Included in these revivals were churches that now comprise the Stone-Campbell heritage. The name comes from the primary founders of this branch of Christianity. In Kentucky, Barton Warren Stone (1772-1844) was a Presbyterian minister who, along with others, called for a return to simple New Testament Christianity.
In fact, Stone believed that followers of Christ should go by no other name than “Christian.” In Pennsylvania and what is now West Virginia, father and son Thomas Campbell (1763-1854) and Alexander Campbell (1788-1866) championed the idea of “one Church of Christ upon earth.” They, too, believed that followers of Christ should not be identified by sectarian names and asked that only “Disciples” be used.
When the Stone and Campbell camps eventually came together, both “Christian” and “Disciples of Christ” were retained as designators.
Stone-Campbell churches fall into the category of Protestant free-church. That is, individual congregations are seen as the pinnacle of church expression, are independent/autonomous organizations, and advocate the separation of church and state.
The Stone-Campbell churches are characterized by a focus on New Testament teaching, shared governance between clergy and laity, baptism by immersion, ecumenism, and the regular celebration of communion during worship.
There was never a monolithic structure for these churches. In North America today, Stone-Campbell churches are found mainly in three groups (or “streams”): Churches of Christ, Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The latter has especially been involved in Christian ecumenism since the beginning of the 20th century.
The three streams are connected through an organization known as the World Convention. Globally, congregations descending from this tradition can be found in over 100 countries.
Disciples of Christ Historical Society archives materials related to all churches in the Stone-Campbell heritage and offers research assistance to interested parties. Disciples History also tells the Stone-Campbell story through this website and other resources.
The Three Streams
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Read more about the history of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), known especially for its emphasis on Christian unity and leadership in the ecumenical movement.
General Assembly Archives
Read more about the history of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), known especially for its emphasis on Christian unity and leadership in the ecumenical movement.
Churches of Christ
Read more about the history of Churches of Christ, known especially for their congregational identity, acapella worship, and restorationist impulse.
Christian Churches/Churches of Christ
Read more about Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, known especially for their emphasis evangelism and belief in the autonomy of the congregation.
Notable People
Alexander Campbell was an early leader in the Second Great Awakening of the religious movement that has been referred to as the Restoration Movement, or Stone-Campbell Movement. The Campbell wing of the movement was said to begin with his father Thomas Campbell’s publication in 1809 in Washington County, Pennsylvania, of The Declaration and Address of the Christian Association of Washington.
In 1832 the group of reformers led by the Campbells (known as the “Disciples of Christ”) merged with a similar group that began in Kentucky under the leadership of Barton W. Stone. Several American church groups trace their history to the Campbells’ leadership, including the Churches of Christ, the Christian churches and churches of Christ, Evangelical Christian Church in Canada, and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
Alexander Campbell is also the founder of Bethany College in Bethany, West Virginia. Alexander Campbell was born near Ballymena, in the parish of Broughshane, County Antrim, Ireland. His parents were Thomas Campbell and Jane Corneigle Campbell. Of Scots-Irish descent, he was educated at the University of Glasgow, where he was greatly influenced by Scottish Enlightenment philosophy. He was also influenced by the English philosopher John Locke. At age 21, Alexander emigrated to the United States with his mother and siblings from Scotland, to join his father Thomas, who had emigrated there in 1807. They sailed from Scotland on the Latonia on August 3, 1809 and landed in New York on September 29th, then traveled overland to Philadelphia. Alexander was ordained by the Brush Run Church on January 1, 1812.
Barton Warren Stone was an important preacher during the Second Great Awakening of the early 19th century. He was first ordained a Presbyterian minister, then was expelled from the church after the Cane Ridge, Kentucky revival for his stated beliefs in faith as the sole prerequisite for salvation.
He became allied with Alexander Campbell, and formed the Restoration Movement in . His followers were first called “New Lights” and “Stoneites”. Later he and Campbell tried to bring denominations together that relied solely on the Scriptures. Stone was born to John and Mary Stone in Port Tobacco, Maryland. During his childhood, the boy grew up within the Church of England, then had Baptist, Methodist and Episcopal church influences as well. Preachers representing Baptists and Methodists came to the area during the Second Great Awakening, and Baptist and Methodist chapels were founded in the county.
After enrolling in 1790 at the Guilford Academy in North Carolina, founded by David Caldwell, Stone heard James McGready (a Presbyterian minister) speak. He studied and became a Presbyterian minister. But, as Stone looked more deeply into the beliefs of the Presbyterians, especially the Westminster Confession of Faith, he doubted that some of the church beliefs were truly Bible-based. In particular, he found the Calvinistic insistence on man’s total depravity to be inconsistent with the Scriptures.
Stone also took issue with the doctrine of the Trinity, and argued against it. “Revelation no where declares that there are three persons of the same substance in the one only God; and it is universally acknowledged to be above reason” (Address to the Christian Churches, 2nd Edition [1821]). At the Cane Ridge, Kentucky revival of 1801, which attracted an estimated 20,000 people, Stone revealed his new-found conviction of faith as the only prerequisite for salvation. This was not in keeping with the doctrines of the Presbyterian Church, which accused Stone of Arminianism.
Walter Scott was one of the four key early leaders in the Restoration Movement, along with Barton W. Stone, Thomas Campbell and Thomas’ son Alexander Campbell. He was a successful evangelist and helped to stabilize the Campbell movement as it was separating from the Baptists.
Walter was born to John and Mary Innes Scott in 1796 in the town of Moffatt, Scotland. His parents, who were members of the Church of Scotland, hoped that he would become a Presbyterian minister. He spent six years at the University of Edinburgh, leaving in 1818. The same year he went to New York at the invitation of his maternal uncle, where he taught languages at a school on Long Island. He soon moved to Pittsburgh, where he was baptized by immersion and became an active member of a small congregation led by a fellow Scotsman named George Forrester. Forrester helped shape Walter’s understanding of Christianity, and in particular his belief that immersion was the only appropriate form of baptism.
The congregation in Pittsburgh influenced by the movement led by James and Robert Haldane. The Haldanes, who hoped to restore New Testament Christianity, rejected the authority of creeds, observed the Lord’s Supper weekly, practiced foot washing and by 1809 had substituted believer’s baptism by immersion for infant baptism. Forrester also introduced Scott to the writings of John Glas and Robert Sandeman. When Forrester died in 1820, Scott replaced him as minister and as director of a small school.
Scott married Sarah Whitsette in 1823, and the family moved to Ohio in 1826. He began working with the Campbells in August of that year. He was hired to work as an evangelist in 1827. Within three years he brought over 3,000 converts into the movement. At that time the Campbells were associated with the Mahoning Baptist Association; as the number of converts grew, conflicts with other Baptists also grew. In 1839 Scott and the Campbells disassociated themselves from the Baptists.
Scott continued to preach after 1829, but increasingly his focus shifted to writing. In 1852 the family moved to Covington, Kentucky where he established a school for women. He died on April 23, 1861.
Thomas Campbell was a Presbyterian minister important in the Second Great Awakening of the United States. Born in County Down, northern Ireland, he began a religious reform movement on the American frontier. He was joined in the work by his son Alexander Campbell. Their movement, known as the “Disciples of Christ”, merged in 1832 with the similar movement led by Barton W. Stone to form what is now described as the American Restoration Movement (also known as the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement).
The Campbell wing of the movement was launched when Thomas Campbell published the Declaration and Address of the Christian Association of Washington in 1809. In The Declaration and Address he set forth some of his convictions about the church of Jesus Christ, as he organized the Christian Association of Washington, in Washington County, Pennsylvania, not as a church but as an association of persons seeking to grow in faith.
On May 4, 1811, the Christian Association reconstituted itself as a congregationally governed church. With the building it constructed at Brush Run, Pennsylvania, it became known as Brush Run Church. When their study of the New Testament led the reformers to begin to practice baptism by immersion, the nearby Redstone Baptist Association invited Brush Run Church to join with them for the purpose of fellowship. The reformers agreed, provided that they would be “allowed to preach and to teach whatever they learned from the Scriptures.” Thomas and his son Alexander worked within the Redstone Baptist Association during the period 1815 through 1824.
While both the Campbells and the Baptists shared practices of baptism by immersion and congregational polity, it was soon clear that the Campbells and their associates were not traditional Baptists. Within the Redstone Association, some of the Baptist leaders considered the differences intolerable when Alexander Campbell began publishing a journal, The Christian Baptist, which promoted reform. The Campbells anticipated the conflict and moved their membership to a congregation of the Mahoning Baptist Association in 1824.
