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Restoration • History • Apostolic Christianity

Church of Christ & the Restoration Movement

What was the Restoration Movement trying to restore—and what happens when the search for New Testament Christianity is carried back through the earliest centuries of the Church?

The restoration question

The churches of Christ emerged from a movement determined to move beyond denominational divisions and recover the Christianity of the New Testament. That instinct raises an important historical question: if we want the faith and practice of the apostles, what do the Christians immediately after the apostles tell us about what that faith looked like?

Restoration Movement illustration featuring Stone and Campbell

“The church of the first century became the Catholic Church of later centuries...”

— Matthew W. Bassford [2]

If the church of the FIRST century was the Catholic Church, that means that it's the one and only Church that Christ established. At no point could it STOP being the Church that Christ established. That doesn't make any sense! Didn't Christ say that His Church would ALWAYS be guided by the Holy Spirit? (Jn. 14:16,17) And how does this square with Timothy saying that the Church (not the Bible) is the pillar and foundation of truth? (1 Tim. 3:15)

Watch

These videos provide several starting points for examining the Church of Christ tradition, the Restoration Movement, and the question of Christian continuity.

Church of Christ & the Restoration Movement

Quick comparison chart of non-institutional churches of Christ, the Catholic Church, and most Protestants on baptismal regeneration, weekly communion, visible Church, faith alone, salvation, the Real Presence, apostolic succession, and apostolic tradition.

Chairs (COC)

Church of Christ Roundtable — The Journey Home

Maybe there's another way?

For a side-by-side doctrinal overview, see Churches of Christ & Catholicism: a quick comparison.

Questions to explore

When did the Restoration Movement begin? What did its early leaders believe had been lost? How does its concept of restoration compare with the Catholic claim of historical continuity? And where do churches of Christ preserve convictions—such as baptism for the remission of sins and frequent celebration of the Lord’s Supper—that resemble ancient Christianity more closely than much of modern Protestantism?