The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

A mainline denomination born of the plea for Christian unity on the Bible alone, now governed by a covenant Design, with the Lord's Supper every Sunday and a table open to all who follow Christ.

Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Our Identity

Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Who We Are

Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Communion and Baptism

The Design of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada (revised 7/2025)

Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), History of the Disciples

Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Important dates in Disciple history

Office of the General Minister and President

Rev. Teresa "Terri" Hord Owens, official biography, Office of the General Minister and President (PDF)

2019 General Assembly, Des Moines, Iowa (past General Assemblies)

Disciples General Assembly newsletter, "Abide was theme of worship in Des Moines" (2019)

General Assembly 2015, "Worship included many styles, quotable moments"

Disciples by the Numbers, "Listed, Reported, and Connected Congregations" (May 7, 2024)

Disciples by the Numbers, "A Fellowship of Smaller Congregations"

The Christian Post, "Disciples of Christ lost one-fifth of its membership from 2019-2022" (reporting Jeffrey Walton's reading of the denomination's ALEX database)

Mark G. Toulouse, "A Statement of Faith for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)" (written 1996; published 2021 by the denomination's Christian Unity and Interfaith Ministry)

Mark G. Toulouse, "Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)," Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement (Eerdmans, 2004), republished by the Disciples of Christ Historical Society

W. E. Garrison, A Brief History of the Disciples of Christ (American Religious Movement), CCEL

W. E. Garrison, A Brief History of the Disciples of Christ, the Springfield Presbytery chapter, CCEL

The Last Will and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery (1804), as printed in The Biography of Eld. Barton Warren Stone, Written by Himself (Cincinnati, 1847), archive.org scan

Thomas Campbell, Declaration and Address of the Christian Association of Washington (1809), facsimile in the 1908 centennial edition, Cornell University Library scan at archive.org

Disciples of Christ Historical Society, "Clara Hale Babcock"

General Assembly 2013, GA-1327 (Sense-of-the-Assembly), "Becoming a People of Grace and Welcome to All," docket text, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) archive

Sharon Watkins, General Minister and President, "A Word from the General Minister concerning Disciples of Christ General Assembly" (July 2013), as posted on Bob Cornwall's blog

The Disciples began in 1804 with a presbytery that voted itself out of existence, and in 1809 with a Presbyterian father and son who asked Christians to hold to the Bible and drop the rest. The two streams joined in 1832. They then divided over missionary societies, instruments and baptism, and in 1968 the Disciples did what the founders had refused to do: they set a denomination above the congregation.

The Springfield Presbytery dissolves itself

After the Cane Ridge revival of 1801, Barton Stone and four others left the Synod of Kentucky and organized the Springfield Presbytery. On June 28, 1804, the Springfield Presbytery met at Cane Ridge and decreed its own dissolution in The Last Will and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery. It willed that the body "die, be dissolved, and sink into union with the Body of Christ at large," and that the people "take the Bible as the only sure guide to heaven."

Declaration and Address

Thomas Campbell published the Declaration and Address for the Christian Association of Washington, Pennsylvania. It asked that "nothing ought to be inculcated upon christians as articles of faith; nor required of them as terms of communion; but what is expressly taught, and enjoined upon them, in the word of God." The Disciples' chronology records that in 1812 Alexander and Thomas Campbell adopted the "necessity of immersion as part of salvation."

Stone's Christians and Campbell's Disciples unite

The two movements shook hands at Lexington, Kentucky, on the last day of 1831 and united on January 1, 1832, "after about a quarter of a century of separate development." Stone's movement had taken the name "Christians," and Campbell's "Disciples of Christ."

The American Christian Missionary Society

The American Christian Missionary Society was formed in 1849. The Disciples' history names "organized missionary activity" with instrumental music among the practices that one group, which "opposed practices not specifically authorized by the New Testament," would not accept, and that group gradually pulled away.

Clara Hale Babcock is ordained

The Disciples Historical Society calls Clara Hale Babcock "the first woman ordained in the Christian Churches." Toulouse writes that "women were ordained among Disciples as early as the late 1880s."

The Churches of Christ are listed separately

The Disciples' own history says that the group that "opposed practices not specifically authorized by the New Testament, such as instrumental music in the church and organized missionary activity, gradually pulled away" and "finally was listed separately in the 1906 federal religious census as the 'Churches of Christ.'" In the same year, Garrison reports, the Monroe Street Church in Chicago became "the first church among the Disciples to receive into full membership the unimmersed members of other evangelical churches."

The open membership controversy

The United Christian Missionary Society was established in 1919, and Toulouse says the controversy over open membership, "the practice of admitting into the membership of the churches Christians who had not received believers' immersion," surfaced shortly afterward and "kept the temperature at the boiling point for well over a decade."

Restructure and The Design

An assembly in Kansas City "overwhelmingly approved the Provisional Design for the Christian Church." The Disciples "formally voted to become a full denomination known as the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)." Toulouse says they adopted "a theology of covenant" for the three "manifestations" of the church, congregational, regional and general, "abandoning, at least theologically, the pattern of completely autonomous congregations and agencies." Congregations that had separated earlier over mission and baptism practice formally withdrew at the time of restructure, and they call themselves the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ. Sources differ on how many: Toulouse's encyclopedia article says "about 3,500 congregations" with about 750,000 members, and the Disciples' own history page says "some 3,000" withdrew in 1967-69.

Full communion with the United Church of Christ

The Disciples and the United Church of Christ declared that "a relationship of full communion now exists between our two churches." In 1999 the Disciples also began an official dialogue with the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ and the Churches of Christ.

Sharon Watkins is elected General Minister and President

The General Assembly voted "nearly unanimously" to elect Rev. Dr. Sharon Watkins, "the first woman to be elected as the presiding minister of a mainline Protestant denomination in the United States."

The General Assembly adopts a resolution of welcome

Meeting in Orlando, the General Assembly adopted resolution GA-1327, "Becoming a People of Grace and Welcome to All." General Minister and President Sharon Watkins wrote that it was a "Sense of the Assembly" resolution and "not a policy change": a pastor "is not required to bless same-gender marriages." The resolution and her letter are weighed in part 4.

General Assembly in Des Moines

The General Assembly met in Des Moines, Iowa, July 20-24, 2019, on the theme "Abide in Me," which the Assembly took from John 15, verses 1 to 8. It adopted a resolution on full communion with the United Church of Canada, and the General Assembly entered "a formal partnership with the United Church of Canada" in a ceremony in Winnipeg.

Barton W. Stone

A Presbyterian in Kentucky who "objected to the use of creeds as tests of 'fellowship'" and was "a key participant" in the revival at Cane Ridge. His movement took the name "Christians," "a shedding of denominational labels in favor of a scriptural and inclusive term."

Thomas Campbell

A Scots-Irish Presbyterian minister who, with his son, "rebelled against the dogmatic sectarianism that kept members of different denominations ... from partaking of the Lord's Supper together." He wrote the Declaration and Address (1809).

Alexander Campbell

Thomas's son. The Disciples' own chronology records the Campbell-Walker and Campbell-McCalla debates on infant baptism (1820, 1823), the first issue of the Millennial Harbinger (1830), and his death in 1866.

Clara Hale Babcock

"Ordained in 1888," she held pastorates in four churches, "conducted numerous evangelistic meetings and personally baptized at least 1,500 people."

Sharon Watkins

The first woman General Minister and President. Her letter after the 2013 General Assembly is the denomination's plainest statement of what the welcome resolution did and did not change.

Terri Hord Owens

The current General Minister and President. The office's biography calls her "the first person of color and second woman to lead the denomination, and the first woman of African descent to lead a mainline denomination."

Two streams and a plea. The Disciples' own history says the church "grew out of two movements seeking Christian unity that sprang up almost simultaneously in western Pennsylvania and Kentucky – movements that were backlashes against the rigid denominationalism of the early 1800s." The founders "hoped to restore Christian unity by returning to New Testament faith and practices. But the church found that even this led to division."

From autonomy to covenant. Toulouse notes that after 1870 congregations moved away from local, often unpaid, elders toward "settled ministry, where ordained ministers who were college-educated were called to congregational leadership from outside the local community," and that by the mid-1940s "elders had assumed a self-conscious identity as 'lay' leadership and the office of 'ordained minister' had fully emerged."

The African American, Hispanic and Asian Disciples. The denomination's history records that "the Colored Christian Church was organized in Midway, Ky. in 1834," and that in 1917 the National Christian Missionary Convention was formed through "the determination of Preston Taylor, a former slave, who was minister of the Gay Street Christian Church in Nashville, Tenn." It merged with the church's general agencies at the time of The Design, and the National Convocation of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) took its place.

No creed as a test of fellowship. Scripture is studied for oneself and read critically, as a human book that bears witness to Christ, and all authority belongs to Christ.

The Disciples say they have no creed. The church's own page says: "Rather than having tests of faith and creedal statements, we critically and thoughtfully study scripture." The Design opens by placing authority in Christ: "All dominion in the church belongs to Jesus, its Lord and head, and any exercise of authority in the church on earth stands under His judgment."

Disciples have, in Mark Toulouse's words, "never really expressed our faith according to traditional systematic theological categories." The statement of faith the denomination's Christian Unity and Interfaith Ministry publishes is Toulouse's, written in 1996 as his "attempt" to express Disciples identity. It is one scholar's account, not an adopted creed, and he says the reader "will find sections within this faith statement with which she or he may not agree." It says the Bible is "a human book as well as a divine book" and that "We do not believe the Bible is inerrant or infallible." Authority, he writes, "does not rest in human hands or human doctrines, but in the revelation of God in Jesus Christ." Congregations also keep the right "to determine, in faithfulness to the gospel, their practices."

We are called to study and read scripture for ourselves. Rather than having tests of faith and creedal statements, we critically and thoughtfully study scripture, taking into account the history and background – the context – in which it was written.

All dominion in the church belongs to Jesus, its Lord and head, and any exercise of authority in the church on earth stands under His judgment.

We do not believe the Bible is inerrant or infallible, but we do emphasize that the human testimony of the Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit, and thereby meaningfully and authoritatively points us in the direction of what we mean when we talk about God or attempt to describe the truth of God's revelation in Jesus Christ.

The founders said more than the church says now. The Last Will and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery (1804) willed "that the people henceforth take the Bible as the only sure guide to heaven; and as many as are offended with other books, which stand in competition with it, may cast them into the fire if they choose." Campbell's Declaration and Address (1809) set the rule that "nothing ought to be inculcated upon christians as articles of faith; nor required of them as terms of communion; but what is expressly taught, and enjoined upon them, in the word of God." The Disciples' present documents still honor the freedom those texts claim. They do not repeat the rule of Scripture alone.

Inferences and approved examples. Toulouse's encyclopedia article says early Disciples held that "the declarations were binding on Christians for faith and practice while most inferences were not," and that "approved examples" of the New Testament church "became binding as well." That rule produced "baptism by immersion for believers, the practice of the Lord's Supper on the first day of the week, a stress on the unity of all who proclaim Jesus as the Christ."

Baptism is the basis of membership and a divine gift met by human response. Most congregations immerse believers; the church accepts infant baptism and other forms and does not rebaptize.

The Disciples teach that baptism is "the basis of membership in the Church," a choice to follow God that is not made for a person as an infant. They say the founders "taught baptism by immersion as the accepted form" and that baptism "is at once a divine gift and a human response." Their 1987 Word to the Church on Baptism "recognized formally that infant baptism is a legitimate form of baptism."

Current practice is stated in Toulouse's statement: congregations "accept the immersion of believers, the baptism of infants, and other generally accepted forms of baptism (sprinkling, pouring)" and do not rebaptize those so baptized. The majority of congregations practice only the immersion of believers, but they also receive into membership those baptized as infants. This is the practice the church called "open membership" in the controversy of the 1920s. The sources we read state no current denominational rule that requires immersion for membership.

On salvation itself the documents say that God forgives in Jesus Christ and that people stand "before God as creatures being redeemed by grace." The church's baptism page quotes Acts 2:38 in the NRSV and describes baptism as a symbol of death and burial and new birth.

A person makes the choice to follow God’s call rather than the choice being made for them as an infant. Baptism is the basis of membership in the Church and also a mark that every person is called to serve God – the idea of the “priesthood of all believers.”

With other Christians we affirm that baptism is at once a divine gift and a human response.

Our congregations accept the immersion of believers, the baptism of infants, and other generally accepted forms of baptism (sprinkling, pouring) to be representative of authentic baptism in the life of the one church of Jesus Christ.

What the baptism page holds. "Those who founded the Disciples movement taught baptism by immersion as the accepted form," the page says, quoting the 1987 Word to the Church on Baptism. It adds that baptism "incorporates the believer in the community in the body of Christ, and it anticipates life in the coming age when the powers of the old world will be overcome, and the purposes of God will triumph." It does not say that baptism is for the remission of sins, though it prints Acts 2:38 above the text.

The history. Garrison dates the first full membership of unimmersed persons among the Disciples to 1906, at the Monroe Street Church in Chicago. His 1919 date is for one congregation, Hyde Park in Chicago, which then ended its two classes of member.

The Lord's Supper is celebrated in weekly worship, is the center of worship, and is open to all who follow Jesus Christ. Christ is met in the bread and the cup.

The Disciples keep the Supper every first day of the week. The church says it "is celebrated in weekly worship," that most congregations celebrate it "every Sunday," and that it "has become the central element of worship within the Disciples tradition."

The table is open: "It is open to all who are followers of Jesus Christ." Mark Toulouse writes that "we affirm the 'open' table, inviting all those who confess Christ to share in communion with us," because it is "Christ's table, not ours." The church holds that "the living Christ is met and received in the sharing of the bread and the cup." Toulouse adds that it is "God who acts and it is we who receive," and that elders offer the prayers at the table, which he calls "a strong witness to the importance of the ministry of the laity."

The Lord’s Supper or Communion is celebrated in weekly worship. It is open to all who are followers of Jesus Christ.

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the living Christ is met and received in the sharing of the bread and the cup, representative of the body and blood of Jesus.

Most congregations do this by celebrating communion every Sunday. That’s why we use a chalice as our logo.

Where the weekly Supper came from. The Disciples' history says the Campbells "rebelled against the dogmatic sectarianism that kept members of different denominations – and even factions within the same denomination – from partaking of the Lord's Supper together," and that Stone objected to creeds "as tests of 'fellowship' ... especially at the Lord's table." The open table is therefore the founding grievance and not a recent addition. Toulouse reports that "approved examples" led the early Disciples to "the practice of the Lord's Supper on the first day of the week."

Congregations call their ministers and have a plurality of elders and deacons. Above them stand regions and a General Assembly, an ordained order of ministry, and a General Minister and President. Women are ordained.

The Design names three expressions of the church, "congregations, regions, and general ministries," bound "in a covenantal manner." Congregations own their property, "call their ministers" and "adopt or retain ... organization of ministry." Each has elders and deacons: "The eldership is a voluntary ministry, each congregation having a plurality of elders." Elders and deacons share in baptism, the Supper and the conduct of worship.

The Design also sets an ordained order above the individual call: "the church recognizes an order of ministry, set apart under God," and "regions certify the standing of ministers." The General Assembly "shall approve general policies and criteria for the order of the ministries." A General Board, an Administrative Committee and a General Minister and President, "an ordained minister with standing," serve the whole church for a six-year term. Toulouse says the Disciples "do not consider our ministers to be a class distinctive from lay people." Women have been ordained since the late 1880s, and the denomination has had two women in its highest office.

The eldership is a voluntary ministry, each congregation having a plurality of elders.

In addition, the church recognizes an order of ministry, set apart under God, to equip the whole people to fulfill their corporate ministry.

Among the rights recognized and safeguarded to congregations are the rights to manage their affairs under the Lordship of Jesus Christ; to adopt or retain their names, corporate documents, and organization of ministry; to determine, in faithfulness to the gospel, their practices; to own, control, and encumber their property;

Covenant, not command. The Design says the three expressions each have "integrity, self-governance, authority, rights, and responsibilities, yet they relate to each other in a covenantal manner." All financial support of the general and regional programs by congregations and individuals "is voluntary" (para. 13). A congregation's voting members are represented at the General Assembly by two representatives, "plus one additional voting representative for each 100 participating members or major fraction thereof over the first 100" (para. 14).

The Supper is the center of worship. The church sets no rule on music, and its assemblies use organ, choir, hymns and drums in a variety of styles.

The Disciples say Communion "has become the central element of worship," and that baptism is "a public act in the midst of our worship." They say their worship takes place "in a variety of styles and settings."

The church's pages state no rule on instruments or on singing. Its own history notes, as one of the causes of the separation in 1906, that one group "opposed practices not specifically authorized by the New Testament, such as instrumental music in the church," and the Disciples did not follow that group. General Assembly worship in 2015 combined "new songs and classical organ music," "drum lines and dancers," "a rock number" and "classic hymns," with "an 80-voice choir."

The practice of Holy Communion has become the central element of worship within the Disciples tradition.

We worship in over 17 languages, in a variety of styles and settings.

Tweets as meditation materials. Drum lines and dancers. New songs and classical organ music. General Assembly worship was a beautiful collage of experience, learning and worship.

The 2019 Assembly. The post-Assembly newsletter reports, "The richness of music from Tongan drumming to familiar hymns, gospel classics and more contemporary praise songs wove throughout the hall. A full choir, praise ensemble, and soloists led the people gathered."

What we did not find. We found no General Assembly resolution on instruments, and no statement from the denomination that sets a rule for congregations. The picture comes from the church's own description of its assemblies and from its history of the 1906 separation. Congregational practice varies, since the Design reserves to congregations the right "to determine, in faithfulness to the gospel, their practices."

The Holy Spirit guides the church's reading of Scripture and is present in its life, in the Supper and in baptism. The church's documents say nothing on miraculous gifts, either that they continue or that they ceased.

The Disciples speak of the Spirit as the one who joins the church and guides it. The Design's preamble says: "In the communion of the Holy Spirit we are joined together in discipleship and in obedience to Christ." The church says that through the Spirit "the living Christ is met and received" in the Supper. Toulouse's statement says "the life of the Holy Spirit within the church is permanent and dependable," that the Spirit has been "at work, in all times and all places, reconciling human beings to one another and to God," and that the Spirit guides "the church's interpretation of scripture." Of baptism he writes that "through it, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to turn our full attention to the ministry of God."

We found nothing in the Design, in the church's pages or in Toulouse's statement that says whether miraculous gifts such as tongues, prophecy and healing continue, or that they ceased. The 2013 resolution mentions "the faith, baptism and spiritual gifts of all Christians" without defining the gifts. Disciples do not make the gifts a mark of the church, and they do not teach against them.

In the communion of the Holy Spirit we are joined together in discipleship and in obedience to Christ.

The life of the Holy Spirit within the church is permanent and dependable as it leads the church to express the gospel in changing times and changing ways.

We believe the Holy Spirit has been (and remains) at work, in all times and all places, reconciling human beings to one another and to God.

The resolution's wording. GA-1327 calls on the church "to affirm the faith, baptism and spiritual gifts of all Christians regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity." The phrase is about who may serve, and it does not speak to tongues or healing.

The church looks to God's kingdom and says human action does not build it. Historically its mainline held a postmillennial optimism. The documents read say little about Christ's return, the resurrection and the judgment.

The Design ends its preamble with the confession that the church serves "the One whose kingdom has no end." Mark Toulouse's statement of faith says the church lives "as if" the kingdom of God "were an objective reality in our midst," but that it does not identify the church with the kingdom: "human action does not build the kingdom of God." The church's baptism page says baptism "anticipates life in the coming age when the powers of the old world will be overcome, and the purposes of God will triumph."

The Disciples' own scholar writes that early Disciples had "confidence that history would culminate in the eschatological triumph of God's redemption," and that "Generally, with some exceptions, Disciples held to a postmillennial kind of optimism that history was moving toward the kingdom of God." The documents we read, the Design, the church's identity pages and Toulouse's statement, do not state the return of Christ in person, the resurrection of the dead or the judgment as articles of the church's belief.

In the bonds of Christian faith we yield ourselves to God that we may serve the One whose kingdom has no end.

In other words, human action does not build the kingdom of God.

Generally, with some exceptions, Disciples held to a postmillennial kind of optimism that history was moving toward the kingdom of God.

A bubble that burst. Toulouse says that from the 1920s through the 1940s Disciples mission leaders "stressed human goodness over sin and shared an optimistic belief that Christian actions could overcome human need and contribute to the establishment of the kingdom of God on earth," and of the Second World War: "The holocaust, World War II, and the dropping of atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima eventually burst this bubble of optimistic postmillennialism among Disciples and served to chasten other aspects of their liberalism."

The open table

The Lord's table is open to everyone who follows Christ, with no test of baptism, membership or creed.

The Disciples hold that the table belongs to Christ, so the church may not fence it. The church's page says "All are welcome to the Lord’s Table." Toulouse's statement says Disciples "affirm the 'open' table, inviting all those who confess Christ to share in communion with us."

All are welcome to the Lord’s Table for the sake of mission and for the sake of the world as the one family of God.

We understand it to be Christ's table, not ours. Therefore, we affirm the "open" table, inviting all those who confess Christ to share in communion with us.

Wherefore whosoever shall eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But let a man prove himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of the cup. For he that eateth and drinketh, eateth and drinketh judgment unto himself, if he discern not the body.

The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a communion of the body of Christ? seeing that we, who are many, are one bread, one body: for we all partake of the one bread.

They then that received his word were baptized: and there were added unto them in that day about three thousand souls. And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers.

The Disciples are right that the table is the Lord's and not the congregation's, and right that a creed or a denomination is no gate to it. The Supper is the Lord's table, and "whosoever shall eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord" (1 Corinthians 11:27). The same chapter commands each person to "prove himself" before he eats. The first Supper was kept by those who "received his word" and "were baptized," who "continued stedfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread" (Acts 2:41-42). A table open to everyone who confesses Christ has dropped that order. It invites to the table people the apostles would first have called to repent and be baptized, and the fellowship of the table was one fellowship with the apostles' teaching.

Where the founders stood. Thomas Campbell's first proposition was that the church is "consisting of all those in every place that profess their faith in Christ and obedience to him in all things according to the scriptures." His concern was to remove human tests, not apostolic ones. The Disciples have kept the first half of that sentence, "profess their faith in Christ," and the open table does not hold the second half, "obedience to him in all things according to the scriptures."

A denomination by covenant

The Design of 1968 binds congregations, regions and general ministries in a covenant, with a General Assembly, a General Board and an ordained order of ministry.

The Design is the church's governing document. It speaks of "regional and general ministries," a "General Assembly, a General Board, and an Administrative Committee of the General Board," and "policies and criteria for its Order of Ministry." The Disciples say this is how the church "continues to discern God’s vision and to adapt its mission and structures to the needs of a changing world."

In keeping with this Design, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) shall establish, receive, and nurture congregational ministries; provide for regional and general ministries and such other organizations as may be required; have a General Assembly, a General Board, and an Administrative Committee of the General Board; define policies and criteria for its Order of Ministry;

They adopted a theology of covenant to govern the relations of congregational, regional, and general “manifestations” of the church, abandoning, at least theologically, the pattern of completely autonomous congregations and agencies.

And when they had appointed for them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed.

The elders therefore among you I exhort, who am a fellow-elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, who am also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock.

Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men out of their company, and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren: and they wrote thus by them, The apostles and the elders, brethren, unto the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greeting:

The Springfield Presbytery willed in 1804 that "our power of making laws for the government of the church, and executing them by delegated authority, forever cease," and that each church "never henceforth delegate her right of government to any man or set of men whatever." The Design of 1968 did the reverse, and it set a body of delegates and an order of ministers above the congregation. The New Testament pattern is elders "in every church" (Acts 14:23) who tend "the flock of God which is among you" (1 Peter 5:2). Acts 15 shows churches seeking counsel from the apostles and elders. It does not show a standing assembly with the power to certify ministers or approve policies for the churches. Credit is due: the Design's covenant is voluntary, congregations keep their property, their call of ministers and the right to adopt "their practices," and support is "voluntary." That makes it gentler than a hierarchy. It is still a denomination, a layer of authority and certification that the churches of the New Testament did not have.

The founders against their children. Toulouse says that in 1968 Disciples "for the first time, officially recognized their status as one of the denominations in America." The movement that began by willing its presbytery to die ended by writing a denomination into a constitution.

Women in ministry

Women have been ordained since the 1880s and have served as General Minister and President.

Disciples ordain women to the ministry. The Historical Society records Clara Hale Babcock's ordination in 1888, and Toulouse noted in 2004 that women ministers served about a quarter of recognized congregations. The Disciples' General Assembly elected Sharon Watkins General Minister and President in 2005, and Terri Hord Owens in 2017. The Design requires that the General Minister and President be an ordained minister with standing in the church. We found no single General Assembly act that began women's ordination; it spread congregation by congregation.

Though women were ordained among Disciples as early as the late 1880s, they have struggled to achieve equality in ministry. Today, women ministers serve approximately 25 percent of all recognized congregations among Disciples and serve in key leadership roles throughout the denomination.

She is the first person of color and second woman to lead the denomination.

Let a woman learn in quietness with all subjection. But I permit not a woman to teach, nor to have dominion over a man, but to be in quietness. For Adam was first formed, then Eve; and Adam was not beguiled, but the woman being beguiled hath fallen into transgression:

Faithful is the saying, If a man seeketh the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. The bishop therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, orderly, given to hospitality, apt to teach;

and he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more accurately.

I commend unto you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church that is at Cenchreae:

Women filled real places in the New Testament church. Priscilla and Aquila together "expounded unto him the way of God more accurately" (Acts 18:26), and Phoebe was "a servant of the church that is at Cenchreae" (Romans 16:1). The office of overseer and the work of teaching the assembled church are a different matter. Paul writes, "I permit not a woman to teach, nor to have dominion over a man, but to be in quietness" (1 Timothy 2:12), and rests it on creation and not on the customs of Ephesus: "For Adam was first formed, then Eve." He then lists the overseer as "the husband of one wife" (1 Timothy 3:2). Ordaining women to the ministry and to the church's highest office departs from that order. This verdict is no dishonor to women, whom the New Testament honors in many works. It measures the church's practice against the pattern the apostle set for those who teach and oversee the church.

Ordination itself. The New Testament knows elders appointed in each church (Acts 14:23), not a clergy class set apart by a denomination. The Disciples' ordination is a certification by regions of "ministers" within an "order of ministry," which is a second matter apart from the question of women.

The plea for Christian unity

The Disciples began as a plea for the unity of Christians and still make it their calling, in full communion with the United Church of Christ and the United Church of Canada.

The Disciples established a Council on Christian Unity in 1910 and call themselves "the first denomination in the world to have an organization devoted to the pursuit of Christian unity." They helped found the National and World Councils of Churches. In 1989 they declared a relationship of full communion with the United Church of Christ, and in 2019 the General Assembly entered a formal partnership with the United Church of Canada. Toulouse's statement quotes Thomas Campbell that "the church on earth is essentially, intentionally, and constitutionally one."

We honor our heritage as a movement for Christian unity by cooperating and partnering with other faith communities to work for bringing about wholeness – healing and justice – in the world.

In 1989, the Disciples and the United Church of Christ declared that “a relationship of full communion now exists between our two churches.”

Neither for these only do I pray, but for them also that believe on me through their word; that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us: that the world may believe that thou didst send me.

giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as also ye were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all.

Now I beseech you, brethren, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

But though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach unto you any gospel other than that which we preached unto you, let him be anathema.

Credit is due plainly. The Lord prayed "that they may all be one" (John 17:21), and Paul charged the Corinthians that "there be no divisions among you" (1 Corinthians 1:10). The Disciples took that prayer to heart from their first days. The founders wanted a unity built on Scripture alone: Campbell's third proposition made the Word "expressly taught, and enjoined" the only test. The church's unity today is built differently, by agreement among bodies that keep different baptisms, different ministries and different teaching. Paul keeps "the unity of the Spirit" under "one Lord, one faith, one baptism" (Ephesians 4:3-5), and he says of any other gospel, "let him be anathema" (Galatians 1:8). Unity that treats the faith and the baptism as matters on which Christians may differ gives up the one faith and the one baptism it is meant to keep.

The founders' plea and the present practice. Thomas Campbell wrote that "the church of Christ upon earth is essentially, intentionally, and constitutionally one." His plea needed the rest of his sentence, "obedience to him in all things according to the scriptures," to keep it from turning into a unity of agreeing to differ.

The 2013 welcome and marriage

In 2013 the General Assembly adopted a resolution of welcome. The church has no single teaching on marriage, and pastors decide whom they will marry.

The 2013 General Assembly in Orlando adopted resolution GA-1327, "Becoming a People of Grace and Welcome to All." It was a "Sense of the Assembly" resolution. General Minister and President Sharon Watkins wrote that it was "not a policy change" and "not a theological mandate," and that "Your pastor is not required to bless same-gender marriages." The resolution says neither sexual orientation nor gender identity "is grounds for exclusion from fellowship or service within the church." The church has no denominational teaching on marriage that we found in the documents read. Each congregation and each pastor decides.

It is not a policy change. The congregation where you worship and serve will not be requested to establish (or change) a policy on gay or lesbian persons in the life of the Church. The region where your congregation is affiliated is not required to change its policies on ordination. Your pastor is not required to bless same-gender marriages.

It is not a theological mandate. It does not say that we have the same biblical understanding of sexual orientation or gender identity. Disciples, prayerfully and with biblical study and other research, come to their own understanding on these matters.

And he answered and said, Have ye not read, that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh? So that they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

Let marriage be had in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled: for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.

Or know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with men, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye were washed, but ye were sanctified, but ye were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.

The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked; but now he commandeth men that they should all everywhere repent: inasmuch as he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

Two things must be kept apart. The first is welcome. Christ receives every sinner who comes, and the church is right to let no one be turned from its door: "such were some of you: but ye were washed, but ye were sanctified" (1 Corinthians 6:11). The second is what the church teaches about marriage, and there the church is silent. The Lord answered the question of marriage with the creation: "he who made them from the beginning made them male and female … What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder" (Matthew 19:4-6). "Let marriage be had in honor among all" (Hebrews 13:4). A church that welcomes all and leaves the meaning of marriage to each pastor has welcomed without teaching. The sinner needs both: the open door and the call to repent that the same apostle gives, that God "commandeth men that they should all everywhere repent" (Acts 17:30).

How to read the Assembly's act. The resolution calls on the church "to recognize itself as striving to become a people of grace and welcome to all God’s children though differing in race, gender, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, nationality, ethnicity, marital status, physical or mental ability, political stance or theological perspective." Watkins wrote that "It is not a statement of 'unwelcome' for Disciples who did not support the resolution." We weigh the church's act here and its words, and nothing about any person who worships among the Disciples.

The plumb line is the New Testament: what the apostles commanded, and what the churches practiced with their approval. The Disciples began by asking for exactly that. In 1804 the Springfield Presbytery willed that "the people henceforth take the Bible as the only sure guide to heaven." In 1809 Thomas Campbell asked that nothing be required of Christians "but what is expressly taught, and enjoined upon them, in the word of God." Those words were right, and the founders paid for them with the Presbyterian church they were raised in. Each position of the Disciples as they are today is set against that same standard. Choose a course on the wall to read the Scripture and the reason.

Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness: that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work.

Now these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes; that in us ye might learn not to go beyond the things which are written; that no one of you be puffed up for the one against the other.

Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of the mind, examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so.

But in vain do they worship me, Teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men. Ye leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men.

The founders rightly held that Scripture alone is the rule and that a creed may not be a test of fellowship, and the Disciples still refuse creeds. That refusal is credited, for the Lord condemned those who "hold fast the tradition of men" (Mark 7:8). The Disciples' present account of Scripture departs from the founders' rule. The church's own page says it reads Scripture "critically" in place of tests of faith. The statement of faith it publishes, which is Toulouse's and not an adopted creed, goes further: "We do not believe the Bible is inerrant or infallible." But "Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16), and the church is to "learn not to go beyond the things which are written" (1 Corinthians 4:6). A rule that the text must be criticized before it is obeyed puts the reader over the text.

The weaker point and the stronger. The Springfield Presbytery told the people to "take the Bible as the only sure guide to heaven." Campbell asked for what is "expressly taught." Toulouse's statement, one scholar's account that the church publishes, says Disciples place "a high value on freedom of interpretation for each and every Christian." The founders' freedom was freedom from human creeds under the Word. The present freedom reaches the Word itself, and that is the step the founders did not take.

And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.

having been buried with him in baptism, wherein ye were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned.

The Disciples stand nearer the pattern than most churches on one point: most of their congregations practice only the immersion of believers, which is the founders' form. But the church receives into membership those baptized as infants and by sprinkling or pouring, and does not require immersion. Peter said, "Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins" (Acts 2:38). Paul says believers "were buried therefore with him through baptism into death" (Romans 6:4), a burial in water, chosen and entered by the believer. An infant cannot repent, and sprinkling is no burial. The church prints Acts 2:38 and calls baptism a gift and a response, yet it does not say it is for the remission of sins. Open membership, begun in single congregations from 1906, made the unimmersed members of the church, and it is the practice the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ left over.

The credit that is due. The Campbells adopted the "necessity of immersion as part of salvation" in 1812. Their church was founded on the very point it now leaves open. The Disciples' baptism page also teaches that a person "makes the choice to follow God’s call rather than the choice being made for them as an infant." That is a believer's baptism teaching, but the church's practice does not hold to it.

And upon the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul discoursed with them, intending to depart on the morrow; and prolonged his speech until midnight.

And day by day, continuing stedfastly with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at home, they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart,

Here the Disciples stand on the line, and it should be said plainly. "upon the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread" (Acts 20:7) is the apostolic pattern, and the Disciples keep the Supper every Sunday, as the founders said the approved example required. They keep it with elders presiding in prayer and no priest, and they speak of it as the meeting of the living Christ with his people, not a sacrifice. They fall short in one thing: the table is open to all, with no test of baptism, and the New Testament's table was for those who had received the word and been baptized (Acts 2:41-42).

On Christ's presence. The church says "the living Christ is met and received in the sharing of the bread and the cup." Paul says the cup is "a communion of the blood of Christ" (1 Corinthians 10:16), and the Disciples' language of meeting Christ in the bread and the cup is within the apostle's words. The documents we read do not define the manner of his presence.

For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city, as I gave thee charge;

The Design says "each congregation" has "a plurality of elders," elected by the congregation, and that is the apostolic pattern: elders "in every church" (Acts 14:23). It also says congregations "call their ministers," and Toulouse says, "We do not consider our ministers to be a class distinctive from lay people." Those are real strengths. The church then sets a General Assembly, a General Board, regional ministers and an "order of ministry" with regional certification above the congregation. The apostles appointed elders in each church, and Peter told the elders not to be "lording it over the charge allotted to you" (1 Peter 5:3). The Springfield Presbytery willed that the church "never henceforth delegate her right of government to any man or set of men whatever," and in 1968 the Disciples wrote the opposite into the Design. Ordaining women to the office of minister departs from "the husband of one wife" and the word to Timothy (1 Timothy 2:12; 3:2).

What the Design does not do. The Design gives the General Assembly no power over a congregation's teaching or property, and support is "voluntary." Congregations keep the call of their own minister.

speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto God.

The Disciples put the Supper at the center of worship, as the apostles' assembly was (Acts 20:7), and the baptism of a believer is done in the midst of the assembly. Those are real strengths. The New Testament commands singing: "speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord" (Ephesians 5:19). Nowhere does it command or show instruments in the church's worship, and the Disciples' assemblies use organ, praise ensemble and drums. The founders said nothing might be added where the Word is silent, and the church that came from them has the instruments the apostles never used. The command to sing names the kind of music, so playing is a different act and not a way of singing. On this course the church stands near the line, with one departure.

Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. Now when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money,

And when they heard this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.

how shall we escape, if we neglect so great a salvation? which having at the first been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed unto us by them that heard; God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders, and by manifold powers, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his own will.

Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away.

This course is authored from the church's documents. The Disciples say the Spirit joins the church, guides its reading and meets it in the Supper, and the New Testament says the Spirit is given to the baptized believer (Acts 2:38). But the church says nothing about the miraculous gifts, whether tongues and healing continue or ceased. The Spirit was given by "the laying on of the apostles’ hands" (Acts 8:18), and the gifts bore witness to the word as it was first spoken: "God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders, and by manifold powers, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit" (Hebrews 2:4). Those gifts ended with the apostles. The Disciples neither claim the miracles nor teach that they ceased. Their silence leaves the question open and so the church is not near the New Testament pattern on it, though it is not far from it either.

The Spirit and baptism. Toulouse's statement says that baptism "represents our adoption into the family of God" and that through it "we are empowered by the Holy Spirit" for ministry. The New Testament says that the gift of the Spirit came with repentance and baptism for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38). A church that receives the unimmersed misses where the gift is promised.

who also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye looking into heaven? this Jesus, who was received up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye beheld him going into heaven.

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Marvel not at this: for the hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.

For we must all be made manifest before the judgment-seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

The Design confesses a kingdom that "has no end," the baptism page looks to "the coming age," and Toulouse rightly says that "human action does not build the kingdom of God." No document we read denies the Lord's return, but none states it. The New Testament's hope is a person and an event: "this Jesus … shall so come in like manner as ye beheld him going into heaven" (Acts 1:11), the dead raised, and each one made manifest "before the judgment-seat of Christ" (2 Corinthians 5:10). Documents that leave out the return, the resurrection and the judgment the apostles preached fall short of them, and the placement rests on that silence, not on a denial.

What the baptism page says. It says baptism "anticipates life in the coming age." That wording is close to the New Testament, but it is not a statement of the return, the resurrection and the judgment, which the New Testament sets out. Individual Disciples may hold them. The church does not say that they must.

The Disciples hold much that Scripture also holds, and it should be said plainly. They confess Jesus as Lord and Savior, and they refuse a creed as a test of fellowship. They keep the Lord's Supper every first day of the week, as Acts 20:7 shows the church of the apostles did, and they have a plurality of elders in each congregation. Most of their congregations immerse believers, and the church teaches that baptism is a choice a person makes and not one made for them as an infant. They are right that the Lord's table belongs to the Lord and that division harms the church, and by their own account they were the first denomination to build an agency for Christian unity. They do not impose the church's decisions on a congregation's property, and the support of the general church is voluntary. They have kept the plea of Stone and the Campbells before the churches for two hundred years.

Measured by the New Testament alone, the Disciples stand on the line in one place, the weekly Supper, and near it in worship. They stand short in five: the rule of Scripture alone, the immersion for remission of sins, the denomination above the congregation, the order of the ministry, and the Lord's return, on which their documents are silent. They are the children of the founders who willed their own denomination to die and asked for a church built on the Bible alone. The 1968 Design wrote a denomination into the constitution, the church now receives the unimmersed, and the Bible is read critically as a human book, and not as the sure guide the Springfield Presbytery called it.

What remains is to finish what the founders began. In 1804 they asked the church to "take the Bible as the only sure guide to heaven," and in 1809 to require nothing "but what is expressly taught, and enjoined upon them, in the word of God." Held to those words, the Disciples would put the Design under the Scriptures and would keep the Supper as they do. They would bury the penitent believer in baptism for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38), receive no one by sprinkling, appoint elders in each church, teach the Lord's return, and be one in the one faith and the one baptism the apostle named. They have the plea. What is still needed is the whole of it.

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