In 1809 the American Frontier was anything west of the Allegheny Mountains. It was in that region of the United States, where Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio comprised the “western” States, that our association of churches had their birth. Those churches that joined with Thomas Campbell and his son Alexander to establish Bible based congregations called “Disciples of Christ” eventually met like-minded believers led by one Barton W. Stone, who in 1804 had disbanded his Presbyterian Synod in Springfield, Kentucky, in order to be known by “no other name than Christians”. These two groups formally united in 1832 to become known as the Stone-Campbell Movement. Though their vision of uniting all believers by restoring the Church to its New Testament foundation never has been fully realized, the dream to promote “simple evangelical Christianity” still lives on in our and other segments of God’s Church.

Denis Whittet