Restoration Movement

The other day I was having a conversation with someone about The Fort and it's structure and historical roots. The Fort is an autonomous congregation tied to a movement known as the Restoration Movement. This movement began in the early 1800's by Thomas Campbell and his son, Alexander Campbell.

In fact, churches with ties to the Restoration Movement [RM] became known as "Campbellites." What these early founders of the RM were attempting was to "restore" the church as it is seen in the New Testament.

There were many slogans that became banner cries of the RM, two that really have impacted me and my ministry. One being: In essentials, unity; in opinion, liberty; in all things, love. (I believe this was ripped off from Augustine if you follow the history of this particular statement.)

I love that slogan because it really centralizes the importance of being a follower of Jesus Christ. There are certain "essentials" which are absolutely non-negotiable. There are certain doctrines of the faith that cannot be compromised. In my opinion, the list of essential doctrines (doctrines which have bearing upon one's salvation) are few. There really are only a few things that we absolutely MUST agree upon without question.

Among these are: (this is not meant to be an exhaustive list...these are some of my own thoughts on this)

God exists and is the creator of all mankind and has been working from the beginning of time to redeem man back unto Himself. Jesus Christ is God's Son and is God Himself. Jesus was sent by God as a ransom for mankind's sin. His death on the cross saved all of humanity. He rose from the dead three days later and defeated death, proving all that God has promised. The Holy Spirit is God and teaches, corrects and convicts man.

The Bible is the inspired, infallible Word of God. It is fully reliable and the sole source of authority for man and the church. Salvation is found in Jesus Christ alone. He is the only way to heaven.

The Devil is real and seeks man's ultimate destruction. Hell is a real place created for Satan himself that will also be the miserable end of all who reject God's offer of salvation.

There may be more than what I have listed here, but ultimately the list of essential doctrines is not this gigantic list that we tend to make it. That's why the slogan also says that in opinion there should be liberty. Which means if you disagree with me about my views on the end times...that's okay, a doctrine such as that really doesn't have any bearing on one's salvation.

I preach about a lot of topics that many times I know that there are some in the church that don't believe the same as I do on the issue. I don't care. I don't lose a wink of sleep about that. My goal as a pastor is to create unity in the church NOT uniformity. We can disagree without being disagreeable. (Besides, those who disagree with me have every right to be wrong!)

And that makes the last part of that slogan so important. In all things, love. No matter what we believe, we better communicate our beliefs with a loving spirit or we are nothing (at least, so says Paul).

Another slogan from the Restoration Movement that has deeply impacted me is this one: We are not the only Christians, we are Christians only.

I have known some in the RM who would rather debate a Baptist than try to win a lost person to Jesus. That's insane! Our enemies are not another church that has a different sign out on it's front lawn. (Don't get me wrong, I think we do need to be discerning about cults and false teachers.) But some in the RM have taken this too far!

We need to stay on target to what Jesus has called us to do and quit debating stupid issues of non-consequential doctrine (such as whether or not Adam and Eve had belly buttons). If another church has communion once a week or once a month isn't a mark of how close the people of that church are to Jesus.

We can get caught up in "friendly fire" and really do a lot of damage to our mission. Our mission is to win lost people to Jesus. That's it. Paul said we need to avoid silly arguments in 2 Timothy 2:23.

Overall, I am proud to be a part of the RM, but my allegiance is NOT to Thomas Campbell or Alexander Campbell...my allegiance is to Jesus Christ alone! What Thomas or Alexander Campbell wrote or said does not bear the weight with me that God's Word does.

The RM has done a superb job of it's mission to restore the church to what it was in the New Testament because the modern RM is just as screwed up as the church we see in Scripture...lots of bickering and not getting certain doctrines right. But all in all it was God's plan to bring hope to the world through the Church. Even broken, messed up churches like The Fort are used in mighty ways by God to spread the good news that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead and He is the only way to heaven!

I don't have as high of a view of the RM that many of my colleagues in ministry would like...I don't teach RM history...I preach Jesus. I don't study the writings of Thomas Campbell or Alexander Campbell...I preach Jesus. And honestly, that's okay. If you really do take time to look at the lives of these men...that's all they were really doing as well.