Churches of Christ and Restorationism

At a glance

The Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement in early 1800s America sought to restore New Testament Christianity and leave denominational names behind.

It produced Churches of Christ, Christian Churches, and the Disciples of Christ. Many Churches of Christ keep a cappella worship, teach immersion for the remission of sins, and stress congregational autonomy.

Origin and history

Barton W. Stone’s Cane Ridge revival context (1801) and Springfield Presbytery’s “Last Will” (1804) aimed to quit denominational names. Separately, Thomas Campbell’s Declaration and Address (1809) and Alexander Campbell’s reform publishing (Christian Baptist; Millennial Harbinger) pursued unity by “Bible alone” patternism in the American West.

Stone and Campbell streams moved toward cooperation by the 1830s. By the early twentieth century, instruments in worship, missionary societies, and liberalism split the movement: a cappella Churches of Christ, instrumental Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, and the more mainline Disciples of Christ (Christian Church).

Churches of Christ remained strong in the American South and Southwest, with a distinctive debating culture on baptism and church organization.

• 1801 — Cane Ridge Revival (Stone context)
• 1809 — Thomas Campbell’s Declaration and Address
• 1832 — Stone-Campbell cooperation accelerates
• 1906 — U.S. Census recognizes Churches of Christ as separate
• 20th c. — three-way family split cemented

Key figures

Barton W. Stone (1772–1844), Thomas Campbell (1763–1854), and Alexander Campbell (1788–1866) led the movement. Walter Scott (1796–1861) popularized a gospel “plan” emphasizing immersion. Later debaters made Churches of Christ famous for public disputations.

• Barton W. Stone (1772–1844)
• Thomas & Alexander Campbell
• Walter Scott — “gospel restored” pedagogy

Theology and beliefs

The usual marks are a refusal of creeds in favor of “Christ only” (with strong unwritten rules about the silence of Scripture), believer’s immersion for the remission of sins (often with Acts 2:38 at the center), a weekly Lord’s Supper understood as a memorial, and, in many Churches of Christ, rejection of instrumental music under a regulative “speak where the Bible speaks.” Leadership is male and congregational, without the historic episcopate.

Soteriology often resists both Calvinism and emotional altar-call revivalism—stressing obedient faith culminating in baptism. That account of baptism is closer to a sacrament that works than to a mere symbol. These churches still baptize only believers, and they do not claim bishops in historic succession.

• Immersion for remission of sins (typical CoC)
• Weekly Lord’s Supper (memorial)
• A cappella worship (many CoC)
• Congregational autonomy; anti-creedal rhetoric
• Patternism / command-example-inference hermeneutic

• Thomas Campbell

  Declaration and Address, Proposition 1 (1809)

  “That the Church of Christ upon earth is essentially, intentionally, and constitutionally one; consisting of all those in every place that profess their faith in Christ and obedience to him in all things according to the Scriptures, and that manifest the same by their tempers and conduct, and of none else, as none else can be truly and properly called Christians.”

  One church

  Suggest a correction

Practices and worship

Sunday assembly with Lord’s Supper each week, preaching, a cappella singing (in non-instrumental churches), and local elders and deacons. Fellowship lines can be strict over instruments, orphan homes, eschatology, and baptismal formulas.

• Weekly communion
• Adult immersion baptisms
• Local elders; no denominational HQ (CoC claim)
• Strong Bible-class culture

Scripture they cite

Churches of Christ put Acts 2:38 at the center: repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins. They add the pattern of a weekly Supper (Acts 20:7) and, in non-instrumental churches, singing that mentions no instruments (Ephesians 5:19). The hermeneutic is often stated as command, example, and necessary inference. Where the New Testament is silent, many congregations forbid the practice.

They refuse creeds by name and cite “no other name” and “that they may be one.” The unwritten rules about music, mission societies, and the name on the door function as a test of fellowship.

• Acts 2:38

  “Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins,”

• Acts 20:7

  “On the first day of the week, when the disciples were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day,”

• Ephesians 5:19
• 1 Corinthians 11:23–26

  “For I received from the Lord that which also I delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread.”

• Mark 16:16

  “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who disbelieves will be condemned.”

Where Catholic teaching differs

Catholics also teach that baptism is for the forgiveness of sins, and they baptize infants as well as adults. They use instruments or not according to the rite, and they receive the Nicene Creed as a true summary of baptismal faith, not as a rival to Scripture. Ignatius of Antioch, about 110, already expects one bishop in each church and ties the Eucharist to him. Restoration preaching usually does not start from that generation.

In conversation

Three bodies came out of the same movement. Churches of Christ, recognized separately in the U.S. Census of 1906, typically sing without instruments and have no central office. Christian Churches and Churches of Christ use instruments and support missions. The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is the mainline branch. The sign “Church of Christ” does not tell you which.

• Stone’s Last Will of the Springfield Presbytery is 1804.
• Thomas Campbell’s Declaration and Address is 1809.
• The usual date of the Stone-Campbell union is 1832.

Common misconceptions

Sources

Citations for this article. Browse the full bibliography to see every place each source is used across the library.

Revision history

Who changed this page and when — newest first. Like a wiki edit log.