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In the 1850s, the Kansas-Missouri border was the focal point for national tensions surrounding the slavery
issue. John Brown, who had dedicated his life to the abolitionist cause in a Congregational church service in Ohio,
came to Kansas to spearhead efforts at fighting off "border ruffians"-pro-slavery terrorists who crossed in from
Missouri to terrorize free-state settlers in Kansas. He settled in Osawatomie, KS-about 50 miles south of Kansas
City.1
Back East, the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, Pastor of Plymouth Congregational Church of Brooklyn, New York,
was stirring the passions of a group of New Englanders gathered in New Haven, CT, to organize the establishment of
a free-state settlement in Kansas. When one man suggested that they needed a means of self-defense, money for
25 Sharpe's rifles was presented, and Beecher himself pledged support for another 25. He wrote: "Let these arms
hang above your doors as the old Revolutionary muskets do in many New England dwellings. May your children
in another generation look upon them and say, `Our father's courage saved this fair land from blood and slavery.'"
The arms were shipped in crates with Bibles and hymnals, in boxes labeled "Beecher Bibles." They established a
colony in Wabaunsee, Kansas - about 100 miles west of Kansas City, and the church was subsequently named the
"Beecher Bible & Rifle Church." 2
57 years later, the National Council of Congregational Churches met in Kansas City.
There, the Kansas City Statement of Faith was completed and approved, in response to the need
for a common expression of faith for use in Congregational churches. It carried some of
the traditional evangelical doctrines of Protestantism, with signs of influence from social
gospel proponents:
We believe in God the Father, infinite in wisdom, goodness, and
love; and in Jesus Christ, his Son, our Lord and Saviour, who for us and
our salvation lived and died and rose again and liveth evermore; and in
the Holy Spirit, who taketh of the things of Christ and revealeth them to
us, renewing, comforting, and inspiring the souls of men. We are united
in striving to know the will of God as taught in the Holy Scriptures, and
in our purpose to walk in the ways of the Lord, made known or to be
made known to us. We hold it to be the mission of the Church of Christ
to proclaim the gospel to all mankind, exalting the worship of the one true God, and laboring for the
progress of knowledge, the promotion of justice, the reign of peace, and the realization of human
brotherhood. Depending, as did our fathers, upon the continued guidance of the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth,
we work and pray for the transformation of the world into the kingdom of God; and we look with faith for
the triumph of righteousness and the life
everlasting.3
The closing note of optimism was intended to promote productive Christian action among Congregationalists.
Washington Gladden emerged from the meeting referring to it as a "noble Confession of Faith" and said, "We
can write that on our banner and go forth…to
conquer."4 (Editor's Note: Article to be continued in the next NA News.)
1 Daniel Fitzgerald, Ghost Towns of Kansas: A Traveler's
Guide (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1988) pp. 59-61.
2 Ibid., pp. 102-108
3 Williston Walker, The Creeds and Platforms of
Congregationalism (Cleveland: United Church Press, 1991 edition) p.599.
4 John Von Rohr, The Shaping of American Congregationalism:
1620-1957 (Cleveland: Pilgrim Press, 1992) p.356.
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