Springfield Presbytery

The Springfield Presbytery was an independent presbytery that became one of the earliest expressions of the Stone-Campbell Movement. It was composed of dissident Presbyterian ministers who withdrew in protest from the Synod of Kentucky on September 10, 1803. It dissolved itself on June 28, 1804, marking the birth of the Christian Church of the West.

The immediate cause of withdrawal was that the Synod of Kentucky was considering a resolution to examine the orthodoxy of two ministers, Richard McNemar and John Thompson. Both ministers had expressed views at odds with the Westminster Confession. While the Synod was considering the resolution, these two ministers and three others (Robert Marshall, John Dunlavy, and Barton W. Stone) protested the proceedings and withdrew from the jurisdiction of the Synod. Their signed protest was dated September 10, 1803. They then formed the Springfield Presbytery. On January 31, 1804, they published a 141-page defense of their actions, in which they opposed the use of creeds to determine who is a Christian.

The Springfield Presbytery was a loose association of the dissenting ministers and their congregations. A sixth minister joined the Presbytery when it ordained David Purviance, whom the West Lexington Presbytery had refused to ordain.

Ultimately convinced that the Presbytery was sectarian, the six ministers dissolved it on June 28, 1804. To publicize the dissolution, they published "The Last Will and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery." This facetious tract willed that “this body die, be dissolved, and sink into union with the Body of Christ at large.” It expressed the desire for Christian union and identified the Bible as the only standard of Christian faith and practice.

The Springfield Presbytery was dissolved by the "The Last Will and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery," becoming more famous in its demise than in its existence. The "Last Will and Testament" became a founding document of the American Restoration Movement. While real, the act was also symbolic, based on the principle of individual autonomy for local congregations. Congregational ideals persist to this day in the Disciples of Christ and the Churches of Christ, due in no small part to this document.

ee also

See also, Barton W. Stone.

External links

* Text of the Last Will and Testament: [http://www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/texts/rmcnemar/ocg/OCG.HTM#Will]

References

* Garrett, Leroy. "The Stone-Campbell Movement: An Anecdotal History of Three Churches", Joplin, Missouri: College Press Publishing Company, 1981.
* Garrison, Winfred Earnest and DeGroot, Alfred T. (1948). "The Disciples of Christ, A History", St Louis, Missouri: The Bethany Press
* Marshall, Robert; Dunlavy, John; M'nemar, Richard; Stone, B. W.; Thompson, John; and Purviance, David (1804). [http://www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/texts/rmcnemar/ocg/OCG.HTM#Will "The Last Will and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery"]
* McAlister, Lester G. and Tucker, William E. (1975), "Journey in Faith: A History of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)," St. Louis, Chalice Press, ISBN 9780827217034