Servers line up at the entrance to Nashville's West End Church of Christ in preparation for taking the cup of the Lord's Supper to the 500 people attending a Great Communion service commemorating the bicentennial of Thomas Campbell's "Declaration and Address," Sunday, Oct. 4. Among the congregations represented by the servers were the West End church and nearby Vine Street Christian Church. Photo: Ted Parks (click to enlarge)

By Rebecca Bowman Woods, DisciplesWorld news and website editor

(10/9/09) — Stone-Campbell Christians from Abilene to Australia gathered on Oct. 4 to share the Lord’s Supper, marking the bicentennial of Thomas Campbell’s foundational document on unity, the Declaration and Address.

The 2009 “Great Communion” was celebrated as far away as Kenya, Brazil, and western Australia. In the U.S. and Canada, the event brought together members of three faith groups — the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the Christian Churches / Churches of Christ, and the Churches of Christ. 

A century ago, around 25,000 Stone-Campbell church members gathered at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, Pa. for a Centennial Convention and communion service to mark the 100-year anniversary of Campbell’s Declaration and Address.

Prior to the 1909 convention, however, the Churches of Christ had already separated from the Disciples of Christ, primarily over the use of instrumental music in worship. A few decades later, another schism emerged as some congregations affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) when it became a denomination in 1968, and others chose to remain independent.  Thus, a movement found on unity birthed three distinct Christian communities.

This time, rather than organizing another large gathering, the 16-member task force behind the 2009 Great Communion encouraged members of Stone-Campbell churches to organize local celebrations. The task force set a date — Oct. 4, 2009 — launched a website, greatcommunion.org, and posted worship and study resources.

Great Communion celebrations in Abilene and Pittsburgh drew more than 1,000 people, said Glenn Carson, president of the Disciples of Christ Historical Society and one of the key organizers of the Great Communion. There were several gatherings in the 300 to 500 range, hundreds of smaller gatherings, and many congregations that celebrated the bicentennial in regular worship services, Carson said.

“We can count this a great success,” Carson said. Churches as far away as Kenya, Brazil, and Australia participated.

Carson marked the Great Communion in New York City at Park Avenue Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), preaching there during the regular morning worship service and participating in a Great Communion service later in the day, along with Robert Lee Hill, senior minister of Community Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Kansas City, Mo. Alvin O. Jackson is Park Avenue's senior minister.

B.J. Mpofu, of Zimbabwe, is the president of the World Convention of Churches of Christ, a quadrennial convention of Christians with Stone-Campbell ties as well as a global organization based in Nashville, Tenn. Mpofu shared his hopes for the Great Communion in a video, posted on the western Australian church’s blog.

“It is a special time for all of us to celebrate, as we remember that day when our forebears saw it fit to remind us that under the cross, we are but one body,” Mpofu said in the video.

Churches in the Washington, Pa. area, where the local Christian Association published Campbell’s Declaration and Address, held a service across the street from where the document was printed in 1809. "We were at ground zero," said Maggie Sebastian, pastor of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Wheeling, W.Va. Sebastian spoke on the subject "unity is our polar star."

The Great Communion service in Katy, Texas, included three clergy meditations based on Campbell’s premise that the church’s unity is “essential, intentional, and constitutional,” said J. David Hargrave, minister at First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Katy.  “We closed with communion, which we took together as a sign of unity, and a unison Lord’s prayer,” said Hargrave.

Dan Smith, associate minister at First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Nacogdoches, Texas, helped organize the Great Communion in the Nacogdoches and Lufkin area.  Between 150 and 200 members of several Stone-Campbell churches in the area shared in a worship service that included a cappella singing and a sermon from Jim McReynolds, a state representative and an elder at North Street Church of Christ.

The service concluded with participants in a circle. “We all held hands and a member of each of the three streams said a prayer,” Smith said. They concluded by singing the benediction, “God be with you ‘til we meet again.”

In several communities, members of the Stone-Campbell family now want to build on the sense of unity fostered by revisiting Thomas Campbell’s Declaration, which includes this thesis: "The church of Christ upon earth is essentially, intentionally, and constitutionally One."

The Nashville group, which includes representatives of the historical society, Vine Street Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Woodmont Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Otter Creek Church of Christ, Woodmont Hills Church of Christ, and the World Convention, are planning an annual communion service together “as a continuation of the unity shared on Great Communion Sunday,” Carson said.  

Along with Carson, several Disciples served on the bicentennial task force: Robert Welsh, president of the Council on Christian Unity; Charlie Gaines, a Texas layman and former vice-moderator of the General Assembly; and Disciples ministers Diane Spleth, Dara Cobb, and Irie Sessions.

More than 13,000 visitors from 87 countries came to the Great Communion website, Carson said. Forty-four percent of site visits came during the month prior to the event, he noted.

Related articles on disciplesworld.com:

Remembering Thomas Campbell and the Declaration and Address (10/3/09)

'Great Communion' kicks off as 17th World Convention concludes (8/4/08)