• A Powerful Identity: Wellspring teaches that it represents God’s faithful “remnant” - a small group preserving the true gospel while most churches have drifted from biblical truth.

• A Common Religious Pattern: Many religious movements throughout history have interpreted biblical “remnant” passages as referring to their own community as the final faithful believers.

• A Question Worth Examining: Scripture describes God preserving believers across the whole body of Christ, raising the question of whether the biblical “remnant” can be limited to one modern church.​​​​

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The Remnant in the Teaching of Wellspring

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One of the most important themes in the teaching of Wellspring’s founder, Norman James, was the concept of “the remnant.” This teaching helped shape how members understood their identity and their relationship to other churches.

 

At Wellspring, this idea is reinforced structurally: elders are required to produce a written doctrinal paper tracing Wellspring Church back through biblical history to the Old Testament remnant, arguing that God restored key truths in successive periods until Wellspring emerged as the fully restored expression of the Christian church in the present time.

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Within this framework, the church is not simply another congregation among many. It is understood as the only place where essential truths have been restored and preserved, through the teachings of Norman James.​

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This approach to church history is often described as "restorationist". It assumes that essential truths or practices of the early church were lost over time and had to be progressively restored through later movements until a final restored church emerged. In this respect, it differs from many Protestant traditions, which believed their call primarily as reformation of the church according to Scripture rather than restoration of truths presumed to have disappeared entirely.

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Norman James taught that Wellspring represents the faithful remnant of the church in the present age - a small group within the larger Christian world who alone are truly in the kingdom of God through his distinctive 3-step gospel. In this framework, many professing believers outside of Wellspring were not simply seen as incomplete or lacking light, but as outside the kingdom itself, and therefore not part of the true remnant.

 

Yet the New Testament never describes the church in these terms. Scripture does not identify a special remnant movement within Christianity that uniquely preserves restored doctrine or alone constitutes those who are in the kingdom.

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When the New Testament speaks of a “remnant,” it is referring to something different. In Romans 11:5, Paul describes a remnant of Jewish believers who trusted in Christ within the larger nation of Israel. The remnant in this passage is not a separate organization or restored sect, but simply those within Israel who believed the gospel while many others did not.

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By contrast, the church is described as one body made up of many members who share the same Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:12–13). All who belong to Christ are part of that body. The people of God are therefore not confined to Norman James, Wellspring Church, or any other movement claiming restored status, but are found wherever believers are united to Christ by faith.

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How the Remnant Idea Shaped Identity at Wellspring

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Believing that the church represents God’s faithful remnant can create a powerful sense of purpose and unity. Members may feel that they are part of something spiritually significant - a community chosen to preserve truth during a time when much of the religious world has drifted away from God’s intentions.

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At the same time, this belief can shape how members view both other churches and their own community. If a group sees itself as the remnant, then other churches may be viewed as sincere but incomplete, or as having lost important elements of the faith.

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The group itself becomes the place where the full truth is believed to be preserved.

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This can make loyalty to the church feel extremely important. Questioning the group’s teachings or leadership may begin to feel like questioning God’s work itself.

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For many former members, this framework helps explain why leaving the church could feel so serious or frightening. It was not simply a matter of changing congregations, but of stepping away from a community believed to be uniquely preserving the truth.

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Biblical Passages Commonly Used to Support Remnant Teachings

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Groups that emphasize the idea of a faithful remnant often rely on a small number of biblical passages that speak about God preserving a faithful people during times of spiritual decline.

 

Romans 11:5:  “So too, at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.”

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In this passage, the apostle Paul is speaking about Jewish believers who accepted Christ while many others did not. Paul’s point is that God has not rejected His people; a remnant remains because of God’s grace.

 

Isaiah 10:20–22  "In that day the remnant of Israel… will truly rely on the Lord.”

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The prophet Isaiah uses the language of a remnant to describe those within Israel who remained faithful to God during times of national judgment and crisis.

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In historic Christian teaching, these passages are understood as describing God’s faithfulness in preserving believers, first within Israel and ultimately across the broader people of God. They are not usually interpreted as identifying a particular modern congregation as the exclusive remnant.

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A third verse Norman James used to support the idea that Wellspring Church represented “the remnant” was Revelation 12:5: “She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne.”

 

In historic Christian interpretation, this figure is usually understood to refer to Jesus Christ. Norman James interpreted the passage differently, teaching that the “male child” represented a restored remnant church and applying the passage to his own church. Interpretations like this occasionally appear in restorationist movements but are not common within historic Christian teaching.

 

 

The Remnant Teaching in Other Restorationist Movements

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The idea that a particular group represents God’s faithful remnant is not unique to Wellspring. Many restorationist movements throughout history have used similar language to describe their identity. In these movements, the early church is viewed as having possessed the full truth of the gospel, which was gradually lost or corrupted over time.

 

For example, the Seventh-day Adventist Church teaches that a faithful “remnant church” exists in the last days that preserves important biblical truths, particularly regarding God’s commandments and the Sabbath.

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Although Oneness Pentecostal groups rarely say “remnant” the way Adventists do, they strongly use the idea of “apostolic restoration”. Many Oneness groups describe themselves as restoring the original apostolic message lost by most of Christianity.

 

For example, Oneness denominations such as the United Pentecostal Church International, the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, and the Assemblies of the Lord Jesus Christ all emphasize what they call the “Apostolic message,” and frequently describe their movement as a restoration of the New Testament church.​

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Other restorationist movements have expressed similar ideas in different ways. Groups such as Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and certain branches of the Plymouth Brethren movement teach that God has restored truth through their movement in a time when the broader religious world had drifted from the original faith.

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These examples show that the language of a faithful remnant and restored teaching has appeared in many different religious movements. The biblical theme of a small group remaining faithful during times of spiritual decline can easily be interpreted as applying to a particular modern community.

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The Remnant in Latter Rain Teaching

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The teachings associated with the Latter Rain revival also shaped a number of later independent ministries that emphasized restoration and end-time “remnant” identity. Leaders in this stream often taught that God was restoring the ministries and authority of the New Testament church in the last days, sometimes including apostles, prophets, and a mature company of believers who would bring the church to its final form.

 

For example, figures such as George Warnock, whose book The Feast of Tabernacles became highly influential, taught that a victorious end-time company of believers would emerge as the culmination of God’s restoration of the church.

 

Later charismatic leaders influenced by Latter Rain ideas, such as Bill Britton and Sam Fife, also emphasized the emergence of a purified or mature remnant of believers who would carry the restored authority of the church in the last days.

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In Latter Rain teaching, the idea of a faithful “remnant” was closely connected to the doctrine sometimes called the “Manifest Sons of God.” This teaching held that, before the return of Christ, God would bring a mature company of believers to spiritual maturity and authority, restoring the ministries and power of the early church.

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In practice, this framework often led groups influenced by Latter Rain teaching to see themselves not simply as another Christian fellowship, but as the emerging company of believers through whom God was restoring the church in its final stage. The belief that God had restored lost truths in stages often led to strong remnant identity and centralized authority around leaders who were seen as carrying the restored message.​​

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How the Remnant Idea Reinforces Separation

 

When a church believes it represents God’s faithful remnant, that belief often shapes how members relate to people outside the group - including former members.

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If a community believes it has recovered or preserved essential truths that other churches have lost, then protecting that truth becomes extremely important. Maintaining unity within the group may be seen as necessary to preserve the integrity of the remnant.

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In this context, practices such as withdrawing fellowship from former members can sometimes be justified as a way of protecting the spiritual purity of the community. Members may feel that maintaining distance from those who leave is part of preserving the truth that God has entrusted to the remnant.​

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The New Testament, however, consistently describes the church as the worldwide body of Christ made up of believers from many different places and communities. Believers are united through faith in Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit, not through membership in a particular organization (Ephesians 4:4–6; 1 Corinthians 12:12–13).

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No passage of Scripture identifies a single modern congregation as the exclusive remnant of God’s people.

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Why the Remnant Teaching Feels So Compelling

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The idea that a small group of believers represents God’s faithful remnant can be deeply compelling. It offers a powerful explanation for why a church may be small, misunderstood, or different from other Christian communities.

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For many people, the remnant teaching provides a strong sense of purpose. Members may feel that they are part of a community chosen to preserve truth during a time when much of the religious world has drifted away.

 

The concept also resonates with familiar biblical themes. Scripture often describes faithful individuals standing apart from the majority - prophets who spoke truth in difficult times, or believers who remained loyal to God while others turned away.

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At the same time, the idea of a remnant can make it difficult to evaluate a community objectively. If members believe they belong to the small group that has preserved the truth while others have compromised, then criticism from outside the group may be interpreted as opposition to God’s work rather than as a reason for reflection.

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Questions Worth Considering

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For those who have been taught that Wellspring represents God’s faithful remnant, it may be helpful to consider a few questions in light of Scripture and the broader Christian tradition.

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If the remnant refers to believers whom God preserves by grace, does the Bible ever identify a single modern congregation as that remnant?

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When the New Testament speaks about unity in the church, it describes believers as being united through “one body… one Spirit… one Lord… one faith” (Ephesians 4:4–6). Does this unity depend on membership in one particular organization, or on faith in Christ Himself?

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If faithful believers exist throughout the worldwide church, is it possible that true Christians may be found in many different congregations and traditions?

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Finally, If the idea of being “the remnant” causes a group to see itself as uniquely faithful while viewing most other believers as compromised, does that teaching risk feeding spiritual pride at the expense of humility, love, and the unity of the body of Christ?​

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These are questions each person must consider carefully while studying Scripture and seeking the truth.