A Plea for Unity: The Stone-Campbell Movement – Bruce Sullivan

Bruce Sullivan, who was for a number of years a Church of Christ pastor, looks at the history of the Restorationist Movement, started by Barton Stone and Alexander Campbell in the early 19th century. That movement sought to use the Bible as the sole rule of faith – but soon, different interpretations of the Bible by its members led to a series of fractures within the movement.

This talk was given at the 2008 Deep in History conference sponsored by The Coming Home Network.

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Study Questions:

-What did the American Restoration Movement (the Stone-Campbell Movement) hope to accomplish? Do you think its goals are important?

-How was the American Restoration Movement representative of the American mindset?

-After hearing Sullivan’s description of the problems the Stone-Campbell Movement faced, do you think authority is
an important part of authentic Christianity?

-What does the Catechism say about the unity of all Christians? Compare this to Jesus’ prayer the night before He suffered:

I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word, that
they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us,
so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. The glory which thou hast given me I
have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and thou in me, that
they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast
loved them even as thou hast loved me. (John 17:20-23)