Dear Glen,
Thank you very much for the correction and fuller information
about the Disciples of Christ and the Church of Christ. You may
be interested in the following lines from the "Corpus Dictionary
of Western Churches" by T.C. O'Brien (Corpus Publications).
Following your message, I read up on these churches. Even though
my Dad was a licensed evangelist of the Disciples of Christ, I
didn't know very much about them. I'm really intrigued to know
that the Disciples are "much more liberal/mainstream." That sure
doesn't sound like Dad! His was a stern and rigorist,
fire-and-brimstone religion. Anyway, here is part of what I
read, and I thank you again for motivating some interesting
research:
CAMPBELLITES, early members of the Christian Churches
(Disciples of Christ) named from their leaders, T. and A.
Campbell. The name has always been unacceptable to the
Disciples of Christ themselves.
CHRISTIAN CHURCHES (Disciples of Christ), International
Convention of .......
(D)ivisions within the movement:
Before 1900 resistance grew against "innovations" that some
accounted unscriptural--missionary societies, the use of
musical instruments in worship, the one-man pastoral system
that began to replace the collegial pastorate of the
nonsalaried elders. In 1904 the dissidents issued a separate
preacher list and the Federal Religious Census of 1906 named
*Churches of Christ as a body distinct from Disciples of
Christ. After 1900 some Disciples took offense at other
tendencies: open communion (reception of persons from other
Churches without requiring immersion), the inroads of liberal
theology, and participation in councils of Churches and other
ecumenical enterprises (interpreted by the opponents as an
acceptance of denominationalism.)
Sincerely in Christ,
Father Mateo
- Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit -
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