Restoration Movement

The Restoration Movement (also known as the American Restoration Movement or the Stone-Campbell Movement, and pejoratively as Campbellism) is a Christian movement that began on the United States frontier during the Second Great Awakening (1790–1840) of the early 19th century. The pioneers of this movement were seeking to reform the church from within and sought ""the unification of all Christians in a single body patterned after the church of the New Testament."" It has been described as the ""oldest ecumenical movement in America"": Both the great founding documents of the movement are authentically ecumenical. In The Last Will and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery (1804), Barton Stone and his fellow revivalists dissolved their exclusive presbyterial relationship, desiring to ""sink into union with the Body of Christ at large."" Five years later Thomas Campbell wrote in The Declaration and Address of the Christian Association of Washington [PA] (1809) ""The church of Christ on earth is essentially, intentionally and constitutionally one.""Especially since the mid-20th century, members of these churches do not identify as Protestant but simply as Christian.The Restoration Movement developed from several independent strands of religious revival that idealized apostolic Christianity. Two groups, which independently developed similar approaches to the Christian faith, were particularly important. The first, led by Barton W. Stone, began at Cane Ridge, Kentucky, and identified as ""Christians"". The second began in western Pennsylvania and Virginia (now West Virginia) and was led by Thomas Campbell and his son, Alexander Campbell, both educated in Scotland ; they eventually used the name ""Disciples of Christ"". Both groups sought to restore the whole Christian church on the pattern set forth in the New Testament, and both believed that creeds kept Christianity divided. In 1832 they joined in fellowship with a handshake.Among other things, they were united in the belief that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; that Christians should celebrate the Lord's Supper on the first day of each week; and that baptism of adult believers by immersion in water is a necessary condition for salvation. Because the founders wanted to abandon all denominational labels, they used the biblical names for the followers of Jesus. Both groups promoted a return to the purposes of the 1st-century churches as described in the New Testament. One historian of the movement has argued that it was primarily a unity movement, with the restoration motif playing a subordinate role.The Restoration Movement has since divided into multiple separate groups. There are three main branches in the US: the Churches of Christ, the unaffiliated Christian Church/Church of Christ congregations, and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Some characterize the divisions in the movement as the result of the tension between the goals of restoration and ecumenism: the Churches of Christ and unaffiliated Christian Church/Church of Christ congregations resolved the tension by stressing restoration, while the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) resolved the tension by stressing ecumenism. A number of groups outside the US also have historical associations with this movement, such as the Evangelical Christian Church in Canada and the Churches of Christ in Australia.Because the Restoration Movement lacks any centralized structure, having originated in a variety of places with different leaders, there is no consistent nomenclature for the movement as a whole. The term ""Restoration Movement"" became popular during the 19th century; this appears to be due to the influence of Alexander Campbell's essays on ""A Restoration of the Ancient Order of Things"" in the Christian Baptist. The term ""Stone-Campbell Movement"" emerged towards the end of the 20th century as a way to avoid the difficulties associated with some of the other names that have been used, and to maintain a sense of the collective history of the movement. Other names that have been used include ""the Brotherhood"", ""the Cause"" and ""the churches."" While the use of the word ""movement"" is supported by a fairly broad consensus, no single terminology is generally accepted or has official status.