Alexander Campbell's life centered around the idea of Christian Unity. From his early days in the Ahorey Presbyterian Church until he started the Stone-Campbell Movement, his main passion was to unify Christians no matter their denominations. In this video, we will look at the timeline of Campbell's life and how his passion for unity was stoked and how it dimmed toward the end of his life.

Time Card:
0:00 Introduction
0:36 Early Life
1:26 Struggles with self and Church
2:41 Thomas migrates to America
3:44 Time in Glasgow, Scotland
5:05 Rest of the family arrives and settles in America
6:56 Question of Baptism
8:40 Sermon on the Law
10:40 The Christian Baptist
12:09 Partnership with Barton W. Stone
13:23 Millennial Harbinger
15:44 Excursions Over Seas
17:50 Civil War and questions of unity
19:08 Lasting Legacy


On September 12, 1788, Alexander Campbell was born near Ballymena in Brougshane, Ireland. His parents were Thomas and Jane Campbell. Thomas would be a critical figure in Alexander's life, from homeschooling him early on to having Alexander be his assistant for the school he started. Thomas and Alexander would become intertwined with the Ahorey Presbyterian Church, where Alexander was exposed to the good and bad of the local Church.

Thomas hated the separation mindset that the Churches around him had, and with the help of Alexander, they preached the ideas of unity over division wherever they went. Unfortunately, Thomas fell ill and had to sail to America, where he started to put some of these ideas into practice. Alexander and the rest of the family ended up waiting in Glasgow as their ship ran aground. However, it wasn’t all lost as Alexander attended Glasgow University and was exposed both in class and on the streets to ideas that would be foundational for his view of Scripture and the Church.
After everyone finally arrived in America, Alexander and Thomas bonded over their new ideas about how the Church could be united and return to a unified version of the Church under the teachings found solely in the Bible, not from creed or tradition. One of those ideas was that preachers should preach without pay. Although Thomas thought this meant Alexander would end up penniless, Alexander had other plans and married Margaret Brown in March. In January, Alexander was officially ordained by his father and began his life-long ministry.

The first significant departure would be when Alexander changed his views of Baptism. After consideration concerning the baptism of his infant, he concluded that baptism should only be performed on an adult who can professor their faith in Christ. After some reluctance, his father and mother joined Alexander and Margaret and were baptized by Matthias Luce. This act helped Alexander find favor within the Baptist denomination for a while until he was invited to preach a sermon at Cross Creek Baptist Church. The sermon titled “Sermon and the Law” laid out his belief that Christians are no longer under the covenant of Moses in the Old Testament but are under a new covenant, that of grace defined in the New Testament.

He brought all his efforts together when he started the “The Christian Baptist magazine.” This allowed Alexander to lay out everything he believed, and it helped spread the word by being sold across the states. This magazine started his writing career that would be followed up just a few years later. But before that, he met Barton W. Stone, who happened to be leading a group of his own that shared many of the beliefs Alexander had and would go on to share the name with Campbell when their followers united together.

The second magazine Campbell edited he titled “Millennial Harbinger,” as he wrote to help bring the world to a place that would prepare Jesus’ return. Unfortunately, things only continued to worsen around him, and he decided once again that he would try and start a school. This time he was very successful in creating Bethany College. But he wasn’t just trying to spread his word in North America; in 1847, he traveled over the ocean to visit a few areas they had collected money for. Although things didn’t go great, he was able to spread his beliefs and would make a name for himself globally this time.

Once he returned, he continued to travel and preach wherever he could. But with the outbreak of the Civil War and being a pacifist, he often felt discouraged at what was happening. Having to stay home so long allowed him to write many different works, one being a translation of Acts to which he dedicated serious time. After the war, Alexander tried to keep the peace and preach unity. Still, a country that had just visibly separated itself into North and South did not view these ideas as practical or necessary as they once did. Alexander would pass away on March 4, 1866, still wanting unity, but seemingly accepted that he had become a leader of a new denomination, that which he had fought so hard initially to change.