Origin Story: Churches of Christ and the Restoration Movement (Deeper Youth Ministry Bible Studies)

Origin stories provide the background narrative that explains why characters are the way they are. When you know a character’s origin story, you also know important things about their feelings and motivations for why they do what they do. Churches of Christ have historical roots in the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement, but teens in Churches of Christ tend to be largely ignorant about any of this history. This is a problem, because in a real sense, if we don’t know our history, we don’t know who we are. The early Restoration leaders desired to bring about unity among God’s people by adhering to the clear teachings of Jesus and the apostles and the practices of the early church. In a world of bitter division and incredibly shaky notions of truth, that is a compelling idea, and one that is worth communicating to teenagers. Origin Story is an eight-lesson series written specifically for teens. “Teaching Restoration Movement history is tricky business, especially in church contexts. How best can we communicate the ups and downs, the successes and shortcomings, of our religious predecessors in a way that deepens rather than destroys faith? A lack of accessible educational resources for young Christians only compounds the problem. Fortunately, Luke Dockery and Jared Pack demonstrate both ministerial concern and scholarly acumen in this short volume which will help anchor the youth of the Churches of Christ more fully in their religious heritage and, even more importantly, point them back to the cross.” –John Young, Associate Professor in the Turner School of Theology at Amridge University and historian of the Stone-Campbell Movement