“Remember where you came from!” is something my parents told me when I was growing up. Regardless of where I went in life, they wanted me to remember my heritage, our work ethic, and the values most important to our family. That’s good advice, and it carries over to matters of faith. As a military chaplain, I am endorsed to represent the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ. We commonly refer to ourselves as the Restoration Movement.
What is the Restoration Movement?
The Restoration Movement is a non-denominational effort to restore Jesus’ Church to its original New Testament form. We do not believe we are the only Christians, but we do elect to call ourselves ‘Christians’ only (Acts 11.26). We do so out of a firm commitment to teach, do, and insist upon nothing except which is found in the Bible. We have no creed but Christ and no book but the Bible.
I believe this is the best way to [1] maintain unity in the Body of Christ (John 17.11, 23), and [2] avoid altering God’s commands with man-made creeds, denominational divisions, or extra-biblical requirements. This is summed up well by one of our founding leaders:
“In the great leading principles, or facts of the New Testament, we agree, and cheerfully let each other have his opinions as private property.” -BW Stone
What kind of history does the Restoration Movement have?
Restoration Movement churches aim to simply replicate New Testament Christianity as closely as possible. Therefore, the Bible’s book of Acts is the starting place for our historical origins. Throughout Christian history, there have been many genuine movements to return to “no creed but Christ, no book but the Bible.” We gladly fellowship with any body of believers sincerely calling Jesus ‘Lord’ and doing their best to follow His commands.
As early as the 1700s, many independent groups throughout the US began to realize they were all separately coming to a strikingly similar pair of conclusions:
- Complete New Testament authority as the sole guide for church matters
- Absolute Christian Unity (one Church, many congregations)
One of those early leaders, Thomas Campbell, succinctly states “Our differences, at most, are about the things in which the kingdom of God does not consist, that is about matters of private opinion or human invention.”
My goal is to differentiate between these matters of human invention and the necessary Kingdom of God.
Your Brother in Christ,
-bill