History Of The Church
Lesson 15: The Restoration Movement
The Growth and Progress of the Church in the 20^th Century

Speaker: John Phillis
Date: February 2^nd and 9^th, 2005, Wednesday Evening Adult Bible Class

A Brief Review

Last week [Lesson 14, Part 5], we talked about the 1906 Census and noted that it was the official demarcation point, so to speak, when the church of Christ and the Christian Churches parted ways. It was not the 1906 Census which caused the event, but there had been the issues that had come up within churches that were part of the Restoration Movement, and these problems had been brewing for a long time. The 1906 Census was a religious census, and by that census there would be a differentiation made between the churches of Christ and the Christian Churches.

Last time, we talked a little bit about what had brought this division about. While the issues were several, there were three key issues that I think have been identified and stand out. The first one was the Missionary Society and instrumental music. That was an issue that caused division among Restoration churches. Secondly, there was also the sectionalism that was exasperated by the Civil War. This would largely divide brethren North and South on the issue of slavery; on the issue of the war itself; on the issue of passivism versus participation in the war, and so on. And then, a third factor which has been identified was the urbanization, the industrialization, of the Northern part of the United States in the mid to latter part of the 19^th Century.

There was perhaps…well, I don’t know whether the right word would be “sophistication”—maybe, in a sense—but there would be a “sophistication” that would take place among the people of the North, and they would be more liberal, less conservative in their views, and some of that would be pointed out as a result of this urbanization and industrialization.

Statistics about the Churches of Christ

Well, we want to move on now into the 20^th Century, obviously, as we talk about this 1906 Census. This is, of course, part of our History of the Church series that we have been talking about for this long time. In this part of our History of the Church series, we are now looking at and examining the Restoration Movement, and we’ve been in this particular part of the study for quite a few weeks. We’ve come now to the period of the 20^th Century, and we see that the 20^th Century that we’ve just left—we are now five years into the new millennium [the 21^st Century]—but the 20^th Century marked a very significant growth among churches of Christ. Some numbers to put out to you:

The increase from about 150,000 members in 1906: Ten years later in 1916 the number of members of churches of Christ would rise to about 317,000. That, of course, is an increase of more that 100%. By 1926, a decade beyond that, the numbers in churches of Christ had grown to over 433,000. This represents an additional 50% growth over the previous census. This religious census, of course, was taken every ten years. The strength of the church was concentrated, and continued to be concentrated, in the South—in Texas, in Tennessee, and Arkansas and Oklahoma, in that order.

Well, from 1926 and beyond, it was difficult to get accurate statistics of the church. You remember that there was some question about the accuracy of the information, the statistics that were gathered in the 1906 Census, but there was a significant problem following the 1926 Census. And so, it’s considered that the religious census that was done in 1936—it was published in 1936—was probably very inaccurate. And one of things that led to that conclusion is that the numbers in 1936 dropped drastically from about something over 433,000 in 1926 to just over 300,000 in 1936, and there were no other indicators. Now, somebody might say, “Well, you know, maybe there was 133,000 drop in membership in churches of Christ.” Well, there were no other indicators to support that that was the case. And so, the suspicion is that it was a problem—and the problem was not just among the churches of Christ—it was a problem of gathering these religious statistics. As a matter of fact, 1936 was the last time the government would take this religious census here in the United States.

Well, by the 1960’s,total membership had grown to possibly as high as 2 ½ million. The Yearbook of American Churches for 1967 lists the membership of the church of Christ at over 2.3 million. Also, in 1967, Louis Cassels, who was the religious editor for the United Press International [UPI], called the churches of Christ “the fastest-growing major religious body in the United States.” You have, no doubt, heard that said. I know I have heard that said and quoted many times. But that is where that statement came from. If you hear someone speak about, you know, years gone by, days gone, by when the churches of Christ were the fastest-growing churches in America, well it comes from this particular era and from this particular quote by this religious editor of the United Press International.