Carrie L. Mayes Baker
Reporter
Marshall Leggett, chancellor and former president of Milligan College, presented three lectures last week about the Restoration Movement. The lectures, funded by the Gerald and Bette Montgomery Fugit, were given to inspire the younger generation to learn the heritage of the Christian Church/Churches of Christ so they may pass it on to the next generation.
The main goal of the Restoration Movement is that Christians grew weary of breaking off into denominations; the original proponents of this progression wanted to return the Church and its practices to the way Christ left it with the Apostles. Thus ended sectarianism, in theory, according to Joe Wise, director of development and church relations, and Denise Helsabeck, associate professor of history.
To make learning about the Restoration Movement more interesting, Leggett brought to life Walter Scott and Thomas Campbell , two of the major leaders in the movement , and did first person presentations.
Leggett’s lectures had four main concerns for the current churches practicing what the Restoration Movement had intended: the reticence of using the term “Restoration” instead of “Stone Campbell Movement,” the name attributed to the leaders of the movement, reducing the importance of Christian baptism, the rising desire to be a respectable denomination and the next generation of the Christian Church/Church of Christ.