John Mark Hicks

Topic: The Struggle for the Soul of Churches of Christ (1889-1929) Participants: Steven Wolfgang, John Mark Hicks, Edward J. Robinson, Shelley Jacobs, Bobby Valentine, Chris Cotten, and C. Leonard Allen. Time: April 8 (Tuesday) from 8:30am to 4pm. Place: Hillsboro Church of Christ, Nashville, TN 37204 For more information and registration, click here.

This essay was first published in Why We Stayed: Honesty and Hope in the Churches of Christ (Los Angeles: Keledei Publications, 2018), pp. 103-120. In the essay, I discuss the emerging differences within Churches in the late 19th and early 20th centuries on (1) rebaptism, (2) female voice in the assembly, and (3) the Holy […]

The Nashville Tennessean, in an article entitled “ALL DELIGHTED,” described the proceedings of the General Christian Missionary Convention’s 1892 annual meeting (October 21, 1892, p. 8). This was a highwater mark in the tension within the Stone-Campbell Movement (or, American Restoration Movement). The missionary societies held their convention in the capital of its opposition. There […]

1938-1939 were significant years for the Churches of Christ. In 1938 E. W. McMillan, one time chair of the Bible department at Abilene Christian College, began preaching for the Central Church of Christ in Nashville, TN and in January 1939 assumed the editorship of the Christian Leader which was now under new management (Clinton Davidson). The […]

Houston Chronicle (1921) To the Editor of the Chronicle. I desire to reply through your columns to some questions that have been propounded to me by private letter as follows: “I read both the News and The Chronicle. Will you please state through one of these papers or both, for my information and that of […]

R. C. Bell (1877-1964) attended the Nashville Bible School from 1896-1901. James A. Harding took Bell with him as a faculty member at the newly founded Potter Bible College in 1901. Later Bell would teach at several different colleges among Churches of Christ and eventually ended up at Abilene Christian College as a beloved teacher. In 1959, […]

The story of the division of “The Christian Church of McGregor” in McGregor, Texas, near Waco, is of particular significance for several reasons. Organized on August 25, 1883, it divided on September 23, 1897. The division resulted in two groups: “The First Christian Church of McGregor” and “the Church of Christ” (the capital letters are […]

The story of the division of “The Christian Church of McGregor” in McGregor, Texas, near Waco, is of particular significance for several reasons. Organized on August 25, 1883, it divided on September 23, 1897. The division resulted in two groups: “The First Christian Church of McGregor” and “the Church of Christ” (the capital letters are […]

This is my last post on the historical situation of women in the assemblies of Churches of Christ from 1897 to 1907.  You may access the whole series from my serial page. The Texas Tradition While the mid and deep South seemed united in the Tennessee perspective, Texas reflected some considerable diversity, even among conservatives who […]

  Last January I began a series surveying the privilege of women to speak or their restricted silence within assemblies of Churches of Christ from 1897 to 1907.  I never completed the series because Discipliana (the journal of the Disciples of Christ Historical Society) was interested in publishing an article on the topic.  That article […]