First Christian
Church of Pomona (Disciples of
Christ)
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First Christian
Church of Pomona (Disciples of
Christ) |
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First Christian Church of Pomona is an open community of seekers, in covenant with God, Christ, and with one another
History First Christian Church History The First Christian Church of Pomona was
organized in the summer of 1883 by a of "Christians" who had emigrated west to
California. The church with a small group of families who gathered for
Bible study, fellowship, and weekly observance of the Lord's Supper (Communion).
Within a few months the congregation had grown enough to call it first Pastor;
William T. Tibbs, who began his ministry in October of 1883. By the end of
that year the congregation had secured property to build its first building,
which was completed in 1886. Tibbs served the congregation until 1891 when
Frank M. Dowling was call pastor. The congregation was out growing its
building so the congregation commissioned work to begin on a new building which
was dedicated on February 26, 1891. Over the next twenty year the church continued
to grow with Pomona. A series of successful pastors led again to the
congregation out grow its facility. The church elected build again in an
other location near the then civic center of Pomona at the corner of Main and
Center Streets. The third building was dedicated on June 5, 1910.
With the advent of this third faze of ministry the congregation threw itself
into the missionary zeal of the early part of the twentith century. The
congregation commissioned missionaries and ministries to the Congo in Africa, to
Tibet as well as local endeavors.
Disciples History The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a Protestant denomination of approximately 800,000 members in the United States and Canada. It's one of the largest faith groups founded on American soil. Some key persons and dates in the church's development:
Presbyterian minister Barton W. Stone was born in Port Tobacco, Maryland, December 24, 1772. He died in Hannibal Missouri, November 9, 1844. Stone was educated as a school teacher and entered the ministry through the Presbyterian Church. He served a church in Cane Ridge Kentucky, and after hosting the historic Cane Ridge Revival of 1801, (also see pages on the Cane Ridge Meeting House and Shrine ) he and several others formed the Springfield Presbytery denouncing all human creeds and appealing to the Bible as the only rule of faith and practice. They soon dissolved the Springfield Presbytery, and published the Last Will and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery, one of the documents the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) considers key in its development. They dissolved their denominational ties to enter into unity with "the body of Christ at large." They called themselves, simply, "Christians."
Thomas Campbell was born in County Down, Ireland, February 1, 1763. He died in Bethany, Virginia (now West Virginia), January 4, 1854. He came to America from Scotland in 1807. He was chastised by Pennsylvania church authorities for refusing to use Presbyterian creeds as terms of communion. In 1808 he and others founded the Christian Association of Washington, Pennsylvania. That group adopted the motto, well-known by Disciples, "Where the scriptures speak, we speak; where the Scriptures are silent, we are silent." Campbell and others were called "Reformers," for their desire to restore the Church's first century roots. This way of life came to be known as the "Restoration Movement." Near Washington, Pennsylvania, Campbell and his son, Alexander, and the Christian Association established the Brush Run Church, which, in 1815, became part of a nearby Baptist Association. Reformers and the Baptists differed on key issues. By 1830, the Reformers cut their last ties with the Baptist Association and became known as "Disciples." Thomas Campbell's passion for Christian unity is summed up in his proclamation that : "The church of Christ upon earth is essentially, intentionally, and constitutionally one." This statement is the first and key proposition of Thomas Campbell's Declaration and Address, a work called by some the "Magna Charta" of the movement that preceded the denomination known as the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
Alexander Campbell was born September 12, 1788 in the County of Antrim, Ireland. He was raised as a Presbyterian. He attended the University of Glasgow, Scotland. In 1809, Alexander arrived in America from Scotland, and joined his father, Thomas, in western Pennsylvania. He carefully read and fully endorsed the principles of Thomas' Declaration and Address. Biographer Nathaniel Haynes says that Thomas and Alexander Campbell were "one in their aims, spirit and work." The younger Campbell was a prolific writer. In 1823, he founded the periodical The Christian Baptist. After the Reformers dissolved ties with the Baptists, Campbell founded a new publication called The Millennial Harbinger. He was a talented debater, and in 1829 drew attention to the Restoration Movement in a widely known debate with social reformer Robert Owen. In 1837, he engaged the Roman Catholic John B. Purcell, archbishop of Cincinnati, in a widely publicized eight day debate on the traditions and beliefs of the Catholic Church. His public speaking skills, writing, and articulation of the place of reason (but not pure rationalism) in Christian faith propelled him into the leadership of the "Disciples of Christ." A dedicated scholar and educator, Alexander Campbell founded Bethany College, Bethany, Virginia (now West Virginia) in 1840 and served as the school's first president. 1832 The "Christians" and the "Disciples of Christ" agreed on basic beliefs and aims and united with a formal handshake in Lexington, Kentucky, and created a new Christian movement on the American frontier. 1832-1968 The "Christians" and the "Disciples of Christ" functioned and grew as a "movement," often referred to as the "Stone-Campbell movement." During this period, Disciples often described the relationship of the Christians and the Disciples of Christ as a "brotherhood." In 1960, the Commission on Brotherhood Restructure started the task of designing a new form of organization. Throughout the 20th century, American Asian, Hispanic and African American Disciples congregations multiplied. 1968 A representative assembly meeting in Kansas City overwhelmingly approved the Provisional Design for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Church historian D. Duane Cummins writes: "Approval of the Provisional Design marked the passage of the Disciples into denominational maturity. Officially named the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), they became a church."
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The congregation worked to better the lives of farm workers who work in the
citrus industry of which Pomona was the center. The congregation sought to
expand and equip the Christian Church by raising up (then) men for the ordained
ministry. The offered its leadership in the expansion of Chapman College,
to which one of the church's ministers, George Reeves, resigned he ministry in
Pomona to become its president. The congregation flourished in it third
location until in the early 1940s in again out grew its building. The
congregation elected to move again this time to the edge of the city and bought
5 acres of citrus grove and built its fourth building, our current location,
which was dedication in 1951.
