The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) began in the early 1800's with three ex-Presbyterian ministers, Thomas Campbell and his son Alexander, and Barton W. Stone. Thomas Campbell came to America in 1807 and joined the Philadelphia Synod of the Presbyterian Church, from whose roll his name was removed in May of that year under charges of heresy. He and Alexander later joined the Red Stone Baptist Association, with which they were associated from 1813-1830. Their movement was not a denomination, but rather a movement to unite all denominations, and they called themselves Disciples of Christ.
In Kentucky, Barton W. Stone and four other ministers who had been censured by the Synod of Kentucky withdrew and formed the Springfield Presbytery. With a document entitled "The Last Will and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery," that entity was dissolved in 1809 to form what became known as the Christian Church.
In 1832, Stone's movement merged with the Campbell's movement and used both names, the Christian Churches and the Disciples of Christ. The Civil War caused divisions within the church, as did disagreements over Thomas Campbell's statement, "Where the Scriptures speak, we speak; where the Scriptures are silent, we are silent," and its application to instrumental music in worship. By the 1906 census a group of more conservative churches, primarily south of the Ohio River, listed their denominational affiliation as the Churches of Christ (Non-Instrumental).
Another split within the movement came in the 1960's as a group of churches resisted the Christian Churches' movement toward centralization. In 1968 they became known as the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ, also called Independent Christian Churches, and the centralized denomination named itself the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).