Dublin Core
Title
Wood Avenue Church of Christ
Subject
Church; Religion
Description
Wood Avenue Church of Christ is one of the oldest Churches of Christ in Lauderdale County. The Church of Christ denomination emerged out of the American Restoration Movement, a movement to reestablish America’s Christianity on the teachings of the New Testament and lasted from 1801 to 1906. Restoration followers were known as Stoneites and Campbellites, named after the two prominent leaders of the movement, Barton Stone and Alexander Campbell. Congregations set up by followers of Campbell called themselves Disciples of Christ, while those established by Stoneites were called Churches of Christ.
The beliefs of the Restoration Movement made their way into the Shoals during the 1820s and 1830s through efforts of Restoration ministers, who ultimately shaped the religious culture in the region. The first two Restoration ministers to enter the Shoals were Ephraim D. Moore and James Evans Matthews. However, the Restoration Movement in the Shoals did not take place without opposition. Baptists and Presbyterians entered the Shoals during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and did not approve of the activists’ efforts. For example, in 1830 the Muscle Shoals Baptist Association printed a resolution that defined the Restoration Movement as a “divine operation of the Holy Spirit either disavowed or so obscurely avowed, as to amount to disavowal. We see experimental religion ridiculed and reprobated.” In addition to the vocal opposition from various denominations, in his article “History of the Church of Christ in Northwest Alabama, 1866-1880,” Shoals region historian Wayne Kilpatrick argued that the Civil War ultimately hindered the Restoration Movement in the Shoals region. Kilpatrick claimed that many churches in the Shoals, including Restoration congregations, experienced a drop in membership during the war, which Kilpatrick defined as the “silent years” of the Restoration Movement.
Nevertheless, following the end of the war, Churches of Christ started to organize. One of the earliest Churches of Christ in Lauderdale County, Popular Street Church of Christ, organized in 1886 and T. B. Larimore (the founder of Mars Hill Bible School) was a congregant. For the first four years, the congregation met in personal homes until a building was built in 1890 on Popular Street in Florence. The church was at this location eighty years, until on March 1, 1970, when the church relocated to the current location on Wood Avenue. After the relocation, the congregation decided to change the name of the church from Popular Street Church of Christ to Wood Avenue Church of Christ. The Gothic designed brick structure that acts as the current church today was designed and built by local master mason, the Putman brothers.
The beliefs of the Restoration Movement made their way into the Shoals during the 1820s and 1830s through efforts of Restoration ministers, who ultimately shaped the religious culture in the region. The first two Restoration ministers to enter the Shoals were Ephraim D. Moore and James Evans Matthews. However, the Restoration Movement in the Shoals did not take place without opposition. Baptists and Presbyterians entered the Shoals during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and did not approve of the activists’ efforts. For example, in 1830 the Muscle Shoals Baptist Association printed a resolution that defined the Restoration Movement as a “divine operation of the Holy Spirit either disavowed or so obscurely avowed, as to amount to disavowal. We see experimental religion ridiculed and reprobated.” In addition to the vocal opposition from various denominations, in his article “History of the Church of Christ in Northwest Alabama, 1866-1880,” Shoals region historian Wayne Kilpatrick argued that the Civil War ultimately hindered the Restoration Movement in the Shoals region. Kilpatrick claimed that many churches in the Shoals, including Restoration congregations, experienced a drop in membership during the war, which Kilpatrick defined as the “silent years” of the Restoration Movement.
Nevertheless, following the end of the war, Churches of Christ started to organize. One of the earliest Churches of Christ in Lauderdale County, Popular Street Church of Christ, organized in 1886 and T. B. Larimore (the founder of Mars Hill Bible School) was a congregant. For the first four years, the congregation met in personal homes until a building was built in 1890 on Popular Street in Florence. The church was at this location eighty years, until on March 1, 1970, when the church relocated to the current location on Wood Avenue. After the relocation, the congregation decided to change the name of the church from Popular Street Church of Christ to Wood Avenue Church of Christ. The Gothic designed brick structure that acts as the current church today was designed and built by local master mason, the Putman brothers.
Creator
Jesse Brock, University of North Alabama
Source
Text:
Wayne Kilpatrick, “History of the Church of Christ in Northwest Alabama, 1823-1861,” Journal of Muscle Shoals History Vol. XI (Tennessee Valley Historical Society, 1986): 36.
Wayne Kilpatrick, “ History of the Church of Christ in Lauderdale County, 1866-1880,” The Journal of Muscle Shoals History Vol. XI (Tennessee Valley Historical Society, 1986): 67-85.
Wayne Kilpatrick, “History of the Church of Christ in Northwest Alabama, 1823-1861,” Journal of Muscle Shoals History Vol. XI (Tennessee Valley Historical Society, 1986): 36.
Wayne Kilpatrick, “ History of the Church of Christ in Lauderdale County, 1866-1880,” The Journal of Muscle Shoals History Vol. XI (Tennessee Valley Historical Society, 1986): 67-85.
Publisher
Alabama Cultural Resource Survey
Date
1800s
1900s
1900s
Format
file