The
Stone-Campbell Movement began as a unity movement. Alexander Campbell came
from the Old Light
Anti-burgher Seceder Presbyterian Church of Ireland and Scotland.
Campbell
rebelled against the rigidly closed taking of the bread and cup in his
congregation in Ireland. Only those who passed the catechism were permitted to
partake. No other Presbyterians who disagreed with them were permitted to
partake with them. (Some trace the Church of Christ penchant for debate and
division to their Presbyterian/John Knox/John Calvin/Ulrich Zwingli heritage.) Campbell was a
postmaster who spread his teaching through magazines he edited.
The Stone-Campbell Movement,
or more familiarly called the
Restoration Movement, gained
momentum as it followed the frontier of the United States. In Kentucky at the
Cane Ridge Camp
Meeting in 1801 it
became wildly Pentecostal (belief in the present-day
miraculous movement of the Holy Spirit). By 1830 the movement was anti-pentecostal
and anti-emotional.
In the early 1800s
the Churches of Christ/Christian Church/Disciples of Christ claims to have been
the fastest growing religious movement in the world. Alexander Campbell was
invited to preach to the Congress of the United States of America.
Four preachers
from the Churches of Christ, including Sydney Rigdon, joined the early Mormon
Church around 1824 and influenced it to reflect several of
the doctrines of the Churches of Christ.
The movement split
just before the
American Civil
War--the richer north
opposing
slavery and becoming more organized with a missionary society
(1843) and adopting organs and pianos, (the Disciples of Christ). The southern
portion retained an otherworldly approach and claimed to be the one true church
(the Church of Christ).
Restoration Movement groups go by the names of
Church of Christ
(using instrumental music, mostly in the west, associated with
Midwest School of Evangelism in Ottumwa, Iowa), the
Independent Christian Churches (the
moderate middle of the spectrum, sometimes called the Christian Church,
and sometimes called the Church of Christ, especially in
Canada and Australia), and the liberal
Disciples of Christ (currently
discussing ordaining gay clergy,
and active with the World
Council of Churches) with headquarters in Indianapolis, IN.
The
O'Kelly movement of the Christian Church eventually joined the
United Church
of Christ (not identified with the Restoration Movement, but tracing history
from the Mayflower Pilgrim Puritans). The southern portion of the Restoration Movement became the
Churches of Christ, noninstrumental.
The most famous colleges
associated with the Churches of Christ (who worship with a cappella singing) are:
Abilene Christian University,
Lubbuck Christian University,
Harding University,
Pepperdine University,
Oklahoma Christian University,
Freed-Hardeman University,
David Lipscomb College,
Faulkner University,
York College and
Rochester College. There are
numerous two to four year colleges associated with the a cappella movement.
The noninstrumental or a cappella
Churches of Christ split in the United States in the 1950s and '60s over organization and money
distribution. (Can a group of churches pool money to do a special ministry?)
The smaller,
noninstitutional churches use Florida College,
Temple Terrace, Florida.
Until
recently, the fastest growing wing of the Movement was the
International Church of Christ,
headquartered in Los Angeles.
Since the 1970s there has been a
growing house church
movement in the Churches of Christ, (see also
here), many focusing on the
doctrine of grace.
Currently the Churches of
Christ are
shrinking by 2% per year. The larger a cappella Churches of Christ
are identifying with the wider evangelical movement
(which often looks to Billy Graham for leadership), with a splinter group opting to remain
hard-line sectarian (the one true church).
Click here to see what many believe are unbiblical
doctrines in the stricter, hard-line Churches of Christ.
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