[AMA Series] Disciples of Christ
Welcome to the next installment in the r/Christianity Denominational AMAs! This is the third of three AMAs representing the Stone-Campbell Movement.
Today's Topic
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Panelists
u/RevMelissa
u/revappleby
u/RevEMD
*See also Wednesday's AMA on the Churches of Christ and yesterday's on the Independent Christian Churches/Churches of Christ.
AN INTRODUCTION
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is one part of the reformation movement (along with the Church of Christ, and Independent Christian Churches and Churches of Christ).
History:
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) came into being in the early 1800's through the work and ministry of Barton Stone, Thomas and Alexander Campbell, and Walter Scott. Each of these men came to the idea that the partisanship and denominational bickering that had overtaken the church at that time (bearing in mind that these boundaries are much stricter than they are today and that if you didn’t belong to the particular branch of denominational Christianity of the church you were worshiping in that Sunday you would be denied communion and full participation in the Church) was a scandal to the body of Christ.
They abandoned their denominational backgrounds, creeds and faith statements and resolved to use only the New Testament as their rule of faith and to accept into their communion any who would confess Christ. As Alexander Campbell put it, "But who is a Christian? I answer, everyone that believes in his heart that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, the Son of God; repents of his sins and obeys him in all things according to his measure of knowledge of his will." The Campbells' and Scott's followers, throughout Virginia and into the Western Reserve, referred to themselves as "Disciples of Christ" and Stone and his followers, largely from Kentucky and points South, referred to themselves as Christians. The two movements eventually came into contact with one another and finding much in common united together.
During the Second Great Awakening the movement spread like wild-fire, appealing to both the rationalistic common sense philosophy (and later pragmatism) that was in the air at the time, and to the DIY spirit of the American frontier. Following the Civil War and the death of the movement's original leadership the movement fractured. In 1906 the Churches of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)parted company. Many reasons have been given for the split: economic differences (the CoC congregations were largely poorer churches, whereas the DoC congregations tended to be wealthier allowing them access to seminary trained leadership, church organs, and the like), sociological differences (many DoC congregations tended to be in Northern and urban areas, whereas CoC congregations tended to be in Southern or more rural areas), and theological differences (the CoC heartily emphasized the New Testament primitivism of the movements founders whereas the DoC emphasized the call to Christian unity).
The DoC coalesced and while the local congregations were autonomous and there was no centralized belief statement for the movement, local churches began to work in concert with one another in order to more effectively spread the gospel by pooling their resources through Bible and Missional societies. Later these congregations began to organize regionally in order to prevent overlap in church work and better manage their resources.
By 1960, a portion of the movement thought of itself more and more as a denomination (though admittedly one with a rather loose structure), and they sought to strengthen the relationship between local congregations, the region and the national church (largely to further participation in the ecumenical movement). In the same year, at our annual convention in Louisville, a committee was appointed to explore the restructure of "the brotherhood" (this is what the DoC referred to itself as among its membership at the time). This committee's recommendations were formally adopted in the 1968 assembly in Kansas City. This lead to another break in the movement as many congregations did not favor a stronger national body for theological and historical reasons. This lead to the split between the Independent Christian Churches and Churches of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in 1989 entered into a relationship of full communion with the United Church of Christ, and has since merged both our missional offices and our search and call process (which matches up ministers with congregations). In 2001, the DoC became a charter member of the ecumenical society "Churches Uniting in Christ" (along with: the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, The Episcopal Church, the International Council of Community Churches, the Moravian Church Northern Provence, the Presbyterian Church [USA], the United Church of Christ, and the United Methodist Church) with the following goals in mind: "Receive each other as Christ's church; Mutually recognize baptisms & members; Affirm apostolic creeds; Celebrate Eucharist together; Engage in mission & anti-racism; Promote wholeness & inclusion; Structure accountability; consultation & decision-making; Support ongoing theological dialogue).
What do members of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) believe?
A running joke among Disciples when asked about their theology is to reply by saying, "What theology?". While there are very few formal statements of the faith of the Disciples of Christ and even fewer that stand as tests of fellowship, some commonalities can be observed among Disciples:
On God
God is recognized as the creator and sustainer of the heavens and the earth- revealed through the Scriptures and ultimately through Jesus Christ.
On the Scriptures
The Disciples recognize the sixty-six books used by our Protestant brothers and sisters to comprise the holy scriptures. We believe that these Scriptures testify to the relationship with God and humanity. The Disciples have no formal theology of the Bible however it is common to hear Disciples speak of the scripture as "human testimony to divine revelation" . Disciples traditionally embrace the use of the tools of both lower and higher criticism in their making use of the Scriptures, and tend not to hold to either infallibility or inerrancy.
On Jesus Christ
"We confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God and proclaim him to be the savior of the world."
Within that confession there are numerous understandings of the salvific work of Christ ranging from Christian Exclusivism (the idea that one must confess Christ explicitly in order to be saved and that there is no salvation apart from this confession of faith) to Christian Universalism (the idea that all are saved through the faithfulness of Christ apart from any work- even the work of confession).
On the Holy Spirit
Disciples tend to be rather vague here. While most (though not all) recognize the divinity of the Spirit, Disciples churches can be found anywhere on the spectrum from cessationist to charismatic. The Design (a list of some Disciples beliefs) states: "In the communion of the Holy Spirit we are joined together in discipleship and in obedience to Christ."
On Baptism Disciples practice believer's baptism by immersion, though they recognize infant baptism accompanied by a later confession of faith as legitimate, they do not practice infant baptism.
On the Lord's Supper
Disciples practice the Eucharist weekly, and it is administered by chosen members of the congregation. In a Disciples congregation the table is open to all who wish to participate.
Our history with the Church
u/revappleby is an ordained Disciples minister and theologian. He grew up in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) but has also been a member of The Episcopal Church, and a non-denominational charismatic church. He currently pastors a small Disciples church in central Georgia and lectures in theology with the Christian College of Georgia (a Disciples institution for the training of commissioned ministers).
u/RevMelissa is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ.) She was born into the denomination, and her family goes back four generations. Her family has a strong history of female leadership within the church. She currently serves at a small DOC congregation, once a month in Georgia, and is the senior minister of an online ministry, and non-profit.
Rev. Evan M. Dolive (/u/revEMD) is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). He is married to his high school sweetheart and has two children ages 3 and 1. He currently serves in Beaumont, Texas. He also blogs for Houston Belief, Good Men Project, and Radical Parents. For more information about Evan visit evandolive.com. He also contributes to [D]mergent and Sojourners.
Thanks to the panelists for volunteering their time and knowledge!
As a reminder, the nature of these AMAs is to learn and discuss. While debates are inevitable, please keep the nature of your questions civil and polite.
Join us on Monday when u/xurvis takes your question on the Vineyard Movement!
Posted Jan 31, 2014, 2:25 PM UTC · edited