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Restoration Movement
The Restoration Movement (also known historically as the "Stone-Campbell Movement") is a Christian reform movement traced to the 18th and 19th centuries in the United States during the Second Great Awakening. Barton W. Stone and Alexander Campbell were leading figures of four independent movements with like principles who merged together into two religious movements of significant size. These churches have a total population of about 3,000,000 in the United States. Restorationism sought to renew the whole Christian church, on the pattern set forth in the New Testament, without regard to the creeds developed over time in Catholicism, Orthodoxy, or Reformed Protestantism, which allegedly kept Christianity divided. Churches are now found throughout the globe, claiming to "concentrate on the essential aspects of the Christian faith, allowing for a diversity of understanding with non-essentials." Basically, there are those whose beliefs and doctrines may differ on minor subjects, but who believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God as the savior and authority of the church. Among key practices are the weekly celebration of the Lord's Supper on the first day of each week and a commitment to believer's baptism by immersion in water.
Modern branchesThree modern North American religious groups trace their heritage back to roots in the Stone-Campbell Restoration movement:
This group is identical with the Churches of Christ in most all respects except for the use of instrumental music. This group does not view silence as prohibitive, but puts matters that the Bible does not address into the category of opinion. They are also more comfortable with national conventions and missionary societies. Though, both groups do not want to be a centralized denomination, the Independent Christian Churches think that working broadly with like minded churches is still a safe and beneficial practice. Since the 1980s many of the autonomous congregations have become increasingly more evangelical in their orientation and style. Their autonomy has also catalyst in the growth of some 52 megachurches [4](averaging 2000+ attendance), some among the largest in the US: Southeast Christian in Louisville (18,000+) and Central Christian Church in Las Vegas (11,000). This growth has been noticed by the larger Evangelical network and in recent years Willow Creek Community Church (the flagship megachurch) has added two Christian Church ministers to its teaching staff.[5] This growing interaction with Evangelicalism in an increasingly "post-denominational" American society presents a great growth opportunity for the brotherhood, but also threatens the loose ties that bind these congregations together. The other large groups of the movement are:
Although they disassociate themselves from the Stone-Campbell Movement and have the least in common with the other branches, the Christadelphians share a heritage from the movement. The Christian — Churches of Christ — Disciples of Christ family of Churches are linked through the World Convention of Churches of Christ. They will meet for the XVIIth World Convention of Churches of Christ in Nashville, Tennessee in July-August 2008. Also see Jesse Moran Bader Christ's Church Fellowship Inc was formed in 1988 as Charismatic Stone-Campbell organization Christ's Church Fellowship Inc. Pioneers of the movementAlthough Barton W. Stone, Thomas and Alexander Campbell, and Walter Scott were to become the best-known and most influential early leaders of the movement, others preceded them and laid the foundation for their work.
Early churchesAccording to the records of the Old Philadelphia congregation of the Church of Christ, this congregation came into existence in 1804. The records are in the possession of the church in Warren County, Tennessee. In 1807, a congregation gathered at Antioch in the Alabama Territory and moved, in 1847, two miles south to Rocky Springs, Jackson County, Alabama near where Bridgeport, Alabama is now. The records are in the possession of the Church of Christ at Rocky Springs. There were people who wanted to form a central control of congregations but this did not materialize. The first congregation in this movement to take the name "Church of Christ" was established in June of 1834 at Knob Creek, in southern Graves County, Kentucky. This church is still in active existence. Churches of Christ in Europe arose separately from the American RM and during the 1840s onwards various movements came into fellowship. The Restoration Movement in the United Kingdom started before the Campbell/Stone movement in the USA. In England churches of Christ flourished in the 1600s and before; eventually many became Baptist.http://www.traces-of-the-kingdom.org.uk Key principles
The Christian ConnectionInextricably related to and intertwined with the Restoration Movement is the Christian Connection (sometimes spelled as Connexion). This religious movement began in several places and were secessions from three different denominations during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. In 1792, James O'Kelly, dissatisfied with the role of bishops in the Methodist Episcopal Church, separated from this body. O?Kelly?s movement, centering in Virginia and North Carolina, was originally called Republican Methodists. The denominational name was dropped in 1794 in favor of the name ?Christian? and a commitment to use the Bible as the only ?rule of faith and practice.? During the first several years of the 19th century, two Baptist ministers in New England espoused similar views to O?Kelly and began exclusively using the name ?Christian.? Working independently at first, Elias Smith of Vermont and Abner Jones of New Hampshire joined together in their efforts. In 1801, the Cane Ridge Revival in Kentucky would plant the seed for a movement in Kentucky and the Ohio River valley to disassociate from denominationalism. Barton W. Stone and four others separated from the Springfield Presbytery in 1804 preferring to be known only as ?Christians.? Rice Haggard who suggested that the Republican Methodists use only the name Christian was the impetus behind Stone's western group doing the same. By 1808, O?Kelly?s followers and the Smith/Jones movement were united; Stone?s Christians in Kentucky would soon follow suit. This loose fellowship of churches was called by the names ?Christian Connection/Connexion? or ?Christian Church.? When Stone and Alexander Campbell?s Reformers (also known as Disciples and Christian Baptists) united in 1832, only a minority of Christian Churches participated. The participating churches largely were from Kentucky, Indiana, and southern Ohio. Those who did not unite with Campbell continued to use the name Christian Church as did the Disciples ? thus beginning the confusion over names among the various factions of the Restoration Movement which continues today. The Christian Church merged with the Congregational Churches in 1931 to form the Congregational Christian Churches. The Evangelical and Reformed Church formed in 1934 as a merger of the Reformed Church in the United States and the Evangelical Synod of North America. In 1957, the Congregational Christian Church and the Evangelical and Reformed Church, after twenty years of discussion, forged the United Church of Christ. In 1989, the UCC and the Disciples of Christ agreed to participate in full communion with each other, while remaining separate denominations. Sources Murch, James DeForest. Christians Only. Cincinnati: Standard Publishing, 1962. Jennings, Walter Wilson. Origin and Early History of the Disciples of Christ Cincinnati: Standard Publishing, 1919. Morrill, Milo True. History of the Christian Denomination in America. Dayton: The Christian Publishing Association, 1912. A Short Course in UCC History: The Christian Churches UCC-Disciples Ecumenical Partnership A Short Course in UCC History: The Congregational Christian Churches A Short Course in UCC History: The Evangelical and Reformed Church Churches of Christ/Disciples of Christ splitIn 1906 the Churches of Christ and the Disciples of Christ split over many issues that ran back to the Campbell-Stone Union in 1824. Actually, it is more correct to say that a split which had been brewing for decades was formalized in 1906, when the U.S. Census Bureau listed the groups separately for the first time in its religious census. One of the issues that lead to the split was congregationalism. In 1836 Campbell and Stone noticed a growing "furious zeal for orthodoxy." This manifested itself in two ways: pleas for unity by the group that would become the Disciples of Christ and pleas for congregational autonomy by the group that would become the Churches of Christ. In the majority of Northern churches, the call for unity prevailed; in the majority of the Southern churches, the calls for congregational purity prevailed. In the American South, churches of the Restoration tradition tend to identify themselves with the name Church of Christ and argue that it was their faction that remained true to the original principles of the Restoration Movement, not vice versa. On October 23, 1849, a group of individuals met in Cincinnati, Ohio with the intention of creating a "general church organization for the furtherance of the work by the church collectively." This action caused immediate disagreements among the churches, because such organizations had previously been abolished. Barton W. Stone himself had in fact taken part in the abolition of the Springfield Presbytery, and authored at that time a very influential document, The Last Will and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery, which contained within it the idea that the existence of all such bodies was necessarily divisive and hence sinful. About a decade later, L. L. Pinkerton, who was a member of the Midway, Kentucky church brought a melodeon into the church building. One of the elders of that assembly removed the melodeon that evening but it was soon replaced by another. Until that time all singing in the churches had been a cappella. Generally speaking, the bulk of the urban congregations, particularly in the Northern states, were not totally averse to this development, which was also gaining momentum in the other religious groups around them, while rural congregations, particularly in the Southern United States, tended to oppose this trend. Approximately forty years later, the U.S. Census Bureau, in consultation with the leaders of the two groups, decided to list the members of these two movements separately. There were many factors involved in the split. Other issues revolving around baptism, plus the missionary society and instrumental music issues noted above, also contributed to the split. In most Churches of Christ, it is maintained that the prime issue was that of instrumental music in services of worship. After the split the Churches of Christ generally became more congregational, while the Disciples of Christ became more denominational. The Churches of Christ remained more literal in biblical interpretation, while the Disciples of Christ became closer to "mainline" Protestant groups. In fact, Disciples of Christ have been very cooperative with other Protestant denominations, dismissing the exclusive quality what was once a part of the entire movement. Churches of Christ have maintained a more exclusive stance, although the lack of a "clearinghouse" for determining acceptable doctrine has led to myriad manifestations that the movement may credit as heresy. By 1926 a split began to form within the Disciples over the future direction of the church. Conservatives within the group began to have problems with the perceived liberalism of the leadership, upon the same grounds described earlier in the accepting of instrumental music in worship. In 1927 they held the first North American Christian Convention, and the Independent Christian Churches/Churches of Christ began to emerge as a distinct group from the Disciples, although the break was not totally formalized until the late 1960s. By this time the decennial religious census was a thing of the past and it is impossible to use it as a delineation as it was in 1906. The Disciples of Christ today are still not totally devoid of the conservative-liberal tension. A related movement known as the Disciple Heritage Fellowship<http://www.disciple-heritage.org> (originally "Disciples Renewal"), has been particularly critical of perceived liberalism in the denomination and purports to call the church back to its Restorationist roots. It is closely related to the Confessing Movement found in several other mainline denominations. Church of Christ schisms and fellowship effortsAfter the distinction between the Church of Christ and the Disciples of Christ movements, other issues would later distinguish various Churches of Christ from one another. Since the members of the Churches of Christ agreed that there was no scriptural basis for a hierarchal government or a synod for congregations, the churches were all independent and autonomous. All disagreements in doctrine were handled locally, although open discussion was encouraged on a national or international basis. Many issues were discussed by the publishers of religious periodicals, who used their periodicals to present their own views and to debate the views of others. Between 1920 and 1960, various doctrinal issues were promoted that divided fellowship between some congregations in various locales. Some critics charged, and many within Churches of Christ voiced concerns, that the Churches of Christ had in some ways become a series of denominations within the body. This situation still exists to some extent today in some circles while many in Churches of Christ also extend fellowship to others regardless of a person's or a congregation's stand on various issues. Largest subgroupsThe most notable subgroups outside the mainstream Churches of Christ are:
Other issuesAt one time, pacifism was an issue of serious concern. Prominent Church of Christ leaders before World War II such as David Lipscomb, J.W. McGarvey, Moses E. Lard, Robert Milligan, and Tolbert Fanning held pacifist positions. Post-World War II, the pacifist faction has largely died out as a recognizable subgroup. Another schism was the Crossroads Movement which started in the 1960s and 1970s (also called the "Boston Movement" or "Discipling Movement"). The Crossroads Movement was an evangelistic effort (originated by Chuck Lucas) that started in Gainseville, Florida as a campus outreach to the University of Florida. It later spread into some other Churches of Christ. The Crossroads Church of Christ used informal Bible Studies, called "Soul Talks" to evangelize entire campuses. They also believed in the use of "Prayer Partners" which paired believers together to work on spiritual issues. The Soul Talk Leaders held weekly meetings to discuss the spiritual development of the brothers and sisters in their small groups. The Crossroads Movement started at the 14th Street Church of Christ in Gainesville, Florida, which became known as "Crossroads Church of Christ", an incubator for the future International Churches of Christ. In the early 1980s, the focus of the movement moved to Boston, Massachusetts where Kip McKean and the Boston Church of Christ became prominently associated with the trend. It was there that the International Churches of Christ became a distinct denomination, officially dissociated from Churches of Christ and the Restoration Movement. This new designation in actuality made a distinction that was already in existence between those involved with the Crossroads/Boston Movement and Churches of Christ. Much of the outside literature during this period refers to it as the "Boston Movement" or occasionally the "Discipling Movement," after the practice of assigning each new church member a mentor who was to "disciple" the newer member through prayer and advice about a wide range of day-to-day decisions. This movement appears to be directly related to the Shepherding Movement that was gaining influence in the wider Evangelical world at the time. Christian Churches and Churches of Christ Reunion EffortsThese two traditions within the Restoration Movement are practically identical in doctrine, church structure, and worship, with the exception of instruments being used in Christian Churches. Therefore, there is a significant amount of interaction that occurs between several of these members and congregations in various places. Also, special efforts were made on the national scene in 2006 to create more intentional fellowship between Christians from both branches. This was in conjunction with the one hundredth anniversary of the "official" designation of these being two religious groups by the U.S. Census in 1906. One evidence of the renewed affinity between the two groups was the hosting, by Abilene Christian University (also founded in 1906), of the annual Restoration Forum, as part of ACU's annual Bible Lectureship.http://www.acu.edu/news/2006/060216_Lectureship.html During the program Don Jeanes, president of Milligan College and Royce Money, president of ACU, jointly gave a presentation on the first chapter of the Gospel of John. Additionally, the compilation and publication of The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement (see Foster, Blowers, Dunavant, & Williams in "References") evidence that scholars in the three wings still work together on common projects. Collaboration on the Encyclopedia also included representatives of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Inevitably such gestures have their supporters and detractors within each of the three wings of the movement. The Restoration Movement internationallyRestoration Movement churches are found around the world and the World Convention of Churches of Christ provides a link for them. Their genealogies are representative of developments in North America. Their theological orientation ranges from fundamentalist to liberal to ecumenical. In some places they have joined with churches of other traditions to form united churches at local, regional or national level. These trends can be seen with the Churches of Christ in Australia. The Restoration Fellowship is an online restoration movement dedicated to recovering the beliefs of the first-century disciples of Jesus.[6] See alsoExternal links
A different view of the history of this movement (from a "non-institutional" viewpoint) may be discovered by studying the publications of Truth Magazine Publications and Florida College publications. External links for these two publishing sources are: History and SourcesNotesReferences
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