January 17, 1886

A piano was introduced into the Fayetteville Christian Church’s worship service during the concluding Sunday service of a meeting preached by Dr. A. D. Mayo of Boston, Massachusetts. While an opposing minority seemingly acquiesced to the introduction of the instrument, by the end of the year, the non-instrumentalists were meeting separately. This effort evolved officially into the Second Christian Church, non-instrumental, in January 1891. The post–Civil War decades saw many Arkansas Restoration congregations divide over issues stemming from liturgical innovations and a general liberal theology that the more rural, conservative, and mainly Southern churches of Christ rejected as conflicting with the goals of the Restoration Movement and with scripture.