Barton Warren Stone (December 24, 1772 – November 9, 1844) was an American evangelist during the early 19th-century Second Great Awakening in the United States. First ordained a Presbyterian minister, he and four other ministers of the Washington Presbytery resigned after arguments about doctrine and enforcement of policy by the Kentucky Synod. This was in 1803 after Stone had helped lead the Cane Ridge Revival, a several-day communion season attended by nearly 20,000 persons.
Stone and the others briefly founded the Springfield Presbytery, which they dissolved the following year, resigning from the Presbyterian Church altogether. They formed what they called the Christian Church, based on Christian scriptures rather than a creed. He later became allied with Alexander Campbell, a former Presbyterian minister who was also creating an independent sect, sometimes allied with Baptists, and formed the Restoration Movement. Stone's followers were first called "New Lights" and "Stoneites". Later, he and Campbell brought the groups together, which relied solely on the Christian Bible.
Several church groups have historical roots in Stone's efforts. The three main groups are the Churches of Christ, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and the independent Christian churches and churches of Christ. Additionally, there are the International Churches of Christ, the International Christian Church, the Churches of Christ in Australia, the Churches of Christ in Europe, and the Evangelical Christian Church in Canada.
Early life and education
Stone was born to John and Mary Warren Stone near Port Tobacco on December 24, 1772. His immediate family was upper-middle class, with connections to Maryland's upper class of planters. Barton was not himself religious as a young man: he found the competing claims of the Episcopalians, Baptists, and Methodists confusing, and was much more interested in politics. He was unable to accept the Calvinist doctrines of total depravity, unconditional election, and predestination.
The Cane Ridge Revival of 1801 was "set up as a traditional Presbyterian 'sacramental occasion'," similar to the one Stone attended earlier that year in Logan County—later called the Revival of 1800. Like its predecessor, the Cane Ridge Revival continued for two to three days. Attracting an estimated 20,000 people, Stone was one of eighteen Presbyterian ministers, along with a number of Baptist and Methodist preachers, who preached to the participants. Elements traditional to this form Christian revivalism included the "large number of ministers, the action sermon, the tables, the tent, the successive servings" of communion—all part of the evangelical Presbyterian tradition and "communion season" known in Scotland.
In 1803, Stone and four other ministers formed the Springfield Presbytery after disagreeing with the Kentucky Synod's decision to censure a minister for deviating from the Westminster Confession of Faith. By 1804, the Springfield Presbytery had attracted 15 congregations in Ohio and Kentucky. It is estimated that the Christian Church numbered about 12,000 by 1830. The three groups "declared themselves one" by 1810.
In 1819, Stone moved with his family to Georgetown, Kentucky, where he had been hired as principal of the Rittenhouse Academy, This was formalized at the High Street Meeting House in Lexington, Kentucky, with a handshake between Barton W. Stone and John Smith. and Stone the Christian Messenger since 1826. They intended to bring their followers together under Jesus with their publications.
When the Christians and Disciples united in 1832, only a minority of Christians from the Smith/Jones and O'Kelly movements participated. His body was buried on his farm in Morgan County, Illinois. When the farm was sold, descendants had his remains reinterred at Antioch Christian Church, east of Jacksonville. In 1847, his remains were moved again and reinterred at Cane Ridge, Kentucky.
Stone outlined his views on the Trinity in a publication entitled An Address to the Christian Churches in Kentucky, Tennessee & Ohio on Several Important Doctrines of Religion.