When I was converted I thought the restoration movement was one of the most thrilling stories I ever heard. It has had great impact on my heart, my ministry, and my life. It also has led to disappointment and heartache.
The Restoration Movement in its early stages brought authentic hope of going back to the Bible for both God's wisdom and will. One of its tremendous strengths is it calls all back to the Word. But somewhere about a hundred years after its beginning a subtle transition occurred which has taken the movement from life to death. In the latter time emphasis shifted from returning to the Bible to returning to the Restoration Movement. Efforts are now made to restore the Restoration Movement. Campbell and Stone would be ashamed of us.
Included in this shift was the reversal from seeking and adjusting according to the Word to defending aggressively conclusions reached by the early restorationists. The problem with this is three-fold: (1) it violates the very principles the restorationists proposed, (2) competitive pride rather than humble search began to develop the very ugliness of religion Jesus opposed, and (3) one has to jump several hoops to determine just exactly which part of which man on which day believed what he did because they were wonderfully ever changing their minds according to learning new portions of the scripture to which they were returning.
While we continue to believe we are a part of the Restoration Movement we have to choose which part. The part which believes there is yet unexplored oil which can be tapped or the zone of continually drilling only the same wells we've drilled for the last fifty to sixty years? The divide over this one is as big as Congress. The aisles are wide.
I'm on one side of the aisle; not both. I love the early part of the Restoration Movement and deeply desire to continue its love and hunger for more of the Word. I am not for continually drilling only in the same places some have roped off as permissible. I love the exploration and discovery of the pure Restoration Movement. I defy the calloused, fearful part which lives only to preserve what little we have thus far brought to the surface. The church is in need of more and more energy. It's buried in the Word. Keep drilling!
5 comments:
Brother Terry, I know one thing about your blog for Sunday, Aug. 17, 2008 and that one thing is you have much more insight than I when it would come to Church history and the Restoration Movement.
I know also that you have an intense hunger that every believer should have in regards to what really matters. What matters most to me is personal relationships which can be so hard to form b/c of the way that even our brothers in Christ operate these days. Very shallow! for the most part. I love it when I can meet with a group of men who share a common bond. When we can visit and discuss our similarities and even our differences. But I don't like too hard headed individuals. We have to remain open minded and filter out the bad, but add whatever new is good. And I see what you mean in part of your statement "we have to choose which part, of the restoration movement we should keep going with.
Your last 4 sentences are powerful!
When I think right now of an appropriate thought concerning your entire message, I can think the most about the scripture that says, we should spur one another on to love and good deeds, sorta my translation.
I only wish your posts could be understood by all and that somehow they could go worldwide. I have put down below some info. again which is in your head to a great degree, yet it is still worth looking at. WE SHOULD ALL REMAIN TRUE TO THE WORD AND WE SHOULD DO OUR PART, BUT CONSTANTLY REMEMBER GOD IS IN CONTROL. LOVE GOD, LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR, AND LOVE YOURSELF AS GOD LOVES YOU. AMEN
AND BE BLESSED, JIM COOKE
en.wikipedia.org and type in restoration movement
worldconvention.org
More recent groups also apply the label "restorationist" to themselves, describing their goal to re-establish Christianity in its original form
Drill the aisle!
Great analogy with the drilling! I have learned the older I get, the less I 'know'... God continues to lead me on this crooked journey, and I am (just now) learning to enjoy the ride.
God Bless you for your part in that ride...
Terry
I long more everyday to be just a Christian. We have brothers and sisters in many different churches around the world. I am ready for the walls to fall and develop an environment where we can all be the brothers and sisters we need to be. We are part of God's wonderful family, but not the totality of it.
Roger Thompson
The Restoration Movement, of which my movement is a part, continually inspires me to seek out Christians of varying expression to share experiences of worship and mission. Though our names have remained sectarian despite the best efforts of Elders Stone and Campbell, and many faithful women and men who follow in their footsteps, there is much more that unites us in Christ than divides us. Though in Christian practice we vary as to the administration of baptism, the eucharist and the orders of ministry we share a passion to bring people to Christ. The great chasm that keeps us from realizing the dream of one church/one name seems to me to be hermeneutics. Faithful Christians of all three branches of the Stone/Campbell Movement may never, by human effort alone, take and read the same Bible; the very thing Elders Stone and Campbell urged us to do. For my part, I will always be open to and ready for conversation with faithful Christians who believe "The church of Christ on earth is essentially, intentionally, and constitutionally one..." (Thomas Campbell).
Thank you for your blog and your ministry. God's blessings be upon you and all whom you shepherd.
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