The 1906 Census, and a Congregational Fellowship Without a Center

The division between the two wings of the Restoration Movement had been building for decades before it was formally recorded. When the United States Census Bureau prepared its 1906 religious census, an agent responsible for classifying Baptist and related bodies, S. N. D. North, contacted David Lipscomb to ask how the noninstrumental Southern congregations should be listed. Lipscomb responded that they were a distinct fellowship from the Disciples of Christ and asked that the census record them separately as Churches of Christ, and the Bureau did so, giving the split its first official recognition and its lasting name.

Consistent with the strict Restoration principle that church structures above the local congregation lack New Testament authorization, the Churches of Christ have never organized a national convention, headquarters, or denominational hierarchy; each congregation is entirely self-governing, led by its own elders and deacons, and fellowship between congregations is voluntary and informal rather than institutional. Worship remains unaccompanied by instruments, relying on a cappella singing, and in most congregations leadership roles remain reserved for men, though the question has drawn ongoing internal debate in recent decades. The fellowship today numbers roughly 1.4 million members in the United States alone, heavily concentrated in Tennessee and Texas, with total worldwide adherents estimated at around 2 million.