2. The Christians had at least the beginnings of a method of obtaining a responsible ministry. Stone criticized those who thought that a church could "induct into the ministerial office"; that function belongs to the "bishops and elders." If a minister is charged with "preaching doctrine contrary to the gospel," he should be examined by a "conference of bishops and elders." The idea was that the ministry as a whole, or by conference groups, should have power to protect the churches against erratic or unworthy ministers. There is no evidence that such control was actually exercised, but even the idea of such control was alien to the Disciples until much later, and still is with most of them. But at the time of the union, the Christians seem to have had a somewhat "higher" conception of the office of the ministry.
3. The Christians were much more zealous in evangelism than the Reformers had been before the outburst of evangelistic fervor with John Smith and a few other "New Testament Baptists" in Kentucky and the campaign of Walter Scott in Ohio in 1827. But their method of evangelism had been of the Methodist type. There is clear evidence that theirs was, in practice, a "mourners' bench" revivalism, in spite of Stone's theory of faith as a rational act. Christian evangelists, sending to Stone's paper the reports of their meetings, write that "crowds of mourners came forward weeping and crying for mercy"; or, "the preachers had a good measure of the Holy Ghost and ... several [hearers] appeared to be cut to the heart and were crying for mercy"; or, "crowds of weeping mourners came forward to unite with us in prayer"; or, more specifically, that the summer camp meetings (in Georgia) are "conducted in the main in the manner of Methodist camp meetings." Scott's new method of presenting the "Gospel restored" in clear steps created some surprise and questioning. A Christian preacher writes: "His method and manner are somewhat novel to me.... He seems to suppose the apostolical gospel to consist of the use of the following particulars: faith, repentance, baptism for remission of sins, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and eternal life. Thus, you see, he baptizes the subject previous to the remission of his sins or the receiving of the Holy Spirit." Stone replies: "We have for some time practiced in this way throughout our country." Evidently Stone had already come to a position identical with that of Campbell and Scott as to the nature of faith, the purpose of baptism, and the technique of evangelism. But just as evidently, the Christian preachers and churches generally had not. They had zeal for evangelism, but they still had much to learn about its method. Scott was their teacher.