This assoc. of congs. traces its hist. to the beginning of the 19th c. and revivals under leadership of J. O'Kelly,* B. W. Stone,* and others opposed to every form of denominationalism and ecclesiasticism. The congs. banded together as the Chs. of Christ must be viewed less as a denomination than as an assoc. of congs. The movement received impetus through the work of T. and A. Campbell,* who held that creeds, confessions, and unscriptural words and phrases contributed to moral decline in Christendom. (See Disciples of Christ, 2 a, b). Originally the names of Churches of Christ and Disciples of Christ were used interchangeably by congs. which held that nothing could be tolerated in NT chs. unless it is expressly sanctioned in the Bible. Claiming to follow the example of the primitive ch., they rejected the use of denominational names, creeds, ecclesiastical terminology, and ch. govt. Each local cong. is considered autonomous; ecclesiastical govt. or supervision is viewed as contrary to the NT When miss. societies were organized on a money basis with membership on the basis of fixed annual contributions, when some of the chs. introd. instrumental music and others adopted unscriptural means of raising money, the Conservatives gradually separated from the Progressives; there is a clear line of demarcation bet. the Disciples of Christ (Progressives, modernistic) and the Chs. of Christ (Conservatives, fundamentalistic). The latter group is strong esp. in Texas, Tennessee, and Arkansas The All-Can. Committee of the Chs. of Christ (Disciples) was organized 1922.
Edited by: Erwin L. Lueker, Luther Poellot, Paul Jackson
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