April 23, 1968 - Walter Scott

Walter Scott (evangelist), public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

On April 23, 1861, Walter Scott passed away. A Scottish immigrant, Scott was one of the most effective early evangelists of the Stone-Campbell (Restoration) Movement in the United States. He arrived in the United States in 1818, and he became closely connected with reform efforts led by Alexander Campbell and those who sought to restore New Testament Christianity free from denominational creeds. Scott is widely remembered for popularizing an evangelical presentation referred to as the “five-finger exercise,” which summarized the steps of conversion: faith, repentance, baptism, remission of sins, gift of the Holy Spirit. This formula emphasized baptism for the forgiveness of sins and became a defining feature of the Restoration Movement’s theology. In 1827, he was appointed as evangelist for the Mahoning Baptist Association in Ohio. In only a few years, he led hundreds of converts into the movement and helped to accelerate its growth across Ohio and western Pennsylvania. As a result of his preaching, the movement shifted into active revivalistic expansion instead of intellectual reform discussion. 

Walter Scott’s legacy didn’t end with his death. Instead, he helped to establish key theological patterns that would later shape Churches of Christ, Christian Churches, and Disciples of Christ. His evangelistic method and emphasis on apostolic Christianity made him one of the pillars of early Restoration Movement growth.