A Brief History of The Christadelphians

A Brief History

Whilst the distinctive aspects of our faith were essentially forged in the 19th Century, when there was great debate not only as to the very existence of God, but of the doctrine and understanding of Christendom as a whole, many believers since the time of the first century apostles have held the same faith as Christadelphians.

There have been countless independent communities around the world who have eagerly studied the Bible and accepted its simplest teachings, often contrary to the established pattern of belief and dogma.

The beliefs and practices of the Christadelphians can be traced from the New Testament to the earliest Christians of the 1st and 2nd Centuries in documents such as the Epistle of Clement, the Didache and the Apostles' Creed.

With the advent of religious freedom in Europe in the 16th Century Reformation, the same beliefs and practices resurfaced in Bible-minded groups such as the Anabaptists in Switzerland and the Socinians in Poland. The early English Baptists held similar beliefs (although these beliefs are perhaps not held by Baptists today). In the 18th Century many leading figures in the Enlightenment such as Sir Isaac Newton and William Whiston, also held these beliefs.

Today's Christadelphian worldwide fellowship has its origin in the 1830s, and age of revival and reform in America and England. In America, a medical doctor, John Thomas, published the Herald of the Kingdom, which set out Bible teaching on the resurrection and the Kingdom of God. In Britain a journalist named Robert Roberts took up the same cause in the Ambassador of the Coming Age. Thomas and Roberts made no claim to any vision or personal revelations - only to try and be honest students of the Bible and its message.

When the American civil War broke out in 1861 those Christian groups who did not fight were required to register with Union government. Sam Coffman and other brothers in Illinois, registered themselves as "brethren in Christ" or in a single word, "Christadelphian". This name was soon adopted by many like-minded groups of believers in America and Britain.

Since then, independent Christadelphian congregations have been established in countries in every continent of the world (except Antartica!).