Churches of Christ History

American Roots

The Churches of Christ are a non-denominational fellowship of Christian churches with a rich American history. Anglicans, Baptists, Catholics, Congregationalists, Lutherans, Mennonites, Methodists, Presbyterians and others all have historical roots on the other side of the Atlantic ocean. The Church of Christ, however, is one of the first and largest indigenous Christian movements in America.

Today, there are over 13,000 autonomous churches of Christ in America and many more abroad. We have no official governing headquarters or hierarchy but we enjoy a rich world-wide bond of brotherhood under our common name and mission.
 
 

 

The Restoration Movement

Two hundred years ago, a new spirit of freedom took root in America. We won political independence with the Revolutionary War. Then, the Christian landscape of our new nation began to change under this free spirit. Many began to claim independence from Euro-cultural religious traditions and look mainly to the Bible as a guiding light. It was a freedom anchored in Scripture.

In this fresh spiritual climate, a Second Great Awakening emerged. Many spiritual leaders saw a fractured church in their new country and developed a vision for restoring a more united church rooted more in New Testament principles than in cultural traditions.

The Restoration Movement aimed for Christian unity. It”s leaders believed that a restoration of biblical basics in the hearts and minds of believers would make Christian unity contagious. They wanted to restore, on American soil, the same church Jesus founded?with Jesus as their head and the Bible as their guide.
 
 

 

Who are the Churches of Christ? – Freedom, Simplicity and Unity:

An independent spirit of faith touched the minds of many Christian leaders around the same time. In 1792, James O’Kelly left the Methodist Episcopal church in which he was an elder. In 1794, his group just called themselves Christians. They emphasized local church autonomy and spiritual equality among the clergy and laity.

In 1801, a Presbyterian minister in Kentucky named Barton W. Stone called a revival meeting at his Cane Ridge meeting house. Many thousands of hungry souls showed up. A simpler Bible-based faith was catching fire. Stone saw Baptist, Methodist and Presbyterian leaders forgetting their sectarian differences and ministering well together. By 1803, Stone and others wanted to be called “Christians only.” They practiced their faith freely as local congregations seeking Christian unity under simpler scriptural terms.

In 1808, a Scottish Presbyterian minister named Thomas Campbell in Pennsylvania grew tired of petty denominational fusses and went independent. He advocated open communion and yearned for unity under the sole authority of the Bible. His son Alexander nurtured similar ideas in Ireland and by 1809 they were together in America. In 1813, the Brush Run Church they founded was welcomed into a Baptist Association. Alexander Campbell preached throughout Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia, calling people to confess Jesus as Savior, be baptized by immersion and live a life based on New Testament precepts as members of Jesus’ church. Barton Stone and the Campbells joined forces in Kentucky in 1831. In time, their followers comprised the fastest growing movement of faith in America in their century.
 
 

 

An Unfinished Task:

The Stone/Campbell legacy plowed the spiritual soil from which the churches of Christ emerged. Most early Restoration leaders did not think of themselves as the only Christians, just Christians only. They wanted Christians across the land to lay down their denominational baggage and go forward under the lighter burden of the Bible alone. Theirs was an idealistic vision for unity, not a condemnation of other confessing Christians. Yet, this vision eventually stumbled into excessive sectarianism. Many lessons have been learned. Today, we seek a more gracious view of our unfinished task, which is to raise Jesus higher and share His love and forgiveness to a hopeless and divided world. We still have a long way to go. Let”s go together!

Authored by Joel Mark Solliday