Ted Waller (cont.), and Churches of Christ in Ohio
When my granddad Ted Waller began his preaching career in Ohio, he was part of a nationwide boom in starting and expanding Churches of Christ. History is sadly irrelevant to many people, but please humor me for a few posts as I share a bit of the past through my granddad's experience and through my own study.
You probably know that the "Church of Christ" was but one name for congregations associated with the Restoration Movement. Led by skilled preachers and writers like Alexander Campbell and Barton W. Stone, huge numbers of existing Christians l
eft the "divisive practices of denominations" in the 1830s for the simple, New Testament teachings of these "restoration" churches. They chose simple, biblical names for their congregations such as "Christian Church" or "Church of Christ" or "Disciples of Christ." The growth of these churches across the rural, frontier areas was phenomenal. They were the largest religious group in Ohio at one point, and extremely numerous in Indiana, Kentucky, Alabama and Tennessee, to name a few examples. Even Mark Twain in his autobiography references Alexander Campbell. (If you are the inquisitive type and want to read up on our heritage, try books like this one called "Christians Only" or this easier read called "Renewing God's People" or this classic by Leroy Garrett called "The Stone-Campbell Movement".)
History is always complex, but the Civil War played an unarguably enormous role in dividing the Restoration Movement. The wealth of the North and devastation in the South created a chasm between churches as well. A theology of poverty grew in the south as the poorer churches increasingly began to argue against brick church buildings and expensive pianos and organs. In the northern churches, however, they saw no biblical prohibition of these things and pressed forward with advances that solidified the church's place in the growing industrial cities of Ohio, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana.
Allow me to share one quick example of how churches in the North migrated increasingly away from their southern brethren. The First Christian Church in Canton, Ohio was (and perhaps still is) a large, wealthy church. It belongs to the Restoration movement. Toward the end of the 1800s, a wealthy member purchased a piano for the congregation. The congregation was unable
to decide on its use during the assembly, so they agreed to put it in the basement for use during the Sunday school hour. Most people did not oppose it outright, but a vocal minority initially kept it out of worship. One weekend, however, some of the influential members moved the piano into the auditorium to be used during Sunday's assembly. When one of the young women began to play it during the congregational singing, several members got up and left. Most stayed, however, and the church grew to become the largest congregation of any kind in Canton.
For churches in the South, such a thing seemed scandalous. They could not imagine (a) having the money to afford such luxuries like pianos, and (b) the "arrogance" to use wealth and influence so blatantly in the congregation. Southern churches were increasingly following an ecclesiology that stood against any innovations not explicitly endorsed by the New Testament witness of the early church. By 1906 when the division between northern and southern parts of the Restoration Movement was recognized by the US Census Bureau, southern churches typically went by the name Church of Christ while northern churches used either Church of Christ or Christian Church -- though the latter became more prevalent.
So if Churches of Christ were to once again have a meaningful presence in northern states like Ohio, they would need to start new congregations and build on the few holdouts who had been unwilling to accept instrumental worship. More next time...
You probably know that the "Church of Christ" was but one name for congregations associated with the Restoration Movement. Led by skilled preachers and writers like Alexander Campbell and Barton W. Stone, huge numbers of existing Christians l
eft the "divisive practices of denominations" in the 1830s for the simple, New Testament teachings of these "restoration" churches. They chose simple, biblical names for their congregations such as "Christian Church" or "Church of Christ" or "Disciples of Christ." The growth of these churches across the rural, frontier areas was phenomenal. They were the largest religious group in Ohio at one point, and extremely numerous in Indiana, Kentucky, Alabama and Tennessee, to name a few examples. Even Mark Twain in his autobiography references Alexander Campbell. (If you are the inquisitive type and want to read up on our heritage, try books like this one called "Christians Only" or this easier read called "Renewing God's People" or this classic by Leroy Garrett called "The Stone-Campbell Movement".)History is always complex, but the Civil War played an unarguably enormous role in dividing the Restoration Movement. The wealth of the North and devastation in the South created a chasm between churches as well. A theology of poverty grew in the south as the poorer churches increasingly began to argue against brick church buildings and expensive pianos and organs. In the northern churches, however, they saw no biblical prohibition of these things and pressed forward with advances that solidified the church's place in the growing industrial cities of Ohio, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana.
Allow me to share one quick example of how churches in the North migrated increasingly away from their southern brethren. The First Christian Church in Canton, Ohio was (and perhaps still is) a large, wealthy church. It belongs to the Restoration movement. Toward the end of the 1800s, a wealthy member purchased a piano for the congregation. The congregation was unable
to decide on its use during the assembly, so they agreed to put it in the basement for use during the Sunday school hour. Most people did not oppose it outright, but a vocal minority initially kept it out of worship. One weekend, however, some of the influential members moved the piano into the auditorium to be used during Sunday's assembly. When one of the young women began to play it during the congregational singing, several members got up and left. Most stayed, however, and the church grew to become the largest congregation of any kind in Canton.For churches in the South, such a thing seemed scandalous. They could not imagine (a) having the money to afford such luxuries like pianos, and (b) the "arrogance" to use wealth and influence so blatantly in the congregation. Southern churches were increasingly following an ecclesiology that stood against any innovations not explicitly endorsed by the New Testament witness of the early church. By 1906 when the division between northern and southern parts of the Restoration Movement was recognized by the US Census Bureau, southern churches typically went by the name Church of Christ while northern churches used either Church of Christ or Christian Church -- though the latter became more prevalent.
So if Churches of Christ were to once again have a meaningful presence in northern states like Ohio, they would need to start new congregations and build on the few holdouts who had been unwilling to accept instrumental worship. More next time...
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