Thomas Campbell

Thomas Campbell (1 February 1763 – 4 January 1854) was a Presbyterian minister who became prominent during the Second Great Awakening of the United States. Born in County Down, he began a religious reform movement on the American frontier. He was joined in the work by his son, Alexander. Their movement, known as the "Disciples of Christ", merged in 1832 with the similar movement led by Barton W. Stone to form what is now described as the American Restoration Movement (also known as the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement). Early life Campbell was born in County Down, Ireland (now Northern Ireland), and raised as an Anglican. He was ordained a minister in the Scottish Seceder Presbyterian Church sometime after graduating from the University of Glasgow in 1786. Campbell left Ireland for the United States in April 1807. This move was prompted by the advice of his physician. Once in America, disagreement arose between Thomas and other Presbyterians over certain points related to Calvinist doctrine and the administration of the Eucharist. Role in the early Restoration Movement The Campbell wing of the movement was launched when Thomas Campbell published the Declaration and address of the Christian Association of Washington in 1809. The Presbyterian Synod had suspended his ministerial credentials. In The Declaration and Address he set forth some of his convictions about the church of Jesus Christ, as he organised the Christian Association of Washington, in Washington County, Pennsylvania, not as a church but as an association of persons seeking to grow in faith. On 4 May 1811, the Christian Association reconstituted itself as a congregationally governed church. With the building it constructed at Brush Run, Pennsylvania, it became known as Brush Run Church. When their study of the New Testament led the reformers to begin to practice baptism by immersion, the nearby Redstone Baptist Association invited Brush Run Church to join with them for the purpose of fellowship. The reformers agreed, provided that they would be "allowed to preach and to teach whatever they learned from the Scriptures."