Well, that brings us, then, to the 1906 Census. The U. S. Census Bureau gave official recognition to this reality, to the reality of what was going on. You know, when we talk about the Census Bureau giving “official recognition,” it’s not that they did anything except to acknowledge, to document what was going on. The 1906 Census was actually not published until 1910.

Well, a little bit of history about this. June 17, 1901, the Director of the Census—his name was S. N. D. North; I don’t know what the three initials stood for—would write to David Lipscomb, and he asked whether there a religious body called “Church of Christ” not identified with the Disciples of Christ or any Baptist body. And if there is such a church, he went on in his letter, he wanted information about its organization, about its principles and how the Census Bureau could, then, document and list numerical data about this group, these churches.

Well, David Lipscomb would reply to Mr. North’s letter, and in the letter he would outline the basic principles of the Restoration Movement as were formulated in Thomas Campbell’s “Declaration and Address.” And then next, Lipscomb charged that these principles—these principles that he had laid out—had been betrayed, had been violated, when the Society and instrumental music were introduced; and than he stated that division had come about as a result of those things. Lipscomb would go on in his letter to Mr. North—and this is actually a quote from his letter—he said that “the polity of churches being purely congregational, the influences work slowly and the division comes gradually. The parties are distinguished as they call themselves conservatives and progressives, as they call each other antis and digressers. In many places, the differences have not as yet resulted in separation. There are some in the conservative churches in sympathy with the progressives, who worship and work with the conservatives because they have no other church facilities. The reverse of this is also true. Many of the conservatives are trying to appropriate the name “churches of Christ” to distinguish themselves from the Christian or Disciples churches.”

A few months later, after this exchange of letters between David Lipscomb and Mr. North, Mr. North would visit the Gospel Advocate offices in Nashville, Tennessee, and arrangements would be made for Brother J. W. Shepherd, who was one of the co-editors of The Gospel Advocate, to compile a list of churches of Christ for the census report. Now in retrospect, many don’t believe that Brother Shepherd’s numbers—this accounting of churches of Christ—were exactly accurate. Remember the times; remember the difficulties in communication, in travel; and then remember the difficulty in knowing exactly where one congregation might stand at that particular moment in time.

Nevertheless, the 1906 Census reveals two significant facts about the Restoration Movement. [Below is the information provided by John Phillis on a handout:]