Name.—Originally the "Disciples," or "Christian Church," was merely a society, and did not intend to become a church. The members called their society The Christian Association of Washington. When they virtually became a church they called themselves the Christian Church, because they believed that the children of God should be known "simply as Christians." (Acts 11 :26; Peter 4:16; I Cor. :12, 13.)
Luther said, "Do not call yourselves Lutherans, but Christians." Wesley said, "We desire to be called simply Christians; not the only Christians, but Christians only. This is the only name all believers can accept, and it is Scriptural."—Facts Covering the New Testament Church, pp. 8, 9.
Founding.—The Christian Church was founded in America in pioneer days and followed the pioneer movement across the continent.
It was a merging of two similar religious movements. The main one began in western Pennsylvania under the leadership of Thomas Campbell, who had been a minister in the Antiburgher division of the Secession branch of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. Because he in his ministry in America administered communion to those not of his particular branch of the church, he was censured, and withdrew his ministerial connections with the church. He held meetings pleading for Christian liberty and union. Thus the Christian Association of Washington was formed in 1809. Their headquarters, a log building three miles from Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, on the road leading to Washington, Pennsylvania, was the cradle of the movement.
Purpose.—Its purpose was to get members of the regular churches to join the association, to promote a spirit of unity—a unity which could be restored only by abandoning creeds and confessions of faith and returning to the New Testament.
Since many of their members had no other church connection, they applied to the Synod of Pittsburgh for membership. Denied, they organized themselves into an independent church known as the Brush Run Church, 1811.
Early Progress.—Because of a decision by these followers of Campbell that they ought to be baptized by immersion, there grew up a unity between them and the Baptists. The Brush Run Church affiliated with the Baptist Church with certain reservations.- However, the fundamental differences between the two churches gradually became more pronounced, so that there was a separation. Alexander Campbell published in the Christian Baptist a series of thirty-two articles discussing things in the church that should be discarded and changes that should be made if the church of the New Testament was to be taken as the standard. Whole churches accepted the reformation advocated, and the churches were divided.
Meanwhile a group under Barton W. Stone launched an independent movement in 1804, with much the same spirit as the movement led by Campbell. When the Christians ( Stone's movement) and the Disciples (Campbell's movement) came in close contact, they realized that they had a common purpose and were moving in a common direction, and the congregations united under the name Disciples of Christ. While the Disciples had no written creed, they agreed on what was fundamental, and were united in that which they opposed.
Contribution.—Their main contribution seems to have been the move to restore the simplicity and purity of the early church, and to strip away the false system that had crept into the church in the centuries after Christ.
Size.—Today this people, known simply as Christians in the U.S.A. and as the Church of Christ or Disciples in some other countries, number more than 1,760,000, having nearly 9,000 churches. The two leading publishing houses are the Christian Board of Publication in St. Louis and the Christian Standard in Cincinnati.
The Disciples of Christ rank sixth in size among the religious bodies of America. In Christian endeavor societies they rank third.
Archives.—They have a Home Missionary Society working in thirty-seven States, and their Foreign Missionary Society sustains 466 workers, 40 colleges and schools, and 18 hospitals in twelve different foreign lands. Their Christian Women's Board of Missionaries does a large work in both home and foreign fields. They have both a National Education Society and a National Benevolent Association. They publish fifty-five journals and support thirty-four colleges and seminaries of high grade, among which are Bethany College and Hiram College.
Present Doctrines.—Their doctrines today are very similar to the doctrines held at their beginning. Substantially they agree with all evangelical Christians. Distinctive doctrines:
1. Restoration of apostolic church, not reform.
2. Rejection of human creeds.
3. Emphasis on divine sonship of Jesus.
4. Evaluation of the Bible:
a. All inspired.
b. New Testament stressed.
5. Do not deny that others are Christians,
6. Work of Holy Spirit in conversion.
7. Christian baptism. (Immersion.) (Seek divine assurance of forgiveness through obedience.)
8. Lord's supper celebrated every Lord's day (Sunday).
9. Lord's day celebrated because of supposed apostles' example.
10. The church a divine institution.
Church Federation.—They still insist that union can come only through a return to the simplicity of the New Testament, and gladly co-operate with the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, the World Council of Churches, and other interdenominational movements. Several Disciples are leaders in interdenominational enterprises.
