and a sense that it had abandoned Scripture as "an all-sufficient rule of faith and practice."
Two "Old Paths" congregations withdrew from the Association in 1931; an additional two withdrew in 1934, and nineteen more withdrew between 1943 and 1947.
Membership declined rapidly during and after the First World War.
[Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, , , 854 pages, entry on ''Europe, Missions in''] The Association of Churches of Christ in Britain disbanded in 1980.
Most Association congregations (approximately 40) united with the
United Reformed Church
The United Reformed Church (URC) is a Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. As of 2022 it has approximately 40,000 members in 1,284 congregations with 334 stipendiary ministers.
Origins and history
The United Reformed Church resulte ...
in 1981.
In the same year, twenty-four other congregations formed a Fellowship of Churches of Christ.
The Fellowship developed ties with the unaffiliated
Christian Church/Church of Christ congregations
The group of churches known as the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ is a fellowship of congregations within the Restoration Movement (also known as the Stone-Campbell Movement and the Reformation of the 19th Century) that have no forma ...
during the 1980s.
The Fellowship of Churches of Christ and some Australian and New Zealand Churches advocate a "missional" emphasis with an ideal of "Five Fold Leadership." Many people in more traditional Churches of Christ see these groups as having more in common with
Pentecostal
Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement churches. The main publishing organs of traditional Churches of Christ in Britain are ''The Christian Worker'' magazine and the ''Scripture Standard'' magazine. A history of the Association of Churches of Christ, ''Let Sects and Parties Fall'', was written by David M Thompson.
Key figures
Although Barton W. Stone, Thomas and Alexander Campbell, and Walter Scott were to become the best-known and most influential early leaders of the movement, others preceded them and laid the foundation for their work.
* Rice Haggard (1769–1819)
*
James O'Kelly
James O'Kelly (1735 – October 16, 1826) was an American clergyman during the Second Great Awakening and an important figure in the early history of Methodism in America. He was also known for his outspoken views on abolitionism, penning the str ...
(1735?–1826), Durham, North Carolina
*
Abner Jones (1772–1841)
*
Barton W. Stone
Barton Warren Stone (December 24, 1772 – November 9, 1844) was an American evangelist during the early 19th-century Second Great Awakening in the United States. First ordained a Presbyterian minister, he and four other ministers of the Washingt ...
(1772–1844)
* Elias Smith (1764–1846)
*
Thomas Campbell (1763–1854)
*
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'', ''Rob Roy (n ...
(1796–1861), a successful
evangelist
Evangelist may refer to:
Religion
* Four Evangelists, the authors of the canonical Christian Gospels
* Evangelism, publicly preaching the Gospel with the intention of spreading the teachings of Jesus Christ
* Evangelist (Anglican Church), a c ...
who helped to stabilize the Campbell movement as it was separating from the
Baptists
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...
[.]
*
Alexander Campbell (1788–1866)
*
"Raccoon" John Smith (1784–1868), instrumental in bringing the Stone and Campbell movements together
[.]
*
Elijah Martindale (1793–1874), active in Indiana
*
Amos Sutton Hayden
Amos Sutton Hayden (September 17, 1813 in Youngstown, Ohio – September 10, 1880) was an American Restoration Movement preacher, hymn composer, writer, and educator. He wrote the Early History of the Disciples in the Western Reserve, Ohio' in 18 ...
(1813–1880)
*
James A. Garfield
James Abram Garfield (November 19, 1831 – September 19, 1881) was the 20th president of the United States, serving from March 4, 1881 until his death six months latertwo months after he was shot by an assassin. A lawyer and Civil War gene ...
(1831–1881), first Restoration Movement member to be elected United States President, the others being
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...
(1908–1973) and
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
(1911–2004)
*
Marshall Keeble (1878–1968) His successful preaching career notably bridged a
racial divide in the Restoration Movement prior to the American Civil Rights Movement.
[.]
*
Kip McKean (born 1954), founder of the
(ICOC), a twentieth-century offshoot of this movement
*
List of Notable Women of the Restoration Movement
This is a list of notable women associated with the Restoration Movement (also known as the American Restoration Movement or the Stone-Campbell Movement).
* Sarah Shepherd Andrews
* Clara Babcock
* Sarah Bostick
* Selina Huntington Bakewell Campb ...
See also
*
Christianity in the 18th century
*
Christianity in the 19th century
Characteristic of Christianity in the 19th century were evangelical revivals in some largely Protestant countries and later the effects of modern biblical scholarship on the churches. Liberal or modernist theology was one consequence of this. ...
*
Churches of Christ
*
Congregationalist polity
*
History of Christianity
The history of Christianity concerns the Christianity, Christian religion, Christendom, Christian countries, and the Christians with their various Christian denomination, denominations, from the Christianity in the 1st century, 1st century ...
*
Restorationism
*
Second Great Awakening
The Second Great Awakening was a Protestant religious revival during the early 19th century in the United States. The Second Great Awakening, which spread religion through revivals and emotional preaching, sparked a number of reform movements. R ...
*
Non-denominational Christianity
Nondenominational Christianity (or non-denominational Christianity) consists of churches which typically distance themselves from the confessionalism or creedalism of other Christian communities by not formally aligning with a specific Christian d ...
*
Caroline Neville Pearre
Caroline Neville Pearre (1834–1910) began the Christian Woman's Board of Missions (CWBM) in 1874, after she felt that she was called to do so by God. Pearre was living in Iowa City, Iowa
Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city ...
*
John Oakes (apologist)
References
Bibliography
* .
* .
* , 854 pp.
* .
* , 573 pp.
* .
* .
* .
* .
* .
* .
* .
* .
* .
* .
* .
* .
* .
External links
* .
* .
*
*
* . Holds artifacts and records relating to the Restoration Movement.
{{Authority control
Christian revivals
Nondenominational Christianity