wfn.org | Great Gathering marks Great Revival at Cane Ridge

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@wfn.org>]

Date: August 21, 2001
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Contact: Curt Miller
E-mail: cmiller@cm.disciples.org
on the Web: http://www.disciples.org

01a-42

	BOURBON COUNTY, Ky. (DNS) - Some 4,000 people gathered over
nine days, Aug. 4-12, to mark the bicentennial of one of the
most significant events in American religious history, "The
Great Revival" at Cane Ridge in Bourbon County, Ky.

	Besides commemorating the revival, "The Great Gathering 2001"
honored the life and ministry of Barton W. Stone. In 1801,
Stone, a Presbyterian minister, planned a sacramental communion
service to be hosted by his Cane Ridge congregation.  Such
services were common in the late 18th and early 19th centuries,
and typically lasted three or four days.  Stone invited
Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists and the unchurched to the
August service, and some 20,000 people journeyed to the meeting
house on the Kentucky frontier. The event stretched to nine days
-- ending only when the preachers' and participants' provisions
ran out.  The revival was a defining event in what religious
historians call the "Second Great Awakening." Historian Sydney
E. Alstrom has written that the 1801 event at Cane Ridge was
popularly referred to as "the greatest outpouring of the Spirit
since Pentecost."

	Three years after the revival, Stone left the Presbyterian
church in a break with denominationalism. He and his followers
called themselves simply "Christians."  In 1832 the Stone
movement united with a similar one lead by Thomas and Alexander
Campbell.  Three modern-day faith groups emerged from that
union: the non-instrumental or a capella Churches of Christ, the
Christian Churches/Churches of Christ (Independent), and the
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

	The Great Gathering 2001 brought together leaders, scholars and
members of the three Stone-Campbell streams.  They worshiped
together under an expansive tent and in the 210-year-old Cane
Ridge log meeting house, discussed the future of relations among
the three traditions and delivered and listened to sermons and
academic papers. The nine-day agenda included: a formal session
of the Stone-Campbell Dialogue, a series of meetings among
leaders of the three Stone-Campbell streams; the Disciples of
Christ Historical Society annual Forrest H. Kirkpatrick
Historians Seminar; and the Disciples Council on Christian
Unity's Peter Ainslie Lecture on Christian Unity

	"The truth of the matter is we need a revival," preached the
Rev. Cynthia Hale, pastor of Ray of Hope Christian Church, a
Disciples congregation of 4,000 in Decatur, Ga. "America is
spiritually thirsting. ... Many are living without hope,
searching for answers to life's difficult questions ... God
revive us again." In her opening day sermon Hale called the
church to move beyond prejudices and disagreements and apply
full energy to spiritual renewal.

	David Faust, senior minister, East 91st St. Christian Church
(Independent), Indianapolis, said the church of 2001 can learn
much from the Great Revival at Cane Ridge. "God is sovereign and
sometimes you can't program exactly what needs to happen to
bring revival and renewal to the people. I think that in itself
is something we need to learn in a day when we try to program
and script almost everything we do -- that God sometimes works
more spontaneously and outside the box that we put Him in."

	At the 1801 revival, "they were simply preaching the Bible,"
Faust said.  There were Methodists and Baptists and
Presbyterians and people from various groups and denominations
who came together. But for a wonderful week it was hard to tell
who was who and which was which, because they were simply
preaching Christ and preaching straight from the Bible.  I think
that's something we need to reconsider in this century and
continue to simply focus on the basics of the gospel message."

	Michael Armour, Dallas, a non-instrumental Churches of Christ
minister, preached a closing-service message on the importance
of communion in all three Stone-Campbell streams.  Barton W.
Stone, he said, "like the apostle (Paul), understood that in
preaching the great themes, we need to frame them with an
understanding of who we are that is defined by the Lord's
Supper.  There was religious diversity on the American frontier,
and there is diversity now. "But we evidence in that diversity
our common Lord and our common bond by coming together around
the table to show our oneness," Armour said.

	Armour also delivered the 19th annual Peter Ainslie lecture on
Christian Unity at Lexington Theological Seminary: No Longer
Singing Solo: the Rise and Decline of Isolationism in a capella
Churches.  He noted that "there are fresh stirrings in a capella
(non-instrumental) congregations, as hundreds of them emerge
from decades of isolation -- sometimes self-imposed, sometimes
thrust upon them --  to open their hearts and their embrace to
others who share a passion for Christ-centered spirituality and
an abiding respect for God's word."

	Barton W. Stone and Alexander Campbell both were fervent about
Christian unity.  Campbell, said Disciples General Minister and
President Richard L. Hamm, showed a preference for working out
the details of unity before taking action.  Stone, said the GMP,
advocated Christians coming together -- and working out the
details later.  "I appreciate that attitude very much, and
believe that probably Stone had that right. The more I've
learned about Stone the more I appreciate his contribution to
who we are as the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Many
of the things that he said are ready to be freshly applied by
the church in the 21st century," said Hamm.

	Planned for two and a half years by more than 40 people, the
success of the bicentennial observance was not measured in
dollars and cents or even in the number of people who attended.
"We weren't looking for success' necessarily," said the Rev.
Robert Steffer.  He and his wife, Diane, are co-curators of the
Cane Ridge Shrine.  "We were looking for an event that would
attract a wide variety of people," Steffer said.

	                                              - end -

(Note to Editors: Photo of Richard L. Hamm speaking at Cane
Ridge will be mailed.)