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THE RESTORATION MOVEMENT

The Beginnings

The Christian church was called into existence A.D. 30, on the first day of Pentecost after the resurrection of Christ. To know of the organization, its doctrines and fruits, one only needs to read the book of Acts in the New Testament.

Falling Away

For nearly two hundred years the Christian church remained true to its original, basic, apostle-driven teachings. But through the mixing of paganistic ideas and strong political forces, the church of the beginning was lost. Centuries of ignorance and superstition passed by during which the Catholic Church usurped the place of the church of Christ.

Back to Basics

Then in the early part of the sixteenth century Martin Luther broke through the ignorance and gave to the world the open Bible. John Calvin advocated the divine sovereignty of God and John Wesley agitated the question of more spirituality in the churches. Around these ideas great denominations sprang into existence. While all the churches were filled with good men going about doing good, and they had much of the Scriptures in their teachings, they were weakened and handicapped because they were divided.

The Stone-Campbell Movement

In the early nineteenth century there was a general unrest among the churches in America. Believers could be found in all denominations that wanted to lay aside the traditions of men and go back to the church as described in the New Testament. “To restore the church” as described in the Acts of the Apostles was the goal of such men as Thomas and Alexander Campbell and Barton W. Stone. This era became known as the Stone-Campbell movement. It was during this time that the greatest theological growth of the modern day Christian and Churches of Christ took place.

Cane Ridge

A log meeting house erected in 1791 in Paris, Kentucky was to become the home ground upon which the Stone-Campbell movement would refine the basic beliefs of the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ that we are familiar with today. Sunday Schools were developed in churches and baptism through immersion, as in Christ’s example, became the norm. This building is now known as the Cane Ridge Meeting House and still stands today.