The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) began in the early 1800's with
three ex-Presbyterian ministers, Thomas Campbell and his son Alexander, and Barton W.
Stone. Thomas Campbell came to America in 1807 and joined the Philadelphia Synod of
the Presbyterian Church, from whose roll his name was removed in May of that year under
charges of heresy. He and Alexander later joined the Red Stone Baptist
Association, with which they were associated from 1813-1830. Their movement was not
a denomination, but rather a movement to unite all denominations, and they called
themselves Disciples of Christ.
In Kentucky, Barton W. Stone and four other ministers
who had been censured by the Synod of Kentucky withdrew and formed the Springfield
Presbytery. With a document entitled "The Last Will and Testament of the
Springfield Presbytery," that entity was dissolved in 1809 to form what became known
as the Christian Church.
In 1832, Stone's movement merged with the Campbell's
movement and used both names, the Christian Churches and the Disciples of Christ. The
Civil War caused divisions within the church, as did disagreements over Thomas Campbell's
statement, "Where the Scriptures speak, we speak; where the Scriptures are silent, we
are silent," and its application to instrumental music in worship. By the 1906 census
a group of more conservative churches, primarily south of the Ohio River, listed their
denominational affiliation as the Churches of Christ (Non-Instrumental).
Another split within the movement came in the 1960's as
a group of churches resisted the Christian Churches' movement toward
centralization. In 1968 they became known as the Christian Churches and
Churches of Christ, also called Independent Christian Churches, and the centralized
denomination named itself the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
Christian Churches (Disciples of Christ)
