Predecessor Groups
James O'Kelly was an early advocate of seeking unity through a return to New Testament Christianity. In 1792, dissatisfied with the role of bishops in the Methodist Episcopal Church, he separated from that body. O'Kelly's movement, centering in Virginia and North Carolina, was originally called Republican Methodists. In 1794 they adopted the name Christian Church.
During the same period, Elias Smith of Vermont and Abner Jones of New Hampshire led a movement espousing views similar to those of O’Kelly. They believed that members could, by looking to scripture alone, simply be Christians without being bound to human traditions and the denominations that had been brought over from Europe. Working independently at first, Abner Jones of Vermont and Elias Smith of New Hampshire joined together in their efforts and began exclusively using the name Christian.
In 1801, the Cane Ridge Revival in Kentucky would plant the seed for a movement in Kentucky and the Ohio River valley to disassociate from denominationalism. Barton W. Stone and five others published The Last Will and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery in 1804 giving up denominational ties and preferring to be known simply as Christians. Stone was influenced by his earlier involvement with O'Kelley and knew of the Republican Methodists use of only the name Christian.
Ideologically, the New England movement displayed an extreme form of republicanism. Convinced that the American Revolution demanded a thorough and utter break with European modes of operation, members tended to demand radical reform of politics, the legal system, medicine and religion. Elias Smith's career particularly emphasized medical and spiritual reform. All visible forms of church government were to be rejected, he argued, because they were inherently “British”. The movement’s nativist approach to theology and church polity imparted a unique flavor to the movement, placing them solidly on the fringe of early nineteenth-century North American spirituality.
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