ARE WE CAMPBELLITES?

1. Did Alexander Campbell start the churches of Christ? Did the churches of Christ start in America in the 1820's? ARE WE CAMPBELLITES?

2. Introduction • There are many who misunderstand: • What we believe about salvation • What we believe about worship • When churches of Christ began • Are we Campbellites? • Did Alexander Campbell start the movement that began the churches of Christ?

3. What we know about the church: Prophesied Daniel 2:44; Matthew 16:18; Acts 1:6-8 Started on Pentecost Acts 2:1-47 Some would fall away Revelation 2:4-5

4. Let's work back from Campbell Alexander Campbell Born – 1788 Came to America – 1809 Was baptized by Mathias Luce – 1812 Joined Barton W. Stone and others preaching the message of the restoration movement – 1832

5. 1805 Rock Springs Church of Christ, Clay County, TN, est. c. 1805

6. Old Philadelphia Church of Christ, Warren, TN, Est. c. 1805-07

7. 1798 William Rogers and his father, Nathaniel, were restoration preachers in Cane Ridge, KY 10 years before Alexander Campbell came to America.

8. 1792 James O'Kelley James O'Kelly Of Durham, North Carolina James O’Kelly was a follower of Wesleyism - or Methodism. On December 25, 1792 he walked out of the Methodist conference with about 1/2 of those in attendance. O’Kelly and his followers kept the Methodist name for another 5 or 6 years calling themselves, “The Republican Methodists.” “Republican” meant “freedom," hence "Free" Methodists. They were free to pursue Bible truths.

9. Near Duraham, NC

10. Kircaldy Church Of Christ 1784-Present Robert Cannichael and Archibald McLean first met when they were members of the Glasite church in Glasgow. In the early 1760's Robert Carmichael had been a minister in the Anti-Burgher section of the Secession church in Coupar Angus until he adopted the views of John Glas.

11. Monksthorpe church of Christ meeting house It was built in 1701.

12. Tottlebank church of ChristBelow, William Rawlinson’s farm house at Tottlebank, where the congregation first met in about 1669.

13. The Ledger This booke is for the use of that Church of Christ in Broughton furnessfell and Cartmell whereof Mr. Gabrill Camelford is Teachinge Elder The 18th day of ye sixth month called August 1669 A church of Christ was formed in order and sate down together in the fellowship and order of ye Gospel of Jesus Christ. Att the house of William Rawlinson off Totle-banke in Coulton in furness.

14. The outdoor baptismal pool, now bricked would have appeared originally as a pond and being outside the building would not have raised suspicion. The Keith Sisman is pictured in the pool with the meeting house behind.

15. A Church of Christ -Early As 1669 Tottlebank Church

16. St. Ives, Cambridgeshire, England where in the 1650s

17. Photograph of text from Featly's 1646 edition, taken from page 20 of the Dippers Dipt. Anglican clergyman, Dr Daniel Featly, (who was one of the translators of the King James@Bible) wrote in 1645 of the Churches of Christ meeting in London and elsewhere in his work the 'Dippers Dipt', took those congregations back to 1525 when he quotes from them "That baptism ought to be received by none, but such as can give a good account of their faith; and in case any have been baptized in their infancy, that they ought to he re-baptized after they come to years of discretion, before they are to be admitted to the Church of Christ." These churches in the 1600s were in communication with other churches of Christ in America, nearly two hundred years before Campbell!

18. 1612 Edward Wightman's wife Francis and their children left Lichfield and lived in London where they attended the church of Christ meeting at White Alley, Newgate. From there his family moved to Rhode Island, America where they continued in the true faith.

19. The Hill Cliff congregation is said to have had a full time preacher and evangelist in 1594, but his name is unknown. Christians in Cromwell’s army worshiped at the chapel in 1646, again showing that it existed in the seventeenth century. Later the church took on Baptist doctrine as did other similar congregations. Hill Cliffe is possibly the oldest surviving congregation in Britain.

20. James Bainham, by profession a barrister, preached at the Bow Lane (London) Church of Christ, was after torture burned for preaching the gospel, in 1532.

21. Pre 1517 Building dates - 1691 CHESTERTOWN (modern Chesterton), Cambridge congregation. It was located in what is now a suburb of Cambridge. Interesting on six accounts: 1/ They were autonomous. 2/ They practiced baptism by immersion for remission of sins. 3/ They met prior to the continental Anabaptists who date their appearance to January 21, 1525. 4/ They were pre-Reformation 1517. 5/ They were pre-English separation (1596). 6/ They saw themselves as the true Church of Christ, not a denomination.

22. Always Existed? It is believed by many that there have always been congregations of the churches of Christ. Because of hardship and persecution many existed in secret. In every generation there were those who wanted to just follow the Bible. Today, that is what we must seek to do.

23. Our Plea Study the church of the New Testament and: Believe what they believed, Worship as they worshiped, Teach what they taught, And you will be a New Testament Christian - - - Nothing more, nothing less, nothing else!