‘Streams’ of Restoration movement converge at Stone-Campbell Dialogue

Mark Taylor, publisher and editor of The Christian Standard , blogs about the recent Stone-Campbell Dialogue in Abilene, Texas.

I attended the 19th annual gathering of the Stone-Campbell Dialogue, this year in Abilene, Texas. It was a wonderful gathering! I had the privilege of preaching at the Minter Lane Church of Christ before the Dialogue convened, and I enjoyed rich fellowship with members and leaders of all three “streams” of the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement.

The goal of the Dialogue is to foster understanding, trust, and partnership among these “streams”: the Christian churches/churches of Christ (my group); the traditionally a cappella churches of Christ; and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

Unity is not uniformity. Unity does not assume that everyone agrees or even that everyone is right. But unity does lift up the lordship of Jesus Christ and agree on our desire to seek and serve him and understand his will. By that definition, seeds of unity are sown every time this Dialogue convenes.

Read the full post.

About 300 people attended. Doug Foster, professor of church history and director of the Center for Restoration Studies at Abilene Christian University, hosted part of the conference on ACU’s campus. The theme was “It Doesn’t Look Like Church To Me,” focusing on the development of new churches in the changing context of North American society. 

Kent Smith, professor of missional formation and director of ACU’s Missional Residency for North America, described how and why “new church” experiences are happening across America.