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Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ)
Christian Church (Disciples of
Christ),
sometimes called Campbellites, a Protestant religious body founded early in the
19th cent. in the United States. Its primary thesis is that the Bible alone
should form the basis for faith and conduct, each individual interpreting the
Bible for himself or herself. Thomas
Campbell,
preaching in W Pennsylvania, was censured by his presbytery for trying to gather
into the church scattered groups of Christians. He made a plea for unity among
all Christians with no other platform than the primitive and simple gospel. In
1809 he formed the Christian Association of Washington, Pa., but neither he nor
his son Alexander
Campbell, who joined him in the work, desired that a new denomination should
be established. An independent church was built (1811) at Brush Run, Pa., with
Alexander as the minister. The movement expanded rapidly. Another minister,
Barton Warren Stone, had also broken away from the Presbyterian Church and
formed a church whose members were known as "Christians. Similar separatist
groups seceded, under the leadership of James O'Kelley, from the Methodist
Church in North Carolina and, under Abner Jones and Elias Smith, from some of
the Baptist churches in New England. Both Stone and Alexander Campbell had
adopted immersion, and this brought them for a time into sympathetic relations
with the Baptists. In 1832 practically all of Stone's group and many from the
other two branches united with the "Disciples led by Campbell. The remainder of
the "Christians, who were subsequently organized as the Christian Church, merged
(1931) with the Congregational Church (see
Congregationalism).
The merged "Disciples and "Christians developed strongly and rapidly after the
Civil War, particularly in the central and western states, and missionary labors
have extended the church throughout the world. A separation into two churches
took place in 1906 because of a dispute over the use of instrumental music at
the church service; the progressive group, which allowed it, became known as the
Disciples of Christ, while the conservatives, who dissented, were organized as
Churches of Christ.
In 1968 the Disciples of Christ reorganized as the Christian Church (Disciples
of Christ). Membership in the church is c.850,000 worldwide (1999).
Bibliography
http://www.encyclopedia.com/
See W. E. Garrison and A. T. DeGroot, The Disciples of Christ, a
History (rev. ed. 1958, repr. 1964); L. Cochran, Captives of the
Word (1969). |
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