History of the Church

1830-1866: The Infant Years

The founding of the American Christian Bible Society in 1845 represented the earliest attempt to design a general structure. By 1840, members of some congregations had begun to gather for fellowship in state “conventions,” and, in 1849, the first national gathering of the movement convened in Cincinnati, with 156 delegates from one hundred churches in eleven states. The convention approved the formation of the American Christian Missionary Society in the hope of achieving a greater sense of national cooperation and international vision. While the creation of a structure beyond the congregation stirred opposition among those who thought such a structure violated a basic principle of the movement, it was welcomed by others as a much-delayed recognition of corporate responsibility for a larger mission.

Confrontation with the peculiar institution of slavery persuaded the reformers to seek a nondivisive position. They were led to the notion that the issue was a matter of “opinion,” not “faith,” and therefore was not a test of fellowship. While most mainline denominations were structurally fractured by the economic, social, and political devastation of the Civil War, Disciples forestalled that fate because of their inherent organizational elasticity and their commitment to the freedom of individual choice.