The Movement Is Us

This issue of Christian Standard celebrates the 100th anniversary of a meeting that led to the planning of the North American Christian Convention. Within these pages you’ll revisit the history of that great gathering. You’ll explore the doctrinal disagreements from which the NACC emerged. You’ll see how the convention was conceived to preserve and uphold the authority of Scripture. You’ll understand its emphasis on Christian unity grounded in biblical truth. And you’ll be encouraged by the ways the legacy of the NACC continues to shape the future of our Movement.

We need to understand our Movement’s history in order to guide it wisely into the future. But if our focus remains solely on the big picture—on institutions, conventions, and collective identity—we miss something essential. Even as we acknowledge God’s leadership in our history, it’s also true that the power of our Movement lies in its people. The Movement is made of us. The restoration of New Testament Christianity moves forward one faithful disciple at a time.

Scripture gives us a vivid reminder of how much one faithful person can shape the future of God’s people.

A Single Life That Shifted a Nation

As you read the history of Israel in 1 and 2 Kings, you begin to see a pattern. The nation lived—and often suffered—under an ever-changing regime of rulers. Some were wicked from the beginning and remained that way. Others started strong but later gave in to pride, power, or possessions. A few led faithfully and with integrity. In a predictable cycle, the people lived under God’s blessing until an evil king came to power. The king’s corruption often became the nation’s corruption, and judgment followed. Eventually the people repented, cried out for deliverance, and God restored them—until another evil king rose and the cycle began again.

Consistency was rare. Faithfulness was rarer still.

But then came Josiah.

The brief and evil reign of King Amon ended in his assassination, and the crown was passed to his eight-year-old son, Josiah (2 Kings 21:19-26). From the beginning, Josiah “did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and followed completely the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left” (22:2, New International Version). His influence changed the spiritual direction of an entire nation.

From a life of trust, obedience, and integrity, Josiah led the nation of Israel in reform. As a result, “all who were present in Israel [served] the Lord their God. As long as he lived, they did not fail to follow the Lord, the God of their ancestors” (2 Chronicles 34:33).

Josiah was a breath of fresh air among a stifling string of wicked kings—a ruler who started strong and finished well. “Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses” (2 Kings 23:25).

One life. One leader. One heart fully turned toward God. And an entire nation felt the impact.

Our Movement Needs Josiah-Like People Today

The Restoration Movement has been shaped by its principles, its gatherings, and its shared commitments. But it has also been shaped—quietly, steadily, profoundly—by individuals whose faithfulness strengthened the whole.

Our Movement will not be carried forward merely by anniversaries, conventions, or historical milestones. It will be carried forward by faithful disciples who choose to live with Josiah-like integrity in their own spheres of influence.

By ministers who preach Scripture with conviction. By elders who shepherd with humility. By volunteers who serve with joy. By parents who disciple their children. By students who pursue holiness. By everyday believers who choose repentance, recommitment, and reform in their own lives.

Movements falter when people drift. Movements are strengthened when people are faithful.

Josiah didn’t wait for the nation to change before he acted. The nation changed because he acted.

The same holds true today. The future of our Movement will be shaped by the choices of its people—by you, by me, by every reader of Christian Standard who chooses to follow the Lord “not turning aside to the right or to the left.”

As we celebrate the legacy of the NACC and reflect on the history of our Movement, let’s remember this: the Movement is made of us. Its future will be determined, under God, by the faithfulness of each one of us who belongs to it.

Let’s be people who start strong and finish well. Let’s be people who turn to the Lord with all our heart, soul, and strength.

Our Movement needs people like Josiah. By God’s grace, we can be those people.

Author: Shawn McMullen

Shawn McMullen serves as Editor of Christian Standard.