The answer depends upon what one means by the Restoration movement. “The Restoration Movement (also known as the American Restoration Movement or the Stone-Campbell Movement) is a Christian movement that began on the American frontier during the Second Great Awakening of the early 19th century. The movement sought to restore the church and "the unification of all Christians in a single body patterned after the church of the New Testament.” It is an attempt to return to apostolic Christianity, but with a distinct view of scripture. In the view of Alexander Campbell “The New Testament is as perfect a constitution for the worship, discipline, and government of the New Testament Church, and as perfect a rule for the particular duties of its members, as the Old Testament was for the worship, discipline, and government of the Old Testament Church, and the particular duties of its members”. “The New Testament is the proper and immediate rule, directory, and formula for the New Testament Church…in the observance of this Divine rule, this authentic and infallible directory, all … may come to the desirable coincidence of holy unity and uniformity of practice”

The emphasis on “pattern”, “constitution”, and “rule” led to an emphasis on restoring forms particularly in salvation, worship services, and governance. Hence relationships – to God, to members, and to the “unchurched” were neglected. By the unchurched I mean those who did not already have a Christian world-view of some sort. Though the purpose was “unification” and had some success in the years 1830-1910, disagreement soon fractured the movement.

There was little emphasis on Christ and his life. My own experience illustrates this point. My wife and I began Home Bible Studies in the early 1960’s using training with the charts of Mid McKnight. In the mid-1960’s we used updated charts from Robert Oglesby of Waterview Church of Christ, Richardson, TX. Since there was almost nothing about Christ we “made up” an entirely new chart on the life of Christ. Major biblical themes were ignored—grace, the Holy Spirit, etc. By the late 1950’s brotherhood papers, radio programs, and city wide-campaigns had solidified the acceptable “pattern” in worship and practice. Deviation was not allowed—with many splinters requiring finer adherence to their interpretation of pattern.

With the above understanding, one can began to answer the question. Has the Restoration Movement succeeded in moving our understanding of what God wishes for his people? Certainly in some respects it has—for “first principles” of baptism, faith, and repentance. But, if by saving the Restoration Movement is meant saving the cultural specifics of the solidification of “forms of worship” and attitudes of the churches of Christ and more specifically the attitudes associated with them, certainly not. If however, by the Restoration Movement is meant a return to an understanding of the revealed God and His mission (thus our relation to Him and our fellowman) based on His revelation in scripture, then, yes it should be saved. We as humans have a long ways to go in this quest.

Indeed, there appears to be a fundamental understanding that “doing church” as it has evolved in the churches of Christ and denominations is not working in a postmodern society. The growing “missional movement” is another type of Restoration. This restoration focuses not on the “church” per se but focuses on transforming people to become disciples. “Missional is a way of living, not an affiliation or activity,” explains missional leadership specialist Reggie McNeal in his new book, Missional Renaissance: Changing the Scorecard for the Church. “To think and to live missionally means seeing all life as a way to be engaged with the mission of God in the world.” This “restoration” attempts to recapture the fundamental purpose of being a disciple. It remains to be seen whether this new type of restoration or “missional movement” is a “fad” or whether as Alan Hirsch states “it touches on the very nature of Christianity and is therefore foundational to the message of Jesus.”