Mahoning Baptist Association

The Mahoning Baptist Association was an association of Baptist churches that was established in 1820 in Ohio's Mahoning Valley.^[1] Two prominent early Restoration Movement leaders, Alexander Campbell and Walter Scott, were closely affiliated with the Mahoning Association.^{[1][2][3]: 675} The Association was dissolved in 1830.^[1]

History

Walter Scott

The Mahoning Baptist Association was established in 1820.^[1] Even though the Philadelphia Confession of Faith was considered its "organic law," the Association was "filled with ideas of religious reformation" and both open discussion and doctrinal diversity were accepted.^[1]

A congregation in Wellsburg, West Virginia, which was formed by Alexander Campbell after he left the Brush Run Church and the Redstone Baptist Association, became a member of the Association in 1823.^[2] Campbell's journal the Christian Baptist was well received in the Association, as were his debates.^[1] As a result, "the association heartily adopted the very same ecumenical, reforming views" in 1824 that had led to Campell's break with the Redstone Association.^[1]

Another early Restoration Movement leader, Walter Scott, was hired by the Mahoning Association as an evangelist in 1827.^{[1][3]: 675} Within three years he brought more than 3,000 converts into the movement.^[3]: 675

The Association disbanded in 1830, which Campbell believed to be premature.^[1] Some historians consider the dissolution of the Mahoning Association to mark the beginning of the Disciples of Christ, because that is the point when they became truly independent.^[1]

References

1. Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, ISBN 0-8028-3898-7, ISBN 978-0-8028-3898-8, 854 pages, entry on Mahoning Baptist Association, pp. 501-502
2. Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, ISBN 0-8028-3898-7, ISBN 978-0-8028-3898-8, 854 pages, entry on Brush Run Church, pages 100-101
3. Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, ISBN 0-8028-3898-7, ISBN 978-0-8028-3898-8, 854 pages, entry on Scott, Walter, pages 673-689

External links

• "The Philadelphia Confession of Faith". The Spurgeon Archive. Archived from the original on 1 July 2010. Retrieved 2012-11-23.