150th Video on September 24, 2017
The Central Church of Christ began meeting as a congregation in September, 1867 – two years after the end of the Civil War. Central became the first Church of Christ in Sparta and the second in White County (Cherry Creek Church of Christ began in 1820).
Central is connected to the American Restoration Movement. This movement began before 1800, and was the result of rampant sectarianism and divisiveness, dissatisfaction with human creeds, the ignorance and arrogance of clergy, and the Calvinistic doctrine of hereditary total depravity. A small group of believers in Sparta felt the need to leave man-made “Christianity” and return to the simplicity and purity of New Testament Christianity. They believed that unity with their denominational friends could be achieved only through the restoration of 1st century Christianity. Their emphasis on going back to the Bible was not intended to establish another denomination, but rather to return to the original church we read about in the Bible.
Digital version of our 150th Celebration Book