National Christian Association

It was organized in 1868, soon after the close of the Civil War, when such Protestant leaders as Jonathan Blanchard, Philo Carpenter, Joseph Goodwin (J.G.)

Terrill, Ezra A. Cook, Alexander McLeod Milligan, D. McDill, and others saw with alarm that "the convicted enemy of State and Church was creeping back into favor and power.

But during the Civil War, lodge agents followed the camps of soldiers and initiated a multitude of young men, who were assured that if they would be captured by the enemy, the grip and sign would secure favors, if not liberty for them.

The Free Methodists suggested the establishment of a non-sectarian, inter-denominational, and national association, which should furnish a rallying point for all Christians who had come to understand and recognize these foes of our civil and religious liberties.

[2] A group of Christian men called a convention to meet in the City Hall, Aurora, Illinois, in October 1867.

[1] As a result of the 1867 convention, a national meeting was held at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in May 1868, and representatives of seventeen denominations were enrolled.

Annual meetings were held in Chicago, Cincinnati, O., Worcester, Mass., Oberlin, O., Syracuse, N. Y., and in many other places; in 1921 in Grand Rapids, Mich., and in 1922 in Omaha, Nebr.

[2] As a result of the movement inaugurated by the association, books were printed and a large number of tracts issued, and by the aid of thousands of coworkers, millions were distributed in the U.S. and foreign countries.

The NCA also kept in stock and for sale books and pamphlets dealing with some sixteen different lodges-Masons, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, and others.