Restoration is an idea — a concept — not history or personalities. The men who spearheaded the idea were trying to enunciate a principle. Unfortunately, those who have inherited what they began have failed to teach or live by those principles. The tendency among current Restoration constituents has been to replace principle with dogma, resulting in infighting and a loss of both personal and congregational identity. Instead of joining hands to fight a common enemy, we have begun to see each other as the enemy.

The overwhelming numerical success of many New Evangelical congregations, and the exodus of many of our younger members to churches that have “contemporary” worship service has led many Restoration leaders to cave in to the “what works” syndrome and copy their worship styles. This has led to a titanic, life and death struggle over proposed changes in the way we worship.