Where did the Christian Church, Disciples of Christ come from? What is its history?
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) grew out of religious movements that began on the American frontier in the early 1800s. These movements tried to find ways to establish churches on the frontier despite obstacles by denominational churches. At that time, denominational churches had strict guidelines for who could join their churches and who could serve as a minister in these churches , but these rules did not work well on the sparsely populated frontier. Some people, including a number of ministers, believed that congregations were still needed by the settlers on the frontier. They believed that formal education and church doctrine were less important than worshiping together, reading the Bible, and celebrating Communion. Eventually two of these larger movements, led by Barton Stone and Alexander Campbell, merged into one movement. The congregations in the Stone-Campbell movement referred to themselves simply as “Christians.” And even though they retained their congregational
