I can’t give any more details than the following, but here is what I can say. I know where there is an old car sitting in a barn just waiting to be brought back to its former glory. This old car is pretty rare and in its day was highly prized and praised. Currently, it has some rust, a few fender dents, some cracked glass, a thick layer of dust and bird droppings, and a few tacky add ons that someone must have thought clever. But underneath it all there is a gem. I love old stuff, especially if it can be restored.
Of course, you could pull this car out of the barn it is in, slap a cheap paint job on it, do some “cool” modifications, get it running and drive it around with all the flaws, but why do that? Its value would be radically higher if it were properly put back together. Plus, the inherent beauty of this piece of automotive history deserves something better.
Now, the only way to work on this car is a “frame off” restoration. The car would be totally disassembled, every part repaired or, if need be, replaced with a factory original part. Beginning at the frame the car would have to be repainted and reassembled so when it was done it would be just like it rolled off the factory assembly line. This project would be difficult and very expensive. It is not the kind of thing you would do over a weekend or even in a couple of months. Done right it would take thousands of dollars, it would be slow and frustrating beyond words. It would have to be a labor of love or you would never finish it. In fact, it would be a sort of legacy project, the kind of thing that would mark a lifetime of work.
What does this have to do with church transition? About 500 years ago a young German monk was leading an effort to get out of the Roman Catholic church all the stuff that he believed corrupted the church. He was convinced that the selling of indulgences for sins not yet committed was a moral travesty. Behind the ideal of selling forgiveness of sin before the act was built on the ideal of selling forgiveness of sin after the act, this he found repugnant as well. The ideal of anyone (Pope, Priest or other mere mortal) offering forgiveness of sin was wrong as well. It was as if he were looking at a classic car under years of neglect, abuse and bird poop and was trying to solve the problem with a hand broom and a dust pan.
This began the Reformation. The Protestant Reformation was like an effort to go back layer by layer, removing error, false assumptions, misguided doctrines each of which made the other more harmful to the church. This protesting of the ills of the Roman Church and the effort to remove everything from the church that was problematic was a major transition for the church. The debt of Christianity to Luther is huge. Even Roman Catholic scholars have suggested that this reform was deeply needed. Some have even suggested that if Luther and Pope Leo had both been a little more humble and less polemic there might be within the Roman Church an order called the Lutherans, as there are Fansicans and Benedictians. But the divisions with the church testify that it was not an entirely successful project.
What if instead of reforming the church we tried to do a frame off restoration? I can almost hear someone say, “Haven’t you heard of the Campbellite and the Stoneites and the ‘Restoration Movement’? Yes I have. The Stone-Campbell movement began wonderfully. But one has to ask,“Has the Restoration Movement become the Restoration Monument?” It has some significant problems. So, I am not recruiting for the Restoration Movement nor talking about forming a new fellowship or organization. The restoration I want to see is one that is more organic and more individual, so don’t miss our next edition.
In the meantime here are some slogans the Restoration Moment has used. While they may not live up to these, there is some worthwhile wisdom that we would be well advised to use as we face the next transition of the church.
"Where the Scriptures speak, we speak; where the Scriptures are silent, we are silent.”
"The church of Jesus Christ on earth is essentially, intentionally, and constitutionally one."
"We are Christians only, but not the only Christians."
"In essentials, unity; in opinions, liberty; in all things love."
"No creed but Christ, no book but the Bible.
"Do Bible things in Bible ways, and call Bible things by Bible names."
Ecclesiastical traditions divide, but Christians should be able to find common ground by following the practice (as best as it can be determined) of the early church.
NEXT TIME: Our Turn to Make a Transition.
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