Christadelphians, or Brothers of Christ.—In 1844 John Thomas came to America from England and soon after landing in the New World became identified with the Disciples of Christ (q. v.), but within a short time his views on religion changed. He became convinced that "the cardinal doctrines of the existing churches corresponded with those of the apostolic church predicted in the Scripture; that the only authoritative creed was the Bible, the originals of which were inspired of God in such a manner and to such an extent as to secure absolute truthfulness; and that the churches should strive to return to primitive Christianity in doctrine, precept and practice."

He soon began to publish these views and organized a number of societies in the United States, Canada and England. No name was adopted until the outbreak of the Civil war, when the members applied to the government to be exempted from military duty because of conscientious scruples, and finding it necessary to have a distinctive name adopted that of Christadelphians. They do not accept the doctrine of the trinity, holding that Christ was son of God and son of man, manifesting divine power and working out man's salvation, of which he was the only medium; that the soul is by nature mortal and that eternal life is given by God only to the righteous; that Christ will come to earth personally to raise and judge his saints and set up a Kingdom of God in place of human governments. Admission to membership is upon confession of faith in the doctrines of the church and baptism by immersion. The policy of the church is congregational, each congregation conducting its own affairs. They have no ordained ministers, those who speak and conduct services being called lecturing or serving brethren. Usually their meetings are held in halls or private residences. There are no associations of the congregations or ecclesias as they are called, although they have fraternal gatherings. In 1890 there were four organizations in Kansas, one each in Barber, Cherokee, Elk and Shawnee counties, with a total membership of 39. By 1906 the organizations had dropped to 3 but the membership had increased to 58.