The daily sentinel., 1913-10-09
CHURCH PREPARES
FOR BIG REVIVAL
CAMPAIGN SOON
Christians Elect Officers at An
nual Meeting; Good Growth
is Shown in Reports.

10 cHuWII III nGpUl 10,
The annual roll call and business
meeting of the First Christian
church was held last evening with a
good attendance of the membership.
Reports showed that the years work
had been highly satisfactory. The
church now numbers 226 members,
of whom SO are nonresident. The
total amount raised during the year
was $1,S36.94. The Ladies' Aid So
ciety contributed S341.66 of this to-
tai, and the Bible school gave
Sl99.21. The offerings of the
church and its auxiliaries to missions
were sl22.S5. There were 2I new
members received during the year.
One half the members of the Off
cial board are elected each year for
night were: Elders, T. C. Bullock
and ]. A. Menafee; deacons, Walter
Price, j. c. Grant, r. Z. Hindman,
j. p. Nesbitt and N. j. Browne; dea-
conesses, Mesdames A. G. Lange. NJ.
A. Elkins. ]. G. Mariner and NJ. U. Os-
borne; trustee. j. w. McKibben.
These officers are to be ordained and
installed into office next Sunday
morning at the regular church hour
The next thing of absorbent inter
est before this church is the series
of revival meetings to begin Wednes-
day evening October % under the
leadership of Percy G. Cross of San
Antonio, Tex. Evangelist Cross is an
enthusiastic and magnetic speaker,
and is a specialist in work with men.
Arrangements are being made to hold
Saturday night services and Sunday
afternoon meetings for men in the
Sullivan building on Main street. The
rest of the meetings will be held in
the church auditorium. 1t Is ex-
pected that the playing of the church
orchestra will be great help in the
music for these services.
The following extract from an ar
ticle in the Indianapolis News of
Sept. 81, gives some interesting data
concerning the origininnd purpose of
the Christian church or Disciples of
Christ as they are often called.
1T was more than one hundred
years ago that Thomas Campbell
Presbyterian minister in sparsely
settled district in western Pennsyl-
vania, became wrought up over the
complexity of denominations and
church doctrines and determined to
that would not know creed, but faith.
He had vision of one church, of all
denominations joining hands in an
united effort to spread the bounds of
Christendom. Ill
"Eventful years have passed, and
the Christian church or the Disciples
of Christ, as it is sometimes known,
which has developed from the seeds
of Thomas Campbell planted, has
grown to power. Throughout the
years of early struggle and even in
the later years of increasing power
ii has eXerted strong hand against
the spirit of eeclesiasticism, or the
exercise of systematic and centralized
authority in the church. Today it
seems to face crisis Gu this point.
The predominant feature of the
religion OF the Disciples of Christ has
been the advocacy of Christian union,
the merger of all religious denomina
tions with the Bible as the only rule
of faith. 1t was for this that Thomas
Campbell forsook the Presbyterian
faith. The sparsely settled district
in which he administered to the re-
ligious needs of the people SO was
it split up with denominationalism
that he was not able even to hold
communion services without incurr-
ing the sectarian spirit of the day.
Advantages of United Church.
"He saw the advantages of a
united church and he first preached
the doctrine of unionism that is be-
coming more and more in favor in
religious circles each day. He drew
together a number of farmers in
little house near Washington, Pa,
and there organized the Christian as
sociation for the purpose of advocat-
ing a merger of all denominations
The association soon developed into
the Brush Run church. 1t was To-
Gated near Washington. The ground
on which Christian union was sought
was the throwing away of all creeds
and statements and accepting in their
place the New Testament Scriptures.
THE members of the new order
soon became immersionists and
found affiliation with the Baptist
church. A few years later, because
of the advanced ground taken in op-
position to creed statements. those
who adhered to the views of Alexan-
leader of the movement, were eXclud-
ed from the Baptist fellowship and
from that time became an independ-
ent religious body known as the Dis
ciples of Christ and nicknamed
Campbellites. The organization has
had remarkable growth and now
numbers more than million and
half communicates.
Christian Union Committee.
''In seeking to carry out the idea