The Westport Christian Church has it's roots in "The Restoration Movement" as part of the Second Great Awakening of the early 19th century. Members of many different Christian denominations and groups realized that there had been a drift away from the foundational, basic teachings of Christianity. The leaders of the Restoration Movement included Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, and others who left their denominations with the desire to establish the church based solely as the New Testament Church. They believed in Jesus as the only model for faith and the Bible as God's revealed will and the final authority on teaching and practices for the church. They rejected the use of creeds, rules, tradition, and books of order that were developed by men for the church as causing unnecessary division within the church. The goal was and continues to be to unify the church as one under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the rule of God alone. They desired to be known as "Christians only" though they knew they were not the "only Christians."
In the 1840's the first meetings of what would become the Westport Christian Church were held in homes and in a log schoolhouse in Westport. Around 1850 the church became more formally organized and land was purchased and a wood framed building was raised in the early 1860's right before the Civil War.
On September 11, 1854, Wilson and Mary C.A. Pottinger sold a lot to the Christian Church for $50.00. This lot (the southern part of lot #33) was situated in Simeon Sharp's first addition to Westport.
In the early 1860's a frame building was built, and a bell for it was purchased for $75.00 just before the Civil War began. This frame building was used until the current Brick Structure was completed in 1912 at a total cost of $8999.83.
The church gathered in the original building until the present brick structure was completed in 1912. A Sunday School addition was added on in 1929, while a seperate Family LIfe Center was built 2014.
