Disciples of Christ
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a denomination of Christians in the United States commonly known as the Christian Church, or Church of Christ, and sometimes called Campbellites. In September, 1809, Thomas Campbell, a Scotch minister of the seceders' branch of the Presbyterian Church, then living in western Pennsylvania, issued "Declaration and a Address" deploring the divided state of the Church, and urging as the only remedy a complete restoration of apostolic Christianity and the rejection of all human creeds and confessions of faith. The Christian Association of Washington, Pa., was formed for the purpose of promoting the principles set forth in this "declaration." Mr. Campbell's son, Alexander, led the new movement. It was not the intention of the Campbells to form a distinct religious body, but but to effect the proposed reforms in the Churches. Opposition forced them to act independently and the first Church was organized at Brush Run on May 4, 1811. The Disciples accept the Bible as their only rule of faith and practice. They reject infant baptism and adopt believers' immersion only. They observe the Lord's Supper each first day of the week, and practically accept and exalt the doctrine of the divinity of Christ. Their Church polity is congregational, though they frequently hold conventions in the interest of world-wide missions, but not for legislative purposes. They maintain college and numerous benevolent and educational organizations. They support missionaries in India, China, Japan, Africa, the Philippines, Cuba, Porto Rico, Mexico, Scandinavia, and Turkey. In 1919, the Disciples of Christ throughout the world numbered about 1,400,000.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
When Collier's wrote this in 1921 it could still describe one body of about 1,400,000 with a purely congregational polity and no legislative conventions. That unity did not hold: the a cappella Churches of Christ had already been counted separately in the 1906 federal religious census, and the more conservative independent Christian Churches and Churches of Christ pulled away over missionary societies and open membership, listing themselves separately by 1971. The remaining wing did the very thing Collier's said it did not do, adopting a Provisional Design in 1968 that made it a formal denomination, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), with a General Assembly and regional structure. That body has shrunk sharply from its mid-century peak to a few hundred thousand members, while the Churches of Christ and the independent Christian Churches together account for the larger part of the movement today.
Written for this edition, 2026.