Movement Divison | The Music War

Additional issues associated with Restoration Movement division:
Musical Instruments, Missionary Societies, Organizations, and Theological Liberalism.

Instrumental Music Division
After the Civil War, the issue of musical instruments became a symbol of the tensions between the Northern and Southern churches.

1849​ – Dr. Lewis L. Pinkerton put a melodian (pump organ) in his church at Midway, Kentucky
Caused little concern.

1889​ – Sand Creek “Address and Declaration”
Daniel Sommer led a small group to break from the instrumental churches
Most became the “non-institutional” Churches of Christ.

1906​ – David Lipscomb requested a separate listing for “Churches of Christ” in the United States Religious Census – This formalized the separation between the instrumental and non-instrumental churches.