The movement known as the American Restoration Movement was begun nearly 200 years ago.  It is called the "Restoration Movement" instead of a "Reformation" because the idea was not to make church reforms, but to begin fresh by casting off all the baggage added to the church for the last 2000 years (such as creeds and man-made names) and being "Christians Only".  The idea is to "restore" the church to what it was intended to be by returning to pure New Testament Christianity, not adding more "Reforms".  This was a call not only for "restoration", but "unity" as well.  One of the aims of the Restoration Movement is to erase denominational lines by restoring the church with the Bible as its only creed.

One of the earlier advocates of the return to New Testament Christianity as a means of achieving unity of all believers in Christ was James O'Kelly of the Methodist Episcopal Church.  In 1793, he withdrew from the Baltimore conference of his church and called upon others to take the Bible as the only creed.  His influence was largely felt in Virginia and North Carolina where history records that some seven thousand followed toward a return to primitive New Testament Christianity.

In 1802 a similar movement among the Baptists in New England was led by Abner Jones and Elias Smith.  They were concerned about denominational names and creeds, and decided to wear only the name, "Christian", taking the Bible as their only guide.  In 1804, in the western frontier state of Kentucky, Barton Stone and several other Presbyterian preachers took similar action declaring that they would take the Bible as the "only sure guide to Heaven."  Alexander Campbell took similar steps in the year 1809 in what is now called the state of West Virginia.  They contended that nothing should be bound upon Christians as a matter of doctrine which is not in the New Testament.

Although these four movements were completely independent in their beginnings, eventually they discovered each other and became one strong restoration movement because of their common purpose and plea.  These men did not advocate the starting of a new church, but rather a return to Christ's church as described in the Bible.

Members of the churches of Christ do not conceive of themselves as a new church started near the beginning of the 19th century.  Rather, the whole movement is designed to reproduce in contemporary times the church originally established on Pentecost, A.D. 30.  The strength of the appeal lies in the restoration of Christ's original church.