Evangelical Services Corporation history

The aims and practices of the two groups were similar, and the Campbell and Stone movements united in 1832 in Lexington, KY after about a quarter of a century of separate development. (For key dates and more detail, go to the Disciples of Christ Historical Society website.)

Darwin was developing his evolutionary theories, and Marx and Engels published the Communist Manifesto in 1848; France, Germany and Italy all experienced revolutions in 1848.

In 1857, the Christian Reformed Church was born.

Following the Welsh Methodist revival, the Azusa Street Revival in 1906 began the spread of Pentecostalism in North America.

After 1910, evangelicalism was dominated by the fundamentalists, who rejected liberal theology and emphasized the inerrancy of the Scriptures.

In 1917, the National Christian Missionary Convention was formed as the result of the determination of Preston Taylor, a former slave, who was minister of the Gay Street Christian Church in Nashville, Tenn.

Canadian Disciples have talked about uniting with other churches ever since the formation of the All-Canada Committee in the 1920s.

Another group began a separation in 1926 over what it felt were too-liberal policies on the mission field in the practice of baptism.

In contrast to the Chinese and Japanese stories, Filipino Christian Church was founded in Los Angeles in 1933 and has had an uninterrupted ministry to this day.

In 1942 Evangelical leaders created some organizational unity with the formation of the National Association of Evangelicals.

The term neo-evangelicalism was coined by Harold Ockenga in 1947 to identify a distinct movement within self-identified fundamentalist Christianity at the time, especially in the English-speaking world.

On May 6, 1948, 35 editors met at Congress Hotel in Chicago to organize the Evangelical Press Association, to adopt a doctrinal statement (crafted by NAE), and to create a statement of purpose.

On April 4-6, 1949, the first annual EPA convention met in Chicago.

After several revisions, the EPA Code of Ethics was formally adopted in 1954 and dealt with ethical issues common to secular and religious periodicals alike, such as fairness, prompt correction of errors, accuracy, and plagiarism.

Smith, Timothy L (1957), Revivalism and Social Reform: American Protestantism on the Eve of the Civil War

By 1960 the first Christian television network, the Christian Broadcasting Network, was chartered, and later the Trinity Broadcasting Network and LeSea Broadcasting formed to provide programming for the Evangelical community.

A wave of new immigrants from Asia to the United States began with the Immigration Acts of 1965.

More than 40 years later (1967-69) some 3,000 of those congregations formally withdrew at the time of Disciples restructure.

Canada is unique in that it is incorporated as a national church. It is also a region, giving our church the name Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada since 1968.

Hispanics have been Disciples since the last years of the nineteenth century but in 1969, there were only 18 Hispanic and bilingual congregations in all of the United States.

Wade, who died in 1973, asserted that running a profitable business was not inconsistent with serving this master.

In 1977, the Disciples of Christ (through the Disciples Ecumenical Consultative Council) have been engaged with the Roman Catholic Church in an official international dialogue, holding annual meetings, to explore the possibility of realizing full visible unity in Christ.

WEA has been a charter member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability since 1980.

Grand Rapids Evangelical Free Church (GREFC) started as a Bible Study in November 1983.

The first public worship service was held April, 1984 at the Harris Town Hall.

Mailing Address: Disciples Center PO Box 1986 Indianapolis, IN 46206-1986

A merger of three Lutheran churches formed the ELCA in 1988.

It was listed among the top service companies in a Fortune survey in 1989.

Many of the ministries started in the 1990’s are still in operation.

In 1991, the emerging Hispanic leadership separated from Homeland Ministries and established the Central Pastoral Office for Hispanic Ministries.

On April 2, 1995 the first worship service was held in the new Grand Rapids Evangelical Free Church.

In 1996, AAD was renamed the North American Pacific/Asian Disciples (NAPAD) to be more inclusive.

In 1999, an official dialogue was initiated between the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the Christian Church/Churches of Christ, and the Churches of Christ to explore greater understanding and develop greater trust among these three “streams” of the Stone-Campbell Movement.

Vencer’s tenure concluded at the Kuala Lumpur 2001 General Assembly, without a successor, but with a new name—World Evangelical Alliance.

At a 2002 WEA gathering in England, the International Council invited Edmonds himself to become WEA’s new Secretary General.

Edmonds resigned early in 2004 and WEA found itself again in leadership and funding uncertainty.

A new era began in 2005 when Canadian Geoff Tunnicliffe became International Director.

WEA archives. http://www.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/GUIDES/338.htm, accessed August 12, 2006:

Record of 2008 multicultural consultation by Council on Christian Unity

In April 2009, the General Board voted to grant NAPAD the status of a distinct general unit.

At the 2012 NAPAD Convocation Jinsuk Chun was elected as new Executive Pastor.

The current phase of this dialogue, begun in 2013, is focusing on the theme , “Christians Formed and Transformed by the Eucharist.”

In June of 2015, Associate Pastor Steve Wick joined the staff.

In 2019, the General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) entered into a formal partnership with the United Church of Canada with a ceremony held in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

The annual growth rate of Evangelicalism in the United States is 0.8% according to Operation World, which is higher than the growth rate of the general population (0.59% in 2020). However, the United States ranks 30th in the list of countries where Evangelical growth is least.

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