Christ Community Church facts for kids
Christ Community Church in Zion, Illinois, used to be called the Christian Catholic Church. It's an evangelical church that isn't tied to a specific denomination. It was started in 1896 by John Alexander Dowie. Dowie also founded the city of Zion as a special religious community. He wanted it to be a place built on the ideas of the Kingdom of God. Sometimes, members of the church are called Zionites.
The church has changed a lot since John Alexander Dowie started it. He was known for faith healing and had big dreams for the Zion community. After Dowie, Wilbur Glenn Voliva took over. Under Voliva, the church became famous for believing the Earth was flat. Later leaders moved the church closer to what most Protestant churches believe.
In the early 1900s, the Christian Catholic Church was well-known around the world. Its magazine, The Leaves of Healing, was sent to many places like the U.S., Australia, Europe, and southern Africa. At its busiest time, Dowie's movement had about 20,000 followers. Many Zionist Churches in southern Africa got their start from Dowie's church. Because Dowie focused on faith healing and bringing back early Christian practices, his church is seen as an important step before Pentecostalism began.
Today, the name Christian Catholic Church is still used for Christ Community Church's groups and mission work around the world. In 2008, it had about 3,000 members in the United States and Canada. Missionaries work in places like Japan, the Philippines, Guyana, Palestine, Indonesia, and with the Navajo Nation. They also continue to work with African Zionists through Zion Evangelical Ministries of Africa (ZEMA). ZEMA's goal is to help African Zionists learn more about mainstream Christian beliefs.
John Alexander Dowie: The Founder
John Alexander Dowie was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on May 25, 1847. His family was very religious. In 1860, his family moved to Australia. Dowie later went back to Scotland to study at the University of Edinburgh from 1867 to 1872. After that, he sailed back to Australia. In 1876, Dowie got married. Three years later, he started his work as a preacher in Melbourne.
In 1888, Dowie moved to San Francisco. There, he started the Ministry of Divine Healing. For several years, he traveled across the country, preaching and healing people. He finally settled in Chicago. In 1893, he set up a special church tent at the World's Columbian Exposition. Over the next seven years, Dowie founded the Christian Catholic Church. It met in different places in Chicago, including the Chicago Auditorium in 1896. In 1900, he bought land near Lake Michigan, north of Chicago. He used this land to create a religious community he called Zion.
Dowie also started a business to help support the community. It was called Zion Industries. At first, it mainly made Scottish lace and was very successful.
Dowie worked hard to share his beliefs. He preached in person and published several magazines, especially Leaves of Healing. He gained many followers. In 1905, at its peak, the church said it had about 30,000 members worldwide. About 7,500 of them lived in Zion. Two important parts of Dowie's preaching were faith healing and what he called "holy living." His followers were told not to use tobacco or alcohol. They also avoided pork, doctors, medicines, and other churches.
Dowie had modern views on race for his time. He welcomed African-Americans into his church. About 200 African-Americans settled in Zion. He later sent some of them as missionaries to South Africa. There, they started churches that became very important.
As Zion grew, Dowie started living a very expensive lifestyle. He built a huge 25-room house for himself. He also wore fancy church robes. Because of his spending and other money problems, the church faced financial trouble. In 1905, Dowie had the first of several strokes that made him very sick. In 1906, his followers decided he should no longer lead the church. They chose Wilbur Glenn Voliva as the new leader. Some followers disagreed with this change. They left Zion and became important leaders in the new Pentecostal movement. Dowie died from another stroke on March 9, 1907.
Wilbur Glenn Voliva: The Strict Leader
Wilbur Glenn Voliva took over from Dowie as the head of Zion in 1906. He changed the church's name to "Christian Catholic Apostolic Church." He had very strict control over his about 6,000 followers in the community. He even told them who they could marry. All the land in Zion was sold with special rules. These rules meant Voliva could take the land back if he wanted. Other religions were not allowed in Zion. Police would bother preachers from other churches until they left town.
Voliva expanded Zion Industries. It started making popular Zion brand fig bar cookies and White Dove chocolates. Zion was a "one company town," meaning Zion Industries was the main employer. Workers were paid very low wages.
Voliva set up a very strict set of rules for everyone in Zion. Women were not allowed to wear short dresses, high heels, bathing suits, or lipstick. Foods like ham, bacon, and oysters were banned. Alcohol and tobacco were also forbidden. Drugstores, medical buildings, movie theaters, and even globes were not allowed. Globes were banned because they showed a round Earth, which went against Voliva's belief that the Earth was flat. There was a strict 10 o'clock curfew. You could even be arrested for whistling on Sunday. Voliva's police force, called the Praetorian Guard, made sure these laws were followed.
Voliva became famous across the country for strongly believing the Earth was flat. He offered a well-known $5,000 challenge to anyone who could prove the Earth was round. But he set the rules for how they could try to prove it. The church schools in Zion taught that the Earth was flat. His powerful radio station, WCBD, broadcast his speeches against round Earth astronomy and the idea of evolution.
Like Dowie, Voliva also started living a very expensive life. This made his followers unhappy, especially during the Great Depression. The Depression caused Zion Industries, the town's main employer, to go bankrupt. In 1935, Voliva tried to help the church by starting the annual Zion Passion Play. This play was like the famous one in Oberammergau. However, in 1937, a worker who was unhappy set fire to the church's huge Shiloh Tabernacle, where the play took place. Soon after, Voliva faced serious money problems himself. In 1942, he was diagnosed with a serious illness. He then told his followers that he had used church money for himself and done other wrong things. He died shortly after, on October 11, 1942. After his death, the church almost completely fell apart.
A small group of followers reorganized the church under Michael Mintern. But another fire destroyed the Zion Auditorium on April 11, 1959. The Robson family from England lived in an apartment in that building. Luckily, they were not home at the time. If they had been, they would have been hurt, as firefighters could not reach the fourth floor. People felt this was God's protection. The church in Zion was later renamed Christ Community Church.
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