The Last Will and Testament

It’s a beautiful drive to Paris in the spring. Paris, Kentucky, that is. Paris is located about fifteen miles northeast of Lexington. As you leave Lexington you drive through the rolling hills of horse farms, with their black split rail fences corralling colts sidled up to their mothers in a resplendent display of new life. Bright blue skies with rolling green acres and puffy white clouds make for a glorious panorama.

The Birth of a Movement

Paris is small-town USA, but on the outskirts of town sits the Cane Ridge Meeting House, tenderly preserved by the Disciples of Christ Historical Society. When I arrived I was taken aback by what I thought was the incredible durability of this structure built of stone. I walked the grounds, took pictures, and marveled at the beauty of the serene countryside. Then I walked inside.

Much to my surprise, inside the stone structure looked like an old log cabin. It occurred to me that I was now looking at the 200-year-old “meeting house.” The stone building was constructed in the 1930s to protect the meeting house. Just steps away from this building, Barton W. Stone preached sermons on a log stump to some 20,000 people who came from miles around to experience the power of the preached word.

The reaction of some of the revelers would have shocked many who attend conservative Christian churches today. People barking like dogs. Others throwing themselves on the ground in convulsions. Babbling in “tongues.” This part of the birth of a movement of churches causes us to kind of look the other way.

“They just wanted to be a part of the church.”

Beyond the madness of the scene, however, there were some things happening that transformed the religious landscape of what was then the frontier of the western United States. People began to realize that those who streamed in from miles around were not interested in being a part of a denomination; they just wanted to be a part of the church.

Stone was an ordained Presbyterian minister, and he was under threat of losing his license to preach by letting all of this tomfoolery take place. How could he let people of other denominations freely participate in the Lord’s Supper? People being baptized into Christ and not into the church? Scandalous!

Not long after this Cane Ridge Revival, some Presbyterian leaders, Stone among them, published The Last Will and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery. The opening declaration was, for its place in history, a courageous statement. Eighteen centuries in the making, but two centuries ahead of its time: “We will, that this body die, be dissolved, and sink into union with the Body of Christ at large; for there is but one body, and one Spirit, even as we are called in one hope of our calling.” It is ironic that the unity movement embarked upon with that document resulted in the ultimate division into three groups: The Disciples of Christ, the a cappella Churches of Christ, and the independent Christian Church.

The Body of Christ at Large

On this side of history, the blurring of denominational lines seems logical; especially in the last couple of decades. As the American church realizes that we are losing the culture wars, it only makes sense that we “sink into union with the body of Christ at large.” Independent, nondenominational churches are becoming more the norm. Theological arguments that seemed so imperative twenty-five years ago are now somewhat akin to “how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?”

Denominational loyalty among congregants is becoming rare. Churches pick names that don’t identify themselves with a denomination. National conferences like Catalyst, the Global Leadership Summit, and Exponential don’t advertise themselves to specific denominations and are actually a blend of all denominations and fellowships. Stone’s Last Will and Testament launched a “restoration movement” of nondenominational churches that is being replicated today.

“I want see the church restored to the archetype that was introduced in the book of Acts.”

How can you argue with this? “We will, that preachers and people cultivate a spirit of mutual forbearance; pray more and dispute less.” And “we will, that all our sister bodies read their Bibles carefully, that they may see their fate there determined.”

So, as one who is proudly a part of the independent Christian Church, I’m ready to “sink into union with the Body of Christ at large.” I want to “pray more and dispute less.” I want see the church restored to the archetype that was introduced in the book of Acts. Let’s work together, brothers and sisters. Let’s read our Bibles carefully. Let’s go back to the byways of Paris. The streets of Bethlehem. The prayer of John 17. Even to the hill of Calvary. The world depends on it.