Our Mission
We seek to serve the people of our community and abroad and hope that through this service, we might reflect the love of our Lord and Savior.
History
In 1833, Tolbert Fanning and Absalom Adams preached the Restoration message in Franklin, baptizing seventeen persons. These, with a few earlier converts and a few Baptists who joined them, formed the first congregation of the Church of Christ in Franklin.
For several years, the Christians met in homes, in other church buildings and in the Masonic Hall, the first three-story building west of the Alleghenies and now the oldest public building in Franklin.
Growth and strength came to the church as a result of the preaching of Alexander Campbell, leader of the Restoration Movement, who made several visits to Franklin from the 1830s to the 1850s.
Andrew Craig and Joel Anderson led the young church through its early years as they had led the congregation at Leiper’s Fork, organized in 1803. The church expe rienced considerable growth during the 1840s James C. Anderson became the first “located” preacher here, coming in 1841. He left after a few years to pursue evangelism, teaching and editing.
In 1836, Thomas Harden Perkins purchased Lot No.152 in the town layout and presented it to the trustees: Andrew Craig and Thomas Hardeman, both of Williamson County, and John Harding of Davidson County, owner of Belle Meade. This lot was on the corner of Main and Indigo Street (now Fourth Avenue). Later, Harding and Craig bought the adjoining lot (there was no alley then), and the first lot was sold. The deed (registered October 18, 1838) states that the property was “for the following uses and none other: the party of the second part (the church’s trustees and their heirs) shall. ..(undecipherabic)...premises in trust for the congrega tion of Christians who renounce all creeds and confessions and take the Holy Scriptures as their only rule of faith and practice as and for a place of worship of Almighty God.”
The building was begun in 1851, and the first worship service was held September 5, 1852. According to a letter from one present that day, the building was a “brick structure about 40 by 60 feet-elegantly furnished.” It had, of course, the usual two front doors, one each for men and women, and a bell tower with a bell, which was rung regularly.
The first building was remodeled c. 1885 and again in 1914, changing its look markedly. Beautiful stained glass windows were added, which are preserved in the present building. A tornado destroyed the building in 1927. The second and last building on this same spot was erected in 1928.
For many years, the bell rang the call to worship. When a faithful member died, the bell tolled the number of years he had served the Lord here. After the cyclone of 1927 destroyed the first building, the bell was not deemed suitable for the new one. But it was missed! It was found mounted on a pole on a farm fourteen miles from town. J.C. Fox, who had bought it, gave it back to the church.