The Evangelical Christian Church(Christian Disciples) as an evangelical Protestant Canadian church body. The Evangelical Christian Church's national office in Canada is in Waterloo, Ontario.
The Evangelical Christian Church(Christian Disciples) as an evangelical Protestant Canadian church body. The Evangelical Christian Church's national office in Canada is in Waterloo, Ontario.
The church has its origins in the formal organization of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in 1804, [1] [2] [3] in Bourbon County, Kentucky [4] under the leadership of Barton Warren Stone (1772–1844). [5]
The Evangelical Christian Church, also known as "Christian Disciples" became the Stone-Campbell Movement, also called the Restoration Movement [6] which arose on the frontiers of early 19th-century America. Like minded Methodists, Baptists, and Presbyterians abandoned denominational labels in order to be "Christians only" from the Stone group, and "Disciples" from the Campbell group. [7] They called followers from both groups to join in Christian unity and restore the ideals of the primitive New Testament church, holding only the Bible as authoritative. [8] [9] [10]
The Evangelical Christian Church (Christian Disciples), founded in 1804, joined with other Canadian branches in 1832, and the first work of the Christian Disciples of Evangelical Christian Church to form was in 1810 in Stratford, PEI, [11] in the Maritime provinces Canada. [12] The oldest Christian Disciples Church in Canada was founded in 1810 by John R. Stewart, an immigrant from Perthshire, Scotland. The first Meeting House (Cross Roads Christian Church) was a log cabin built in 1813. The church was designed by members of the congregation, which were then Christian Disciples whose faith was influenced by Baptist theology. From 1907 to 1947, the church was operated as a Baptist charge in conjunction with Scottish Baptists churches in Alexandra and Hazelbrook, when it apparently again became an Evangelical Christian Church. [13] The following year, the church was visited by the noted evangelist, Alexander Crawford, who was then also working in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. Crawford would remain with the Cross Roads congregation for almost two years before moving to Tryon, Prince Edward Island.
It was after the Second World War that a collaboration between an All-Canadian and North-American (Evangelical Christian Churches) Movement began as a way to coordinate and unite the various churches and ministries within Canada. [3] As this movement developed, in Canada, following up to the early 1940s, .... the Great Western Revival caused a tidal wave of religious interest and excitement in the Canadian Evangelical Christian Church to sweep across North America, revolutionizing a spiritual hunger for God, and unifying Christians on the basis of New Testament basic principles, while liberating the spiritual landscape in Canada. The leaders of this movement sought to reform the church along non-sectarian, non-creedal lines [14] with the preaching of the gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven.
The Evangelical Christian Church (Christian Disciples) as a separate group within the Restoration tradition was reorganized in 2001. [15] The leaders believed in the essential unity of the body of Christ, they could not accept the sectarianism that was all around them. Several church bodies identifying with the Stone-Campbell movement today are very creedal and range from ultra-conservative to ultra-liberal as can be seen in the United Church of Christ which is an attempt to unite all Christian denominations into one national Church body as well as the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches which merged English Christians with American-Canadian Christians in 1931. [16]
The Evangelical Christian Church (Christian Disciples) in Canada is non-denominational [17] and its member churches are self-governing in the tradition of congregational polity. Ministers who are the Elders of the church are held accountable only to the scriptures, and guaranteed freedom of thought and conscience to practice their faith without doctrinal restrictions. The ECC maintains a high commitment to religious freedom, Christian unity, and the priesthood of all believers who make up the body of Christ. [18] The ECC permits only those practices that it believes are found in the guidelines of New Testament living and worship as taught by the early church. The ECC divides the country into 10 districts assigned to district superintendents for liaison with the congregations and ministers in the appointed province. A hierarchical leadership is in place nationally, including the provincial superintendents, the general minister, the board of directors or general council, and regional field representatives. The general superintendent or constitute the executive staff. Ordinations are approved by the Credentials Standing Committee and ministerial credentials come from Central Office. Ordained or licensed ministers, both male and female, provide leadership for the church and preside over the ordinances. [19] [20] [21]
The early participants in the Evangelical Christian Church (Christian Disciples) consisted of those who came away from a variety of fundamental, evangelical denominations, not in an attempt to reform any particular denomination, but rather in an effort to "restore" the "original" church according to the New Testament pattern, [22] [23] while basing its Biblical mission on the Great Commission found in the gospel of Matthew. They believed that history was moving toward a spiritual climax where God's power will be poured out on the church without the use of self-made religious doctrines. Promoters of restoration believed that this supernatural move could be the Lord's final move where the church will be endued with power to Christianize the world with the gospel of the Kingdom of God. In order for this Kingdom dominion pursuit to be realized, the Five-fold ministry expounded in Eph.4:11 (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers) needed to be commissioned by the Church at large and given room to exercise their spiritual gifts [24] with authority in the church of Jesus Christ. [25] [26]
Within the North America Evangelical Christian Church, the Region of Canada, which had 30 churches and some 3500 members in the mid-1990s is unique in that it functions as a national church and has full denominational status at national and international levels. [27] All Christian faiths were free to establish places of worship, train clergy, and proselytize to their faith. [28]
The Evangelical Christian Church (Christian Disciples) teaches that Jesus Christ instituted two ordinances as instruments of his grace, found in: [29]
The Evangelical Christian Church (Christian Disciples) in Canada has eleven Articles of Faith that are considered to be their definitive doctrinal statement: [30] [31] [32]
The Evangelical Christian Church in Canada is an affiliated denominational member of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. The ECCC serves to work and network with other affiliated denominations on critical ministry issues, as well as public issues facing all evangelical Christians. The ECCC and other affiliated denominations participate in the consultations, forums and roundtables that are hosted by the EFC in order to promote collaboration and ministry partnerships. [34]
The Christian Church in the United States and Canada is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination. The denomination started with the Restoration Movement during the Second Great Awakening, first existing during the 19th century as a loose association of churches working towards Christian unity, then slowly forming quasi-denominational structures through missionary societies, regional associations, and an international convention. In 1968, the Disciples of Christ officially adopted a denominational structure at which time a group of churches left to remain nondenominational.
Restorationism, also known as Restitutionism or Christian primitivism, is a religious perspective according to which the early beliefs and practices of the followers of Jesus were lost or adulterated after His death and required "restoration". It is a view that often "seeks to correct faults or deficiencies by appealing to the primitive church as normative model".
Nondenominational Christianity consists of churches which typically distance themselves from the confessionalism or creedalism of other Christian communities by not formally aligning with a specific Christian denomination. Many non-denominational churches have a congregationalist polity, which is self-governing without a higher church authority. This is not absolute of all non-denominational churches though, as elder-ruled non-denominational churches have grown quite recently within networks like Acts 29.
A Christian denomination is a distinct religious body within Christianity that comprises all church congregations of the same kind, identifiable by traits such as a name, particular history, organization, leadership, theological doctrine, worship style and, sometimes, a founder. It is a secular and neutral term, generally used to denote any established Christian church. Unlike a cult or sect, a denomination is usually seen as part of the Christian religious mainstream. Most Christian denominations refer to themselves as churches, whereas some newer ones tend to interchangeably use the terms churches, assemblies, fellowships, etc. Divisions between one group and another are defined by authority and doctrine; issues such as the nature of Jesus, the authority of apostolic succession, biblical hermeneutics, theology, ecclesiology, eschatology, and papal primacy may separate one denomination from another. Groups of denominations—often sharing broadly similar beliefs, practices, and historical ties—are sometimes known as "branches of Christianity". These branches differ in many ways, especially through differences in practices and belief.
Church of Christ may refer to:
The Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) is a Radical Pietistic denomination of evangelical Christianity. The denomination has 129,015 members in 878 congregations and an average worship attendance of 219,000 people in the United States and Canada with ministries on five continents. Founded in 1885 in North America by Swedish immigrants, the church is now one of the most rapidly growing and multi-ethnic denominations on the continent.
The Confessing Movement is a largely lay-led theologically conservative Christian movement that opposes the influence of theological liberalism and theological progressivism currently within several mainline Protestant denominations and seeks to return them to its view of orthodox doctrine, or form a new denomination and disfellowship (excommunicate) them if the situation becomes untenable. Those who eventually deem dealing with theological liberalism and theological progressivism within their churches and denominations as not being tenable anymore would later join or start Confessional Churches and/or Evangelical Churches that continue with the traditions of their respective denominations and maintaining orthodox doctrine while being ecclesiastically separate from the Mainline Protestant denominations.
The group of churches known as the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ is a fellowship of congregations within the Restoration Movement that have no formal denominational affiliation with other congregations, but still share many characteristics of belief and worship. Churches in this tradition are strongly congregationalist and have no formal denominational ties, and thus there is no proper name that is agreed to apply to the movement as a whole. Most congregations in this tradition include the words "Christian Church" or "Church of Christ" in their congregational name. Due to the lack of formal organization between congregations, there is a lack of official statistical data, but the 2016 Directory of the Ministry documents some 5000 congregations in the US and Canada; some estimate the number to be over 6,000 since this directory is unofficial.
The mainline Protestant churches are a group of Protestant denominations in the United States and in some cases Protestant denominations in Canada largely of the theologically liberal or theologically progressive persuasion that contrast in history and practice with the largely theologically conservative Evangelical, Fundamentalist, Charismatic, Confessional, Confessing Movement, historically Black church, and Global South Protestant denominations and congregations. Some make a distinction between "mainline" and "oldline", with the former referring only to denominational ties and the latter referring to church lineage, prestige and influence. However, this distinction has largely been lost to history and the terms are now nearly synonymous.
A united church, also called a uniting church, is a denomination formed from the merger or other form of church union of two or more different Protestant Christian denominations, a number of which come from separate and distinct denominational orientations or traditions. Multi-denominationalism, or a multi-denominational church or organization, is a congregation or organization that is affiliated with two or more Christian denominations, whether they be part of the same tradition or from separate and distinct traditions.
The Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) is an American church body holding to presbyterian governance and Reformed theology. It is a conservative Calvinist denomination. It is most distinctive for its approach to the way it balances certain liberties across congregations on "non-essential" doctrines, such as egalitarianism in marriage or the ordination of women, alongside an affirmation of core "essential" doctrinal standards.
Conservative Christianity, also known as conservative theology, theological conservatism, traditional Christianity, or biblical orthodoxy is a grouping of overlapping and denominationally diverse theological movements within Christianity that seeks to retain the orthodox and long-standing traditions and beliefs of Christianity, it is contrasted with Liberal Christianity and Progressive Christianity which are seen as heretical heterodoxies by theological conservatives. Conservative Christianity should not be mistaken as being synonymous with the political philosophy of conservatism nor the Christian right which is a political movement of Christians who support conservative political ideologies and policies within the realm of secular or non-sectarian politics. The two major subdivisions of Conservative Christianity within Protestantism are Evangelical Christianity and Christian Fundamentalism while the Confessing Movement, Confessionalism, and to an extent Neo-orthodoxy make up the remaining within Protestantism. Theological conservatism is also found in Roman Catholicism and is also found within Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Church of the East; and throughout all of Mainstream-Nicene Christianity in both Western Christian and Eastern Christian traditions, although not every community has had a direct connection with the Fundamentalist–Modernist controversy.
The Christian Connection was a Christian movement in the United States of America that developed in several places during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, composed of members who withdrew from other Christian denominations. It was influenced by settling the frontier as well as the formation of the new United States and its separation from Great Britain. The Christian Connection professed no creed, instead relying strictly on the Bible.
The Convergence Movement, also known as the Ancient-Future Faith, whose foundation is primarily attributed to Robert E. Webber in 1985, is an ecumenical movement. Developed as an effort among evangelical, charismatic and Pentecostal, and liturgical Christians and denominations blending their forms of worship, the movement has been defined for its predominant use of the Anglican tradition's Book of Common Prayer; use from additional liturgical sources common to Lutheranism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Catholicism have also been employed.
The Churches of Christ in Christian Union (CCCU) is a Wesleyan-Holiness and Restorationist Christian denomination.
Waterloo Bible College is a conservative, evangelical, Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement college and seminary in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, training clergy for the Evangelical Christian Church in Canada.
The Christian Congregation is an evangelical non-denominational and non-creedal church that began as an informal evangelistic organization along the Ohio River Valley in 1798 by followers of Barton Warren Stone and his Restoration Movement. Some sources cite Stone as the actual founder. Its church governance is Congregationalist in structure. While never intending to formally establish a church, the Christian Congregation, nevertheless, established its first formally organized congregation when former ministers of the Christian Church in Kokomo, Indiana, John L. Puckett, John Chapman, and Isaac V. Smith, desiring to unite with the movement on a non-creedal and non-denominational basis, incorporated the Christian Congregation in the State of Indiana in 1887.