Overview of Beginnings

The brotherhood and sisterhood of the Disciples of Christ is American in origin; a product of and a moving force in the great "Second Reformation." Having its beginning in western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Kentucky in the early part of the 19th century, it fanned the blaze of a spiritual fire of religious freedom that has burned brighter through the years. It held UNITY as its benchmark and the goal of returning to a more apostolic format not unlike the first century church.

Our brotherhood came into existence because of a growing conviction concerning a united Church, the "One Body of Christ." There was no attempt to do away with any other church or form a new division within the Protestant Movement, but rather to bring together all those who wanted and needed a direct relationship with Jesus Christ without the limitations of the church hierarchy in existence at the time. Barton W. Stone, (pictured here) and the souls of Thomas and Alexander Campbell and Walter Scott and many others were disturbed over the many sects into which the church had divided.

As our forefathers moved across the mountains, wilderness, and prairies in their search for Christian fellowship and concurrence, they came to see that written creeds were more of a source of division than of unity. The leading goal was to find a common, infallible ground upon which all Christians might be joined in common bondage to Christ Jesus. The New Testament scriptures stood as a rule of faith and practice for all Christians. Christ, and Christ alone, is the creed of our church and we believe in and follow Him, giving praise and honor to His Holy Name.

Protestant Reformation Background

The Protestant Reformation of the 16th century was a complex series of many independent movements. Most of the basic ideas found expression among earlier reformers and dissenters, but the 16th century political and cultural conditions offered more effective support. The rising national spirit made it impossible for the imperial church to command the forces of the state for the protection of its interests as it had throughout the medieval period.

Also during the Renaissance, which had changed the intellectual and cultural climate of Europe, classical learning was revived. The spirit of free research was born. The clergy's long monopoly of literature and teaching was broken by the rise of a new class of secular authors, the invention of the printing press, and a greatly increased number of reading laymen. With all this, there came a new feeling of the worth of the natural human life and the dignity and power of the natural man.

The Protestant Reformation was a revolt against certain dogmas and practices of the church and against the usurpations and corruptions of the clergy, all of which were characteristic of the medieval system. It was not a rebellion against the church as such, but an attempt to free the church from the bondage which the Roman clergy had put upon it. It did not, as is sometimes said, aim to do away with the church and reduce Christianity to a system of pure individualism. It did aim to restore the church as it had been in its early and uncorrupted state, and thus to restore to Christians the primitive gospel and the apostles' doctrine and the primitive freedom from priestly domination.

The Reformation did not completely succeed in this for two reasons. One reason was that it developed new and rigid systems of Post-Reformation theology which became the standard of orthodoxy and further grounds for division. A second reason was that in establishing state churches and penalizing dissenters, it carried over for a time the medieval idea that conformity must be enforced in order to preserve the security of the state and the stability of the social order as well as the honor of the church.

Three main principles were common to all the various divisions within the Protestant movement and determined the lines of its development:

  1. Faith versus works. Salvation is the free gift of God's grace, laid hold upon by faith, not God's payment for penances performed or meritorious deeds done. This meant rejection of the great mass of religious practices such as penances, indulgences, pilgrimages, invocations of saints, and ceremonial acts as a means of acquiring merit.
  2. The priesthood of all believers. The individual has a right of direct access to God and common or lay Christians can perform for each other whatever "priestly" functions have a place in the Christian religion.
  3. Scripture versus ecclesiastical tradition. The Roman church held strict views of the inspiration and infallibility of Scripture, but it also held the tradition of the church as the infallible interpreter. As those who became the leaders of the Protestant movement broke with the Roman church, they necessarily acted upon the presupposition that they, as individuals, had the right of private interpretation.

Beginnings of Disciples of Christ

America in the opening years of the 19th century, which saw the beginnings of the Disciples of Christ, had three characteristics which especially affected the nature and fortunes of the movement.

First, the nation was very young, and its population was small. Until 1803, its territory stopped at the Mississippi River, and after that held the vaguely defined western limits of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. The Disciples began on the frontier and moved westward with it, at the same time developing as the country developed in the widening area behind the frontier.

Second, the religious forces of America were much divided. There were five or six large denominations of about equal size and a larger number of smaller ones. All these together included in their membership only a small fraction, certainly not more than ten percent, of the total population of America. In immigrating to a new country or moving to a new part of it, many had broken their church ties. Many who were used to a state-church relationship dropped out when there was no established church.

Third, religious liberty existed in America in a sense and to a degree in which it had never before existed anywhere in Christendom. Every person was free to practice and propagate the religion of their choice, or to stand aloof from all churches, with no prejudice to their civil rights. It is worth noting that Thomas Campbell specifically recognized the value of these conditions in America, especially the absence of an established church, as favoring a movement for the union of Christians. [Garrison & DeGroot, 1958]

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