FAQ about Restoration Movement

The following are some frequently raised issues with questions and answers regarding the Restoration Movement. This list is not meant to be exhaustive but represents many of the common questions that are asked. Like everything else, we invite you to study your Bible to learn all that you can about the Lord's Church. If you have any questions not addressed in these pages, please e-mail us and we will do our best to answer.

1. Question: Isn't all the talk about the church's "purity" and "unity" just external forms with the real issue being the Gospel and Jesus?

Answer: You cannot separate Jesus, the Gospel, and the Church. Jesus said that He had "the words of life". This is the Gospel, the "good news" that Jesus would be the atonement for our sins. The church is the body of Christ. The church did not exist when Jesus was alive. It had no need to. The church came into being after Jesus ascended back into Heaven. The church was instituted to take the place of Jesus on the earth. Jesus, His words, and His body are inseparable. Jesus meant for His body to have unity and to be pure. He prayed to the Father "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me." [John 17:20-23] Unity and purity among His followers were important to Christ and so it should be important to us.

Thomas and Alexander Campbell, due to the influence of the Scottish Enlightenment correctly recognized that reason should have precedence over emotionalism and inner feelings should give way to external constructs. The type of music used in worship, name of the congregation, and firmness in doctrine are as much a part of the make up of the church as is Jesus and His Gospel. They are inseparable. Those that would minimize the importance of "external forms" make the church susceptible to any teachings, authorities, or practices of denominations.

2. Question: But the New Testament church underwent several changes; for instance the ordination of deacons, communal living conditions, naming the congregations, and imposing Jewish customs on Jewish Christians. Doesn't this show that all of these are just external differences? The real mark of a Christian should be whether or not he or she follows Christ.

Answer: In the New Testament, there was no diversity in the church when it came to the basic issue of authority. The church was new and so each problem that arose did so for the first time. Each solution was found by consulting the authority of the church, Jesus Christ through His Apostles. As the need changed, so did the conditions of the church but the church always looked to the Apostles or the scriptures for its authority. When a question arose (such as inclusion of Gentiles into the fellowship of the church), the church sought to find God's answer. Since the Apostles were inspired, they could impart God's intentions. We should do the same. We do not have the Apostles with us today, but we have their writings. We should find a "Thus saith the Lord" for all that we do. To say that because the church did not engage in the same practice twenty years after it was founded compared to the day of its beginning allows the incorporation of any custom or "external device" is ridiculous.

As far as the name of the congregations was concerned, there were differences in the names used to identify them. But, the name always identified the congregation as belonging to God or to Christ. Deacons were appointed when deacons were needed. Jewish converts to Christianity were not made to obey the customs of the Jewish religion, in fact the Apostle Paul spent much of his writings explaining the superiority of Christ over the Law of Moses. There was teaching that occurred in synagogues but this arose from God's plan that the Gospel first be carried to the "Jews then to the Greeks".
In other words, nothing in these instances can be construed to mean that external constructs are not important. God has always had a plan for man and He has always had a way that He desires the plan to be carried out. God has also always had a method of punishment awaiting for those who do not carry out His intentions in the ways that has prescribed.

3. Question: The history of the Restoration Movement is questionable because it underplays the teachings of many good men through the centuries. What about men such as Augustine, Luther, Calvin, and Wesley? Were they not Christians also?

Answer: The Bible tells us who is able to wear the name Christian. The steps of God's plan of salvation are plainly laid out in the New Testament. A person 1. Hears the Gospel of Christ preached 2. Believes what he has heard 3. Repents of past sins 4. Confesses the name of Jesus as the Son of God 5. Is buried with Christ though baptism to arise a new person...a Christian. This is the plan that God has given man. There is no other. Man does not have the authority to change it. What these men did or did not do or whether they were or were not Christians isn't important to us. God and He alone will judge them based on their deeds. If a person contends that the writings of these men should have the same measure of weight as those of the inspired writers of the New Testament, then that person is sadly mistaken. Christian or not, these men did not have the authority to establish any single doctrine of the church. They may have been good men and some may even have been martyrs but that still does not give the the status of having authority. Christ has all authority over His Church and imparted this authority to His Apostles whom He left on earth.

4. Question: Even the Restoration Movement has undergone divisions. Aren't all branches of the Restoration Movement "Christian". Shouldn't each branch recognize each other? Doesn't this say a lot about the closed mindedness of the Church of Christ?

Answer: Division in any part of the Lord's Church is simply evidence that Satan is still at work trying to undermine God's plan for man. It is sad but churches can go astray. Read the first 3 chapters of the book of Revelation to find that Jesus passed judgment on some of the congregations mentioned by name saying one had "lost their first love" and another had "a name that it lived but was dead". Pointing out error when it conflicts with the teaching and authority of God is never closed mindedness. That's part of the function of the church and one reason it was established. We do not pass judgment but we have to be able to identify error in order to keep ourselves clean and unspotted from the world. "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world". [James 1:27]