Christians (CHRISTIAN CONNECTION), an organization of believers that arose almost simultaneously in various parts of the country about the close of the last century.

      The leading spirit of the movement was Rev. James O'Kelly, a prominent minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. O'Kelly lived in Virginia, and seems to have become dissatisfied with various requirements in the creed and discipline of his church. The same feeling was shared by a considerable number of his brethren, some of whom were Baptists--who, like the Puritans of old, wanted more liberty of conscience. These brethren, after some consultation, decided to form a new denomination. They called themselves, at the first, "Republican Methodists," but adopted almost substantially the principles now held by the Christians, and the following year (1793), they unanimously adopted the name "Christian," which name has since properly designated the denomination.

      The denomination is peculiar in that the members subscribe to no creed but the unqualified Word of God. They reckon human creeds and formal statements of faith as mischievous, and tending to bigotry and disunion among God's people. But no people are more orthodox in their adherence to the Bible as the "only infallible rule of faith and practice." They regard Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the supreme head of the Church, hence they adopt the name Christian as an appropriate name for all followers of Christ. They also hold that not mere intellectual belief, but Christian character, is the proper test of church fellowship; and, while acknowledging the right and duty of private judgment, they believe in the union of all loyal believers--many advocating even the organic union of the various sects upon the principles of the teachings of Christ.

      The denomination has its chief following among the rural population, although churches are well sustained in Albany and Brooklyn, N. Y.. Fall River, Mass., Springfield, Ohio, and other important towns. It has two Theological schools, one at Stanfordville, N. Y., and one at Merom, Ind. It also maintains several chartered colleges and institutions of a high grade, among which are Antioch College, Ohio; U. C. College, Ind.; Elon College, N. C., and the Christian [172] Correspondence College, N. Y. One of its oldest and most successful institutions, also located in N. Y., is Starkey Seminary and College, which celebrated its semicentennial in June, 1890.

      The denomination is liberal, but not lax. The churches number about 1,500, and the membership nearly 30,000 in this country alone. Within the past few years aggressive foreign missionary work has been begun in Japan, and the Christians already have four commissioned missions and several churches in that field.

      The principal organ of the church is the Herald of Gospel Liberty, published under the direction of the Christian Quadrennial Association at Dayton, Ohio. This paper is said to be the first distinctively religious newspaper that was ever published in America, having been founded in 1808. It is now a sixteen-page weekly, open to free and candid discussions on all biblical topics. It has an efficient corps of editors and a good circulation. Various other periodicals are published in the interests of the cause. See History of the Christians, by J. R. Freese, M. D., and the writings of N. Summerbell, D. D., Warren Hathaway, D. D., Austin Craig, D. D., and others.

L. J. ALDRICH.      

[CCRK 172-173]

      The electronic version of L. J. Aldrich's "Christians (Christian Connection)" was first published in A Concise Cyclopedia of Religious Knowledge: Biblical, Biographical, Geographical, Historical, Practical and Theological, ed. Elias Benjamin Sanford (Hartford, CT: S S. Scranton Company, 1902), pp. 172-173.

      Pagination in the electronic version has been represented by placing the page number in brackets following the last complete word on the printed page.

      Addenda and corrigenda are earnestly solicited.

Ernie Stefanik
373 Wilson Street
Derry, PA 15627-9770
724.694.8602
stefanik@westol.com

Created 31 December 1998.