While the Christian Union was originally formed in 1864 to protest the Methodist Episcopal Church's support of the American Civil War, the CCCU was forged by a dispute over doctrine in 1909.
Those holding to a Wesleyan view on sanctification were censured by the leadership of the South Ohio Conference of the Christian Union during a period of time in which many other Holiness movement supporters were at loggerheads within established denominations.
As common among many Wesleyan-Holiness bodies of the time, the CCCU called for the suffrage of women, the end to secret societies, and abstinence from alcohol and tobacco products.
Like many Restorationist bodies (e.g. the Churches of Christ) CCCU congregations put minimal emphasis on ritual or formalism in worship.
[6] Ohio Christian University (formerly Circleville Bible College, founded in 1948) trains pastors, evangelists, missionaries, teachers, youth directors and ministers of music circle for the CCCU as well as other denominations.