Formation
Elias Smith had heard of the Stone movement by 1804, and the O'Kelly movement by 1808. The three groups merged by 1810. At that time the combined movement had a membership of approximately 20,000. This loose fellowship of churches was called by the names "Christian Connection/Connexion" or "Christian Church."
By 1808, O’Kelley’s followers and the Smith/Jones movement were cooperating closely, and Stone’s Christians in Kentucky would soon follow suit. This loose fellowship of churches was called by the names Christian Connection/Connexion or Christian Church. Adherents anti-organizational commitments prevents one from referring to “union” ‘’per se’‘, at least before the middle of the century. Stone's concept of unity grew from a belief that Christians could extract the Bible’s truths by reason, they approached it without presuppositions. These truths, in turn would displace human forms of order, leading to the unstoppable result that Christians would start “flowing together” and others would come to faith because of the model of unity.
The Connexion soon became international, churches created in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec (1811) and Ontario (1821). In each case, the missions were extensions of preaching tours from neighboring American states. Thus all of the Canadian congregations were related to the New England movement. The failed Rebellions of 1837 (led by principally by Louis-Joseph Papineau and William Lyon Mackenzie) massively undercut the Connexion's Canadian wings. Solely in Ontario did churches survive, almost all of those north and east of Toronto, Ontario. Conflict between the Connexion and the Disciples of Christ also disrupted the former's Canadian growth.
Smith proved to be a controversial figure in the Christian Connexion, leaving the denomination for several years to become a Universalist. He publicly renounced Universalism in 1823, but was not well received and reverted to it for a couple of years. Smith again attempted a re-entry to the Connexion with another repudiation of Universalism in 1827. His brethren were understandably hesitant to accept him, but his home congregation of Portsmouth, NH received him back in fellowship in 1840.
Read more about this topic: Christian Connection
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