Tell me about the Disciples of Christ (Christian Church)...

[ZeroTX]

Anybody have anything they can tell me about this church affiliation? What "branch" of the Reformation does it come from? Beliefs?

Thanks,

Michael

[sarahbug]

Hey Michael, I have been wondering the same thing. :) Try their website http://www.disciples.org/

From what I've read, they seem to be a bit more liberal than the other Reformation "branches", but I guess it mainly depends on each congregation. Some are more liberal, and some are more conservative. Hope that helps a little. :)

[PaladinValer]

It is a liturgical, non-creedal Protestant (no-TULIP) church.

[Philo]

Disciples of Christ, Christian Churches, and Churches of Christ are all offshoots of the movement commonly referred to as the Restoration. Thomas and Alexander Campbell, as well as Barton W. Stone, are usually idetified as the progenitors of this movement.



The Declaration and Address (the full text of which can be found here: http://www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/texts/tcampbell/da/DA-1ST.HTM ) is considered the guiding document of the Restoration movement. Written in 1809, the Declaration and Address is Thomas Campbell's plea for unity of all Christians everywhere. He asserts "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." This is first proposition, and the one upon which the rest of the movement was built.



Making a very long story much shorter, the Restoration movement took off like a rocket. It's abandonment of creeds and embrace of belief in and obedience to Christ resonated in the hearts of Americans whose "longing to be free" had brought them to this country. But, like most good things, the Restoration movement as a call to unity ended. The blame can be placed mostly on the shoulders of the second and third generation Restorationists, who put less emphasis (and eventually no emphasis, in some circles) on unity and more on a concept called Biblical Authority. Now, when someone goes about capitalizing something that to anyone else would make perfect sense, you know things are about to get complicated.



Biblical Authority, in the eyes of the later Restorationists, meant a return to the "New Testament Pattern." It was (and is, most places) the belief of the Restorers that God wrote the NT with a specific, detailed "Plan of Salvation" consisting of Hearing, Believing, Repenting, Confessing, Being Baptized, and Living a Faithful Life. That last one, "Living a Faithful Life," is what started all the problems.



Alexander Campbell was fond of saying, about his movement, that "We speak where the Bible speaks and are silent where the Bible is silent." A fact often neglected by those who idolize Campbell as a sort of non-insane Joe Smith sans the prophet glasses and plus every single jot and tittle of their exclusive, sectarian idiology like to forget he was also found of saying "We are not the only Christians but we are Christians only." Be that as it may, the so-called Silence of the Scriptures became a splitting maul by which the briefly united Restorationist Christians were dismembered with all the grace and precision of a hungry childing working on a Christmas hog.



People came to believe that Alexander's couplet about the silence of the Scriptures absolutely forbade any "innovation," that is, adding to what the Scriptures say (or don't say), of the church economy. The two huge problems that immediately cropped up because of this stance was a)People didn't believe that the Silence of the Scriptures condemned actions not mentioned and b)People disagreed on what it was exactly the Scriptures were saying, when the Scriptures weren't silent.



The Christians Churches and Churches of Christ were for a long time synonamous. The titles could be used interchangably. By 1906, however, that had split into two distinct bodies. Prior to that, discussions, debates, and out-and-out wars had raged over the issues of instruments in worship and missionary societies. Those who favored them insisted that they were expedient to the work of spreading the gospel and wroshipping God; Those in opposition insisted that they were works of men, not found in the Bible and therefore not Authorized.


In 1906, the Restoration officially split into 3 bodies: Church of Christ (generally non-instrumental, non-missionary society), Christian Churches (instrumental, missionary society) and Disciples of Christ (pretty accepting of a variety of different beliefs).

That's some history for you, at least.

Just a Christian,

Philo

[Phoebe]

I've attended services at a First Christian- Disciples of Christ. I found it to be similar to the Methodist Church in many ways. (but not all ways...)