Members of the Church of Christ church: I have a question about the history of your church.?

Question

I'm not trying to stir up controversy, or bash or anything like that. It's an honest question.
My Dad's side of the family is Church of Christ, but I don't feel comfortable asking them about it, so I'm asking you.
When did your church/denomination come into existance? Who founded it?
I'm a Mormon convert, and early on in my conversion I heard someone mention once that an early member of our church was excommunicated and later formed your church. But since I only ever heard this once, I don't know if it's true or not. There does seem to be some similarities between our two faiths, and I was just wondering. The person that told me this was just a member and trying to give me some history on our church. Nothing disparaging was mentioned about your church, but it's stuck with me all this time because of my family who are devout Church of Christ members. The man's name who I was told left our church and formed yours was Sidney Rigdon, and it would have been in the middle of the 1800's.

While I appreciate JayDee's answer as explaining the basic beliefs of the Church of Christ, and setting me straight on some things. It doesn't really address what I was most wanting. But I do thank you JayDee.
I also thank Bama-jld for the same reasons. And while I never really thought the Church of Christ religion came from Mormonism, there was this thought in my mind that maybe the disallusioned Rigdon may have formed a church with the same name as y'all.

I do appreciate the links given by johnathonbrickman0000, and to that end I will probably pick him as a best answer when my time is up, unless someone has something better to say.

To those who are lds and answered. I'm glad you got two points, but you didn't add anything to the discussion. I believe what you believe, but I wasn't trying to find out what the lds church beleives, but more of the history of the Church of Christ.

Answer 1

I think you're probably looking for the following info:

http://www.religioustolerance.org/cojc.htm

Apparently Mr. Rigdon was a good friend of Mr. Smith's:

http://www.sacred-texts.com/mor/dc/dc35.htm

but then decided to go a different way. It may be helpful to know that a large proportion of the "restorationist" churches today calling themselves "Church of Christ" have never had anything to do with Rigdon or Mormonism at all; a good summary is here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Christ

Answer 2

I'm LDS. What I understand is that After Joseph Smith was killed, there was confusion as to who would take his place. Some thought that his son should. Others, that Sidney Rigdon, who was the 1st councilor in the First Presidency should, and most of the rest thought that Brigham Young, the president of the Quorum of the 12 should. Those that followed Brigham kept the name of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and moved to Utah. Those that followed Sidney formed the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, now known as the Community of Christ. And those that followed Joseph Smith III began the Church of Christ. But I may be mistaken

Answer 3

The Church of Christ did not come from the Mormon church. (There is some confusion because the Mormon church called itself the "Church of Christ" before it expanded its name to the "Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints" in 1838, but this does not mean that they are related to those who wear the name "Church of Christ" today.) (http://www.mormonwiki.com/mormonism/Mormon_history)

Many will say Thomas or Alexander Campbell, or Barton Stone established the Church of Christ. (The Campbells were Presbeterian and later became associated with the Baptist.)

Jesus, however, said in Matthew 16:18, “I will build My church.” This church began on the first Pentecost after Jesus rose from the dead. (Acts 2)

We can see in the New Testament instructions and examples of how this early church was to worship, what they were to teach, and how a person was to become a member of this church. This early church was not a denomination.

In fact, no denomination even existed at first, but they did later begin, and they were denounced in the scriptures. (1 Corinthians 1:10-13)

When the church first began, all of its members were just Christians – nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else. In Acts 2, we see about 3000 all heard the same message, they all understood it the same way, they all believed it the same way, they all obeyed it the same way, and they all continued in the same doctrine. As they were being saved, God added them to His church (verse 47).

Today, if we read and understand what they understood, believe what they believed, and do what they did, without adding any man-made doctrine or organization, then we will become what they became – Christians (nothing more, nothing less, nothing else)! This is the plea of the Church of Christ!

If the Alexanders or Mr. Stone did this, then they were not establishing a new church, but they were just going back to the one that had already been built. The Church of Christ today does not want to be a new church, but we want to speak where the Bible speaks, be silent where the Bible is silent, do Bible things in Bible ways and call Bible things by Bible names; thus restoring the New Testament church!

To better understand this, consider a game such as basketball. Such games are played by rules.

As I understand it, the game of basketball was invented in the late 1800’s or early 1900’s in a YMCA.

Suppose for example that a group of people who have never heard of basketball find a complete rule book and they decide to play this game. They set up a court exactly like the rules say. The goals are the size and height that are specified in the rules and they make a ball the size and weight of the one found in the rule book.

When they begin to play this game, as specified in the rules, what game are they playing? They would be playing basketball!

Would they be correct to say they invented a new game? No, they would be playing a game that was invented many years before!
The Bible is the Christian “rule book”. If you follow the Bible, then you are a Christian. A church that follows the Bible, without adding to it or taking away from it, is not a new church, but it is the church that was established many years before!

If a person teaches what the Bible teaches, he has not established a new doctrine, but he is just returning to a doctrine that was previously established!

This is the goal of the Church of Christ. To the extent we are successful in this goal, then this church was established by our Lord Jesus and the apostles he sent out for this purpose about 2000 years ago.

Answer 4

Sidney Rigdon was a Campbellite minister PRIOR to helping Joseph Smith form the LDS Church and Book of Mormon. When the Book of Mormon was ready to be printed and Rigdon no longer needed to be employed as a Campbellite, he committed to Joseph to convert his whole Ohio congregation.

Thus, a year later in 1831, Rigdon officially left the Campbellite denomination in favor of his newly-created church with Smith.

The Campbellite denomination was the root of the Churches of Christ movement, as a restoration movement. Many Campbellite ministers, including Alexander Campbell's own son, started the Churches of Christ. Rigdon was never a part of these Churches. William Law, however, who was also an LDS Apostle, WAS an integral party in extablishing the movement.

William Law is best known for his work on the Nauvoo Expositor, which, akin to its name, exposed Smith's secret polygamy to the members of the Church and criticized him for running a theocratic government in Nauvoo devoid of the basic freedoms guaranteed to Americans, most importantly, the freedom of speech. In character, Smith ordered the expositor's press be destroyed and its editors excommunicated.

Answer 5

I'm LDS and I looked this up once. When Joseph Smith died, most followed Brigham Young, but some, including Emma Smith and her eldest son didn' t agree with all that Brigham Young had to say and formed the reorganized church in which Joseph's son became the prophet of.

Also, there are several different "Church of Christ" and the reorganized LDS church changed theri name to this several years ago.

Answer 6

I am not a member but this is what Church of Christ says about Church of Christ (an excerpt from their page)
http://church-of-christ.org/who.html#restore

Back to the top of the page


The Historical background of the Restoration Movement

One of the earliest advocates of the return to New Testament Christianity, as a means of achieving unity of all believers in Christ, was James O'Kelly of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1793 he withdrew from the Baltimore conference of his church and called upon others to join him in taking the Bible as the only creed. His influence was largely felt in Virginia and North Carolina where history records that some seven thousand communicants followed his leadership toward a return to primitive New Testament Christianity.
In 1802 a similar movement among the Baptists in New England was led by Abner Jones and Elias Smith. They were concerned about "denominational names and creeds" and decided to wear only the name Christian, taking Bible as their only guide. In 1804, in the western frontier state of Kentucky, Barton W. Stone and several other Presbyterian preachers took similar action declaring that they would take the Bible as the "only sure guide to heaven." Thomas Campbell, and his illustrious son, Alexander Campbell, took similar steps in the year 1809 in what is now the state of West Virginia. They contended that nothing should be bound upon Christians as a matter of doctrine which is not as old as the New Testament. Although these four movements were completely independent in their beginnings eventually they became one strong restoration movement because of their common purpose and plea. These men did not advocate the starting of a new church, but rather a return to Christ's church as described in the Bible.
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I don't think they are talking about the same Smith.

EDIT:
If I was you I would go with Jonathanbrickmans links. I was unaware of the Church of Jesus Christ /Mormon Schism.

Answer 7

Joseph Smith established our Church as per the original Church that Christ. We believe that the authority to act in the name of Christ, or Priesthood, was lost when the apostles were killed. That's why it needed to be restored.

Sidney Rigdon was one of the original people when the Church was established on April 6, 1830. He later left the Church.

Answer 8

Susanna feels attacked? What? And much less being attacked by Catholics? What?... Let's be straight here... and not put lipstick on a pig. SDA(s) are very Anti-Catholic... They call our Church the "Whore of Babylon".... So, who is attacking whom? If anything, Catholics are standing up for our Faith and defending ourselves from others... Let's be honest here... what does the SDA church really teach you about Catholicism...? We can hash this all out here... and put it all behind us, so that you have a TRUE understanding of what is taught in our Church... ********* hahahaha - I love the claims of the Catholic Church adding books!!! Are you guys dense? The Catholic Bible (first Bible) was released to the world in 397AD... your Protestant Bible came in 16th century.... So we added what???? ----- Get your facts straight... and yes, our Catholic teachings are man made... after all, Jesus was a man... BOOYAH!!!!

Answer 9

I have no knowledge of the things you site. I am a member of the church of Christ. Most all churches of Christ are independent; common only by the principles of the bible truth. There is no "central" organization. We only recognize Christ as the head of the church.
As far as when the church was founded. I and those that I know, ONLY recognize the "day of pentacost" as the time when the church was established. We consider ourselves ONLY members of the new testament church; we consider that church to be the "church of Christ".

Answer 10

This link may help...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Rigdon

edit: Here's another...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churches_of_Christ