GENERAL

 Made up of 3 different groups
   Christian Church / Disciples of Christ
   Independent Christian Churches
   Churches of Christ

 Area common to all three
  -Sunday congregational worship
  -Reformed type of worship: not high mass, not spirit filled
  -Elder ruled
  -Baptism by immersion for salvation (?)
  -Extempore prayer during celebration of the Lord's Supper
  -Worship time centers on the Lord's Supper
  -Worship not emotionally driven
  -Strictly Biblical
  -Have their own translation of the Bible 'The Living Oracles'.

 Major reform movements w/in this denomination
  1. Renewal in worship w/ ecumenical stylings.
      Renewal in building styles to Romanesque and Gothic.

  2. Renewal in emphasis on the Lord's Supper.

  3. Renewal in full ecumenical participation.

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT

 Began in the USA in early 1800's under the leadership of 3 ex-Presbyterian ministers.
  -Barton Stone, Thomas and Alexander Campbell.

 They had a desire to return to a 'New Testament' style church.  They were concerned about "denominational names and creeds". In 1804, in the western frontier state of Kentucky, Barton W. Stone and several other Presbyterian preachers took action declaring that they would take the Bible as the "only sure guide to heaven."

 Thomas Campbell, and his illustrious son, Alexander Campbell, took similar steps in the year 1809 in what is now the state of West Virginia. They contended that nothing should be bound upon Christians as a matter of doctrine which is not as old as the New Testament.  These men did not advocate the starting of a new church, but rather a return to Christ's church as described in the Bible.

 The whole movement is designed to reproduce in contemporary times the church originally established on Pentacost, A.D. 30. The strength of the appeal lies in the restoration of Christ's original church.

 The roots of the Restoration Movement extend backward to the period after the Revolutionary War.
The two most important tributaries for the larger movement resulted from the work of Barton W. Stone (1772-1844) and the two Campbells, Thomas (1763-1854) and Alexander (1788-1866) father and son.

 At the turn of the century the second great awakening titillated the Kentucky and Ohio frontiers. Camp meetings sprang up throughout the region, the largest being the 1801 extravaganza at Cane Ridge, Kentucky, northeast of Lexington. Denominational barriers crumbled.  As the months wore on, some of the preachers, especially among the Presbyterians, favored the ecumenical savor.

 In 1807 Thomas Campbell, born in North Ireland of Scottish descent, arrived in Pennsylvania, settling in Washington County. Long a Presbyterian minister, he exerted considerable energy in the land of his nativity in a struggle to unify dissident Presbyterian groups. His efforts at similar rapprochement in Pennsylvania resulted in litigation to oust him from the his presbytery.  Seeing the handwriting on the wall, he resigned and with others of like-mind, formed the Christian Association of Washington, Pennsylvania.

 In 1809, his gifted son Alexander arrived with the rest of Thomas' family from a stint at the University of Glasgow. Out of the Campbell's efforts, churches were formed in the region around Pittsburgh. After 1816, the Campbell's joined with Baptist ministers of the Redstone and later the Mahoning Associations, winning several Ohio and Kentucky Baptist churches to their outlooks. The Campbells envisioned a mass exodus of believers from sectarian Protestantism so as to become one body, one New Testament church.

 By 1850 Alexander Campbell, because of his journal editing, book publishing, debating, lecturing, and founding Bethany College, became the best known leader of the movement.  Thomas and Alexander Campbell were highly influenced by the Scottish Enlightenment which emphasized reason as opposed to enthusiasm. They modified their reform views, that is, the heritage of John Calvin (1509-1564.

 The churches of the 1832 merger, usually going by the name Christian Churches, multiplied rapidly, becoming the fastest growing indigenous American church, reaching a million members before 1900. After the Civil War differences going back to the beginning created ruptures in the movement. The first had to do with state and national mission societies.

 Regional differences and embitterments over the war and reconstruction led to estrangement. The liberal leaders in the movement gained the upper hand in the mission societies, prompting the conservatives in former Confederate states to withdraw and grow increasingly critical of the societies. In the early 1870's the leadership for the opposition, Tolbert Fanning (1810-1874) and David Lipscomb (1831-1917), lived in Nashville, Tennessee, and published The Gospel Advocate, Fanning beginning in 1855, then Lipscomb who reissued it in 1866 when the war was over. They were the founders of the Churches of Christ.

 Began in 1887 in Kentucky
 Pacifistic
  -Condemns abortion, capitol punishment, warfare
 Non Creedal
 Ecumenical
 Location
  -Mostly in Kentucky, Carolinas, Pa. Ohio, Ind. and Texas.
  -Usually found in rural, mountain and often neglected areas of the country.
 Congregational government
  -General superintendent presides over a board of trustees
 106,831 membership in 1456 churches: (average 73 per church)
 Doctrine and worship more in line with Disciples of Christ (liberal) than Churches of Christ (conservative)

GENERAL
 Ecumenical
  -National Council of Churches, World Council of Churches
 Location
  -Mid and South west
 Size
  -1086668 members in 4195 churches in USA. (average 259 per church)
  -37 churches in Canada
 Missions
  -Active with it's own missions society.
  -450 active missionaries throughout the world.
 Inclusive
  -'We encourage one another to welcome all persons, regardless of sexual orientation or any other human condition,
    into Christian fellowship. We are seeking to become explicitly open and     inclusive of all people.'

DOCTRINE
 -Allows for variance of opinion
 -Complete freedom of interpretation
 -Live by individual conviction.
 -Immortality of the soul but no original sin.
 -All sin after the age of accountability and are held responsible for their sin after that.
 -Not interested in discussions on the Trinity or Triune nature of the Godhead.
 -Not fundamentalists but would consider them selves evangelical.
 -Liberal in their doctrine in general.

WORSHIP
 -Progressive
 -Instruments in worship
 -No set order of worship (denominationally) would be something like ours.
 -Baptism by immersion. Wording makes it sound like it could be necessary for salvation.
 -The Lord's Supper. Central to the worship service. Weekly. Special presence of Jesus as Host

GOVERNMENT
 Anti-denomination
  -yet are organized with a central government for the whole group with representative leadership.
  -Meet nationally and regionally in conventions.
  -Denominationalism is not Biblical or Christian.
Ordained and non ordained clergy
 Lay leadership

GENERAL
 Size
  -2,000,000 members  worldwide most in the US in 15,000 churches (average 133 per church)
  -Has grown 5 fold since 1936
 Location
  -Central, South  and SouthWest
 Missions
  -No mission societies
  -1000 missionaries / evangelists in 75 countries
  -US Army and Air Force Chaplains
 Social Services
  -21 Colleges, 70 Elementary and secondary schools, 83 child care facilities, 46 sr. citizens centers  No official Journals
  117 periodicals
 National radio  and tv program 'The Herald of Truth'
  -800 radio stations
  -150 tv stations
 World Radio
  -14 languages

DOCTRINE
 More conservative in doctrine and lifestyle
 An appeal to go back to the Bible.
  -It is a plea to speak where the Bible speak and to remain silent where the Bible is silent in all matters that pertain to religion.
  -It further empasizes that in everything religious there must be a "Thus saith the Lord" for all that  is done.
 No creeds or written statements of faith
 Holds to an 'Age of accountability' for sin and salvation
 May hold to baptismal regeneration by some of their wording.
 Arminian

WORSHIP
 Simple
  -No instruments (eph. 5:19)
  -No standardized order of worship
  -If they didn't do it in the NT church they don't do it now.
 Baptism by immersion for salvation?
 Lord's Supper is central to service and is weekly
  -Memorial in nature
  -Uses real wine
  -Open
  -Must be baptized by immersion before you can receive the Lord's Supper
  -Presided over by the lay elders not the pastor.

GOVERNMENT
 No organizational structure larger than the local church
 No official Journals
 Churches and Preaches are highly entrepreneurial.
 7000 trained ministers (male)
 Local church
  -Elder Rule (male) selected by the local congregation
  -Ministers are ordained but the only authority is in the eldership not the pastor.
 Membership
  -Though God's part is the big part, man's part is also necessary if man is to reach heaven. Man must comply with the
    conditions of pardon which the Lord has announced. Man's part can clearly    set forth in the following steps:

• Hear the Gospel. "How shall they call on him whom they have not believed? and how shall they  believe him whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?" (Romans 10:14).

• Believe. "And without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing unto him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that seek after him" (Hebrews 11:6).

• Repent of past sins. "The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked; but now he commandeth men  that they should all everywhere repent"(Acts 17:30).

• Confess Jesus as Lord. "Behold here is water; What doth hinder me to be baptized ? And Philip said, if  thou believeth with all thy heart thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is  the Son of God" (Acts 8:36-37).

• Be baptized for the remission of sins. "And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized everyone  of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins and ye shall receive the gift of the  Holy Spirit"(Acts 2:38).

• Live a Christian life. "Ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own  possession, that ye may show forth the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light" (1 Peter 2:9).

  'Now that you are aware of a church in the 20th century which is built according to the blue prints of Christ's original church, why not become a member of it? In becoming a member of it, you will be called upon to do nothing which you cannot read in the New Testament. You will then live and worship just as the apostle-guided Christians of the first century did.

 Not only is this return to New Testament Christianity a wonderful basis upon which all believers in Christ can unite, it is absolutely solid ground. If we do just what our Lord commanded we know that our salvation is certain. Come with us as we go back to the Bible, back to Christ and his church!'