"'Restoration Movement,' what's that?"

I am starting this month’s blog as I sit at a Starbucks between sessions across the street from the Kentucky Convention Center in Louisville as the North American Christian Convention (NACC) is in its second day of activity. The NACC is the only event that brings Restoration Movement Christian Churches together once a year at the national level.

The "Restoration Movement?" I am starting to wonder if many attending churches borne of the restoration movement even know what the term "restoration movement" refers to.

I was speaking at a church awhile back in a Sunday School class of about 20 people. I was explaining to them our mission of planting Restoration Churches. Half the class stared at me like a deer caught in the headlights. I started to explain briefly what this meant, as even one of the church's associate staff looked on, wondering.

At a church we recently spoke at, I picked up a brochure that had this slogan on it -- “Where the Bible speaks, we speak. Where the Bible is silent, we are silent." This is a slogan the Restoration Movement used (and some still use), yet half the people in the church had no idea what the Restoration Movement is about.

I received a resume awhile back that had the following slogans written down, “I believe that we are not the only Christians, but Christians only,” and “I believe that we should have unity in essentials, liberty in non-essentials, and love in all things” -- more quotes the Restoration Movement has used over the years! I wondered whether this person understood, or was just using sayings to catch my “Restoration Attention”? (Please excuse my skepticism.)

At Cincinnati Christian University & Seminary, I was fortunate enough to take a Restoration History class under the legendary Dr. James North. Myself being an ex-Catholic who had no idea of the Restoration Movement, this class was monumental in enlightening me!

Without some type of Restoration Movement teaching, do people attending our churches really know what they are getting involved with? The bigger question is, “Why aren’t we introducing them to the principle of restoring the original church?" I am not insisting that new people read Union In Truth by Dr. North, but maybe some preachers should. Are we embarrassed to teach people what God has led them to? If you attend an Assembly Of God Church, you will learn about “speaking in tongues” and the “gift of prophecy” and the Assemblys' roots in the early twentieth century pentecostal movement.

Covering some basic historical facts and informing people about what they are getting involved with can be enlightening. We do not want to create “Campbellites,” and are careful to keep things in their proper perspective -- if the traditions of the restoration movement outweigh the scripture, we then become something less than the restored church of Jesus.

While we acknowledge and accept that we need to follow Jesus Christ only, still, learning about the period of time when the Campbells and their peers were discovering Biblical principles that had been ignored for centuries can help Christians appreciate just what exactly it is they have become part of -- the Lord's church, restored as she was in the beginning!

A 101 class, a new believers class, or a new member class would be an ideal time to introduce new Christians to some "Restoration history." The restoration era is not when the Lord's church was founded, but it is when she came out of "the wilderness" -- resurfaced in history. It's a good thing for Christians to understand that.