Until the rise of the Stone-Campbell movement on the American frontier, the restoration movement that began in Britain was so fissiparous in spirit that much diversity in worship was inevitable. Eventually, however, a primitive model of worship based on the second chapter of Acts prevailed.
Introduction
The restoration movement can be traced to the departure by John Glass from the Church of Scotland in 1728. His son-in-law, Robert Sandeman, started several small churches in Scotland which patterned their worship in such a way as to restore the order of the church described in the book of Acts. Yet another branch of this movement began when James and Robert Haldane started an independent church in Edinburgh in 1799 as well as a seminary in Glasgow.
As Sandemanean and Haldanean influence spread, Thomas Campbell and his family started attending services in the Haldane church southwest of Belfast, Ireland. Campbell, a Presbyterian preacher, was impressed by the ideas of the Haldanes. His son Alexander, eventually became the most articulate advocate of restoration ideas.
In 1807 Thomas Campbell set sail for the United States. Arriving in western Pennsylvania, he found that religious freedom and the separation of church and state had resulted in unbridled sectarianism. Moreover, only one adult in ten belonged to a church and attended worship regularly. Sectarianism was an obstacle to evangelism: Therefore, Thomas Campbell declared, “The Church of Christ upon earth is essentially, intentionally, and constitutionally one.” Furthermore, he claimed, “Division among Christians is a horrid evil fraught with many evils.” Unity among Christians, he said, should be based on love and on a simple effort to follow the Scriptures alone in faith and practice.
At about the same time in Kentucky, Barton W. Stone was leaving the Presbyterian church for similar reasons. Those who followed his lead simply called themselves “Christians,” and they also based a plea for Christian unity on the standard of restoring the faith and practice of the church to a New Testament pattern.
Although no absolute rules were set down by restoration leaders for an order of worship, churches in this movement looked to Acts 2:42 for a model of how the New Testament church worshiped.
Text:
1. Invocation
2. One or two hymns
3. Reading of Scriptures
4. Prayer
5. Hymn
6. Sermon
7. Invitation hymn
8. Lord’s Supper
9. Hymn
10. Benediction
Commentary: To overcome the formalism of the Church of Scotland in the late 1700s, restoration worship followed a variety of practices. Resistance to prim ceremonialism attracted pioneers on the American frontier in the early 1800s. Farmers in western Pennsylvania, western Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky had little use for protocol in worship: What they wanted was substance. They considered prescribed prayers less meaningful than impromptu petitions from the lips of a lay elder. Imposed liturgies satisfied these pioneers less than informal services improvised for the circumstances of each congregation.
Nevertheless, part of restoring worship to a New Testament pattern was doing all things “decently and in order” as Paul encouraged in 1 Corinthians 14:40. One thing was certain: the Lord’s Supper would be observed weekly, and that practice became a normative and identifying feature of the movement. Moreover, restorationists understood the Lord’s Supper as a symbolic memorial of the self-giving sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which revealed God’s unconditional love in history, and which continues to show forth God’s forgiving grace. A leader, usually a lay elder (most frontier churches functioned without ordained ministers), took the bread and cup, offered a simple prayer of thanks, broke the bread, and gave the bread and cup to the congregation to share with one another.
In the language of Acts 2:42, “the fellowship” (koinonia) implied a partnership with other Christians. Thus, a weekly collection of tithes and alms for the work of the church and the relief of the poor played an important role. This offering was integrally related to the Communion service.
Scriptures and sermons almost always were from the New Testament, which they considered not only a more recent, but a brighter disclosure of the light of divine truth than the Hebrew Scriptures. The Bible was understood as a set of facts which, if clearly set forth, would be seen the same way by everyone. The New Testament came to be seen as a “constitution” for the Christian life.
Salvation was considered a legal kind of transaction, so the purpose of the sermon was to convict—not by means of emotional enticement, but by the use of reasonable common sense. Clear, simple communication was more important than theological refinement. The sermon became more evangelistic due to the situation of preaching to the many who were unchurched; often sermons led to an invitation to Christian discipleship. Those who responded to such a call were received into the church as members based on a simple confession of faith in Christ and baptism by immersion. They were not tested for correct beliefs, nor obliged to describe a personal religious experience, nor required to pass a vote of the congregation.
An issue that divided churches in this movement by 1900 was whether instrumental music should be used. In pioneer churches, musical instruments often were unavailable. But singing was very important. Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16 were understood as promoting congregational singing both as an expression of praise and as a means for building up faith among believers.