Churches of Christ: Heritage and Destiny
I have been reading Malcolm Prentis’ new book, “The Scots in Australia” (UNSW Press 2008). He points out that Scottish Presbyterians were on board the ships of William Dampier and James Cook, and that the first Presbyterian worship service in Australia was held in 1793. Their first church, Ebenezer, was erected in 1802 and still stands on the Hawkesbury.
It was Scotsmen from the Presbyterian Church and the Scottish Baptist Churches who were responsible for founding in Australia, the Baptist Church, the Congregational Church, and the Churches of Christ, which was founded by free Scots who settled in South Australia. It was other Scots from Scotland and Ireland Presbyterian churches who were responsible for establishing Churches of Christ in the USA.
In American rural areas, Christians from many denominations at the turn of the 1800’s all sought a return to the original, “pre-denomina-tional” New Testament Christianity. Like many other individuals and Christian groups throughout the history of Christianity, the Restoration Movement, as it was known, was an attempt to seek doctrine and practice found in the Bible only.
Today, according to the World Convention of Churches of Christ statistics, there are about 5,062,074 members in over 40,000 individual congregations in over 168 nations of the world.
In keeping with their history, Churches of Christ claim the New Testament as their sole rule of faith and practice in deciding matters of doctrine and ecclesiastical structure. Although they view the Old Testament as divinely inspired, they do not see its laws as binding under the New Covenant in Christ (unless they are repeated in the New Testament). They believe that the New Testament demonstrates how a person may become a Christian, thus a part of the universal church of Christ, and how a church should be collectively organized and carry out its scriptural purposes.
Members do not typically consider themselves to be members of a denomination, but prefer to simply be known simply as Christians. Christians corporately should be referred to as the Church of Christ, Christian Church or Churches of Christ as these are the only titles given in the New Testament as in Acts 11:26: “...The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch” or Romans 16:16: “All the churches of Christ send greetings.”
Churches of Christ began 200 years ago – in both the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The early members began with a passion for the unity of the divided church. There was deep conviction that unity could not be achieved without a thorough reformation of the church of those times and that through such reform the life, faith, and order of the ‘New Testament’ church could and should be restored.
Early British leaders included William Jones and James Wallis but they owed much to other reformers of their times. The movement in the United States focused around two major leaders in particular – Barton W Stone and Alexander Campbell.
Barton Stone was a Presbyterian minister at Cane Ridge, Kentucky, from 1798 and the revival he organized there in 1801 is considered a significant milestone in the religious history of the USA. The experience was a major factor leading Stone to withdraw from the Presbyterian Synod of Kentucky in 1803 and then in 1804 (reflecting the desire to be ‘simply Christian’) to dissolve the new Springfield Presbytery he had created and ‘sink into union with the Body of Christ at large’. Effectively the ‘Christian Church’ of ‘Christians only, but not the only Christians’ with unity as its ‘polar star’ had been established.
At the time of the 1801 revival the Campbells were still in Ireland. Thomas Campbell, also a Presbyterian Minister, came to the United States in 1807. In 1809, because of what he saw as the scandal of Christian division, he formed the Christian Association of Washington (PA) and published a classic document on Christian unity – ‘The Declaration and Address’ which next year 2009 celebrates it 200th anniversary.
Alexander Campbell arrived in the United States two years after his father and quickly discovered that he shared his father’s views. He became an advocate of these ideals and soon took the lead in the developing reform movement as a separate church in 1811. An attempt to work with the Baptists over the next two decades also failed and by 1830 these ‘Disciples’ were a separate group.
In 1824 Barton Stone and Alexander Campbell met. Their movements came together in the famous handshake of 1832 and a period of definition and consolidation for this united movement followed. The first century was a time of significant growth and the Christian Church became the fifth largest church in the United States.
A fourth pioneer in the United States, Walter Scott made a unique contribution to the movement with his rational evangelistic emphasis. His ‘five finger exercise’ – faith, repentance, baptism, the remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit – provided an order in which people could come to Christ and membership in His Church.
In 1847 Alexander Campbell visited the United Kingdom and was president of the Second Cooperative Meeting, affirming in person the links that had been developing across the Atlantic. The movement wanted to use ‘biblical names for biblical things’.
In the United Kingdom ‘Church of Christ’ was the name used and churches in the Commonwealth still usually use this name. By the 1840’s there were Churches of Christ in Australia, Canada and New Zealand and later in India, South Africa and Malawi, Thailand, Zimbabwe and Vanuatu. By the time of their 1909 Centennial Convention, United States churches had established work in the Argentine, China, the Congo, Cuba, Hawaii, India, Jamaica, Japan, Mexico, the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Tibet.
However by 1906, congregations currently known in the United States as Churches of Christ (a cappella) had become a distinct group. In the decades from the 1920’s to the 1960’s in the United States a further division in the Christian Church occurred culminating in the more liberal and ecumenical group restructuring as the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), with those not wishing to be a part of this denomination remaining as ‘independent’ Christian Churches and Churches of Christ.
In the early 1980’s in the United Kingdom the majority of our cooperative churches joined the United Reformed Church (Church of Christ-Congregational-Presbyterian). In many other parts of the world some of our family have joined united churches – for example in India, Thailand, Jamaica, Japan, the Philippines and the Congo (Kinshasa).
We have dreamed of the church united in essentials, tolerant in non essentials and loving in all things – so that the world might really believe in Jesus Christ.
So what are the marks of Christian Churches and Churches of Christ? It is possible to choose ten major characteristics:
1. A concern for Christian Unity
2. A commitment to Evangelism and Mission
3. An emphasis on the centrality of the New Testament
4. A simple Confession of Faith
5. Believers’ Baptism
6. Weekly Communion
7. A Biblical Name
8. Congregational autonomy
9. Lay Leadership
10. Diversity/Freedom/Liberty
1. A concern for Christian Unity.
In the 1808 ‘Declaration and Address’ Thomas Campbell wrote that the Church of Christ on earth is “essentially, intentionally and constitutionally one”. Another pioneer, Barton Stone, spoke of Christian unity being the ‘polar star’ which guides us.
Today there are different understandings of how Christian unity might be understood and achieved ranging from commitment to the ecumenical movement, with some involved in dialogue and negotiation with other church families, through a belief that there is already an underlying God-given unity despite apparent division, to those who feel that they have discovered what the church should be like and that unity will come through others recognising this and joining with them.
2. A commitment to Evangelism and Mission.
Unity was never an end in itself. Its desirability came out of the understanding ‘that the world could be won only if the church became one’. Today that commitment is shown both by emphasizing the need for personal commitment to Jesus Christ and by a concern for peace and justice for all people.
3. A New Testament emphasis.
Churches of Christ are “People of The Book”. They believed that unity could be achieved by ‘restoring’ the New Testament Church – stripping away the accumulation of traditions that had brought about division. The authority was the scriptures – not the church. Many still like to be referred to as the ‘Restoration Movement’; others believe there are difficulties in accepting that the New Testament provides a clear unified model for the church and believe that the church must also be open to God’s present word measured against the biblical revelation.
4. A simple confession of faith.
Today many people from different denominations have different standards of belief for what they call “being a true Christian.”
But in Matthew 16:16 is the cornerstone question for church membership: ‘Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ and accept him as your Lord and Saviour?’ Answering yes to that question is all that is required for membership. This simple question avoided the use of – often divisive – creeds. Many today will not make any use of creeds; others will use them as a means of expressing faith – but not a test of faith.
5. Believers’ Baptism.
Only people who have reached an age where they can make their own confession of faith are baptised. The means of baptism is always immersion. Many congregations will now accept into membership – by transfer – those who become church members through other traditions; other congregations are adamant that believers’ baptism is essential. Baptistries – for immersion – are features of worship facilities.
6. Weekly Communion.
Churches of Christ celebrate communion or ‘The Lord’s Supper’ each Sunday as this was the frequency mentioned in the New Testament. The Lord’s Supper is celebrated by lay people, a sign that it is the Table of the Lord. All are invited to partake , and all believers are eligible to lead as befits the “priesthood of all believers”.
7. Biblical Name.
Members of the emerging 19th Century Movement wanted to be known only as “Christians”, “Disciples of Christ” or “Churches of Christ”. Slogans such as “Christians only – but not the only Christians” and “Biblical names for Biblical people” captured this emphasis. Hence Churches of Christ is usually associated with a name of the location. Recently some have adopted other names such as “Grace Church” or “New Life Church.”
8. Congregational Autonomy.
Members of Churches of Christ live under the authority of Christ but this authority is seen as being worked out in the local congregation. For many this congregational autonomy is absolute; many others guard their autonomy jealously but have established ways of working together; many are organized in regions and/or nationally but still with a very large degree of congregational autonomy. Globally there is very limited organization. The World Convention of Churches of Christ is a global fellowship without any authority over local churches.
9. Lay Leadership.
The ‘Priesthood of all Believers’ is a mark of all Churches of Christ as you would expect among people that rejected the authority of the state, bishops and Church councils over them for the democratic manner of new countries away from Europe’s traditions. Lay people conduct the sacraments. Women and men are seen as equal. There is an employed and trained ministry which may give leadership but which has no particular authority in a local congregation unless it confers it upon the minister because of his gifts and training.
10. Diversity.
‘In essentials unity, in nonessentials liberty, and in all things love’ is the best known slogan in Churches of Christ. Diversity can both enrich a congregation and divide it. Each congregation has the challenge of finding for itself the unity-in-diversity it seeks for the whole church of Jesus Christ.
MY EXPERIENCE IN CHURCHES OF CHRIST.
I have had three significant ministries in Churches of Christ in Victoria. But while in NSW I have been a lecturer in the Australian College of Ministries. I have constantly been speaking at significant gathering in all states and have been an Evangelist for Conference-wide crusades in each State.
I have attended, with my wife, eight world conventions over 52 years, been the author of study materials for World Conventions, been a Keynote speaker at World Conventions, given the prestigious Jessie Bader Evangelism Lectureship for World Convention, and have received the Grace and Garfield Todd Citation from the World Convention for significant international contribution to Churches of Christ. Two of our children were trained as ministers and have been engaged in full time ministry. For twenty-one years I have been lecturing at Emmanuel School of Religion in USA where I now hold an Adjunct Professorship.
My wife and I pledged money to build the first church in Canberra. We went to the opening by TR Morris. We then pledged to fund other national church developments in Darwin and Albany. We supported Federal Indigenous ministries and visited the fields in Victoria, W.A., and Qld to minister. We supported Overseas Missions with funds and work teams, sending a Work Party and Nursing sister to establish a hospital in Papua New Guinea.
One and a half million of my books were printed in China in Chinese. When I visited there to meet with hundreds of students who studied my books, I kept thinking that in China lies the body of Will Waterman at Hueili, South Szechuan a little bit of Australia still there after our hospitals and schools were closed. With the revivals of Christian faith in China, we should be building upon the hundreds of returning Chinese Christians who are members of our churches in Melbourne and Sydney.
For many years I was a columnist in each edition of the “The Australian Christian.” the national journal of Churches of Christ. For many years, I wrote Sunday School lessons and adult studies for the Federal Board of Christian Education, and then the Joint Board of Christian Education.
Churches of Christ had a traditional plea: evangelisation of the world through the unity of the church which could be retrieved by restoring the principles and practises of the New Testament Church as a basis for unity. I set out to review the validity of each aspect of that heritage over a period of twenty years.
In 1965 I published ‘Rethinking Restoration” the most thorough review in Australia of the Restoration principle. My conclusion was regarded as too radical at that time.
In 1975 I was committed to Unity between the fractured parts of the church and I wrote and lectured on how the Uniting Church in Australia needed the evangelical witness of Churches of Christ, and how Churches of Christ needed to move from observer status to that of a negotiating denomination if it was to fulfil our plea that a united church could strengthen our witness in evangelism.
But at a Federal Conference, the Christian Union proposal to join in the Uniting Church in Australia was rejected and we could not proceed. Over the next few years I was invited to explain to the Uniting denominations, their own Basis of Union. I decided then I should be true to my commitment to Christian Unity and join the Uniting Church.
In 1979, at the Federal Conference of 14 January 1979, before 3000 people on the Sunday night closing rally in the Melbourne Town Hall, I preached on the theme “Salvation in Christ”. I pointed out that evangelism was our primary purpose, to win the world for Christ. We had to become totally committed to the mission of the Church. The opportunity to be involved in our life-time in a unity of Australian denominations would never come again. The plea of unity had been rejected by our churches.
Likewise, the principle of restoration of New Testament Christianity was not achievable except in the most general sense, but evangelism was still our option. Our Lord’s High Priestly prayer was “I pray Father that they may be one, that the world may believe.” That the world may believe should be our theme for the future. I urged a wholehearted commitment to evangelism. Churches of Christ needed to be wholly committed to evangelism. The future of Churches of Christ lay in becoming fully committed to the mission of the Gospel.
The following week I was inducted into being the senior minister of Wesley Mission, a church that in 1884 had changed its name from “Church” to “Mission”, because that was to be its main emphasis. I believe in a missional church, and had argued for 35 years that the church is only the church when it is the church in mission. I served in that position for twenty-seven years.
Further, community has been in the forefront of my thinking when it comes to the ministry of the church. No Churches of Christ had wider community impact than the Cheltenham Church of Christ during my 13 years of ministry. It was amazing that in the 1970’s a multi million dollar development in buildings, extensive staff and ministries to the disabled, the aged, the mentally ill and the largest community education programs ever undertaken by a local church, were in that church.
The story of Wesley Mission’s growth in Missional and community service is widely known. I feel proud to have served in both, being true to the heritage and destiny of Churches of Christ.
REV. THE HON. DR GORDON MOYES, A.C., M.L.C.
