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The Restoration Movement is the name for a loosely affiliated group of churches that sought to unify all Christians by following the Biblical model of the Church as closely as possible, while allowing as much diversity as possible around issues not explicitly described in the Bible. The Restoration Movement churches have been especially wary of rituals, written creeds, and governing heirarchies. The Restoration Movement makes no claim to being the continuation of the original Christian church.
In the 20th Century, the Restoration Movement has developed in a variety of directions. Some churches have moved away from the founders' view of the New Testament as a pattern for contemporary worship and Church practice -- for these churches, the focus on Christian unity has led them to adopt practices more typical of other Protestant churches. Others continue to strive to restore their worship and practices to what they believe was practiced in the first century church.
The key beliefs of the Restoration Movement that set its congregations apart from other evangelical Protestant churches are:
1) "No Creed but Christ." The phrase "No Creed But Christ" means that no Restoration Movement congregation will require a believer to read, memorize, sign, recite, affirm, pledge, or in any way have anything to do with a written creed as a litmus test for fellowship, baptism or communion, nor will a seeker or non-believer be expected to learn a creed in order to continue learning or attending. Many, if not most, RM congregations have a written "Statement of Beliefs." Such as statement is for information only, and is not a standard to which one must agree in order to have fellowship.
2) "Where the Scriptures speak, we speak; where the Scriptures are silent, we are silent." In essence, this means that congregations affiliated with the Restoration Movement reject catechisms and the like, and base their beliefs only on Scripture.
3) "In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, love." Believers affiliated with the Restoration Movement will not exclude other Christians from fellowship based on differing beliefs on "non-essential" doctrines. Restoration Movement believers will show love to believers with whom they may disagree.
4) "We are not the only Christians, but we are Christians only." Restoration Movement believers do not claim to be the only Christians, and we accept other believers who profess to believe in Jesus Christ as our brothers and sisters. However, we do not attach any other name to ourselves other than "Christian." There is a very small percentage of RM believers who believe that only RM believers are true Christians, but this is not a popular view.
5) "The priesthood of all believers." We believe that all believers are "priests" and can access God through prayer without a human intermediary.
The main practices of the Restoration Movement are as follows:
A) Local control of congregations. Any and all decisions that affect a congregation, such as hiring, transfer or termination of staff; budget allocations; building projects; etc. are made by that congregation. No congregation is accountable to any governing heirarchy.
B) Lord's Supper every Sunday. We celebrate the Lord's Supper every Sunday. Any baptized believer is welcome to participate.
C) Believer's baptism by immersion. Only those who choose to baptised are baptised (we do not baptise infants or children who are too young to understand the decision). We baptise by full immersion.
D) Beauty through simplicity. Most Restoration Movement churches are rather austere, rejecting such things as candles, artwork, or stained glass windows, and are decorated quite simply.
Restoration Movement churches go by several styles of names. The most common type of name is the combination of a geographical place, for example a city or a street, and the words "Christian Church" or "Church of Christ." For example, if you're in Kalamazoo and you drive by Kalamazoo Christian Church, you can be 99% it's a Restoration Movement congregation.
There are some Restoration Movement congregations that practice non-instrumental worship. They almost exclusively use the name "Church of Christ" (as opposed to "Christian Church"). However, not all congregations that use the term "Church of Christ" are non-instrumental.
For more on the founding and the history of the Restoration Movement, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone-Campbell_Movement.
For a thorough treatment of the five branches of the Restoration Movement and the divisions (some minor, some major) between them, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disciples_of_Christ.
In the 20th Century, the Restoration Movement has developed in a variety of directions. Some churches have moved away from the founders' view of the New Testament as a pattern for contemporary worship and Church practice -- for these churches, the focus on Christian unity has led them to adopt practices more typical of other Protestant churches. Others continue to strive to restore their worship and practices to what they believe was practiced in the first century church.
The key beliefs of the Restoration Movement that set its congregations apart from other evangelical Protestant churches are:
1) "No Creed but Christ." The phrase "No Creed But Christ" means that no Restoration Movement congregation will require a believer to read, memorize, sign, recite, affirm, pledge, or in any way have anything to do with a written creed as a litmus test for fellowship, baptism or communion, nor will a seeker or non-believer be expected to learn a creed in order to continue learning or attending. Many, if not most, RM congregations have a written "Statement of Beliefs." Such as statement is for information only, and is not a standard to which one must agree in order to have fellowship.
2) "Where the Scriptures speak, we speak; where the Scriptures are silent, we are silent." In essence, this means that congregations affiliated with the Restoration Movement reject catechisms and the like, and base their beliefs only on Scripture.
3) "In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, love." Believers affiliated with the Restoration Movement will not exclude other Christians from fellowship based on differing beliefs on "non-essential" doctrines. Restoration Movement believers will show love to believers with whom they may disagree.
4) "We are not the only Christians, but we are Christians only." Restoration Movement believers do not claim to be the only Christians, and we accept other believers who profess to believe in Jesus Christ as our brothers and sisters. However, we do not attach any other name to ourselves other than "Christian." There is a very small percentage of RM believers who believe that only RM believers are true Christians, but this is not a popular view.
5) "The priesthood of all believers." We believe that all believers are "priests" and can access God through prayer without a human intermediary.
The main practices of the Restoration Movement are as follows:
A) Local control of congregations. Any and all decisions that affect a congregation, such as hiring, transfer or termination of staff; budget allocations; building projects; etc. are made by that congregation. No congregation is accountable to any governing heirarchy.
B) Lord's Supper every Sunday. We celebrate the Lord's Supper every Sunday. Any baptized believer is welcome to participate.
C) Believer's baptism by immersion. Only those who choose to baptised are baptised (we do not baptise infants or children who are too young to understand the decision). We baptise by full immersion.
D) Beauty through simplicity. Most Restoration Movement churches are rather austere, rejecting such things as candles, artwork, or stained glass windows, and are decorated quite simply.
Restoration Movement churches go by several styles of names. The most common type of name is the combination of a geographical place, for example a city or a street, and the words "Christian Church" or "Church of Christ." For example, if you're in Kalamazoo and you drive by Kalamazoo Christian Church, you can be 99% it's a Restoration Movement congregation.
There are some Restoration Movement congregations that practice non-instrumental worship. They almost exclusively use the name "Church of Christ" (as opposed to "Christian Church"). However, not all congregations that use the term "Church of Christ" are non-instrumental.
For more on the founding and the history of the Restoration Movement, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone-Campbell_Movement.
For a thorough treatment of the five branches of the Restoration Movement and the divisions (some minor, some major) between them, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disciples_of_Christ.
