Cane Ridge, the Campbells, and a Frontier Union

The Disciples of Christ trace their origin to two separate reform movements on the American frontier that, discovering how much they shared, chose to unite. In August 1801, Barton W. Stone (1772-1844), a young Presbyterian minister in Kentucky, hosted what became the Cane Ridge Revival, a camp meeting so large and emotionally intense that it drew tens of thousands and became a defining event of the Second Great Awakening. Stone concluded that denominational creeds divided Christians who ought simply to follow Scripture, and in 1804 he and fellow ministers dissolved their presbytery, taking for their fellowship only the name Christians.

At almost the same time, Thomas Campbell (1763-1854), an Irish Presbyterian minister who had emigrated to Pennsylvania, arrived independently at similar conclusions, articulated in his 1809 Declaration and Address, which called for Christian unity on the sole basis of the New Testament. His son Alexander Campbell (1788-1866) carried the movement forward, leading it first into fellowship with the Baptists and then, after disputes over creeds and authority, into a fully separate reforming movement calling itself simply Disciples. When Stone and Alexander Campbell met and corresponded in the 1820s, both movements recognized a shared vision, and on January 1, 1832, congregations of the two traditions formally united at Lexington, Kentucky.