David Lipscomb (1831–1917) was an important minister, editor, and educator in the American Restoration Movement and one of the leaders of the theologically conservative faction of that movement, which by 1906 had formalized the division between itself as the Church of Christ and the more liberal faction, which is now generally known as the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

Lipscomb was greatly influenced by conservative Nashville, Tennessee church leader Tolbert Fanning . Fanning was an enforcer of strict orthodoxy with regard to Restoration doctrines, seeing anything not specifically authorized by the New Testament as an unnecessary and hence sinful addition to the "primitive" Christianity of the 1st century, which the movement was by definition dediciated to restoring. In this spirit, Fanning and Lipscomb began in the 1860s a magazine aimed at dissemination of this view throughout the Restoration Movement, the Gospel Adovcate . The Advocate seemed almost invariably to take the conservative side of every issue facing the Restorationists – its stance was irrefuatbly opposed to the use of musical instruments of any type in worship; in its early years, it was likewise totally opposed to Sunday school. (This latter position was later totally reversed to the extent that the Gospel Advocate is today one of the largest single publishers of Sunday School materials used in the Churches of Christ.)

Lipscomb was also a pacifist. He did not believe in the use of violence for any reason. (He was for this reason totally opposed to American football.) Some state that this view was shaped by the Union occupation of Nashville during and after the Civil War, others see in it an echo of the Anabaptist theological tradition which underlay some of the early Restorationist thinking; quite likely it was partially influenced by both sources. Like many of the Anabaptists, Lipscomb also believed that any involvement by a Christian with government beyond the paying of taxes was wrong; as far as he was concerned, faithful Christians had absolutely no business voting in elections or serving on juries. He was likewise opposed to membership by Christians in secret societies such as Freemasonry and similar fraternal organizations, stating that a Christian's true responsibilites were to his God, his church, and his family, not his "brothers" in a lodge which might include non-Christian members. Little of Lipscomb's pacifism survives in Churches of Christ today; the group contained few consciencious objectors even in World War I and almost none in World War II, and it is not recognized as an historical peace church, which it would have been had Lipscomb's views in this area predominated. His views on voting and jury service are likewise nearly extinct within the group, held generally only by a few of the oldest members in rural areas. His views on fraternal organizations at times remain controversial; this issue arises in Churches of Christ only periodically and generally locally, and is somewhat in eclipse due to the lessening of the size and influence of such groups generally, at least in the Upper South and Texas where the Church of Christ is generally centered. (It should probably be noted that Lipscomb's influence over the Churches of Christ was greatest in about a 150- to 300-mile radius of his base in Nashville; while he influenced the group considerably in Texas and elsewhere as well, his influence there was apparently never truly comparable to that which he exercised in the Nashville area.)

Lipscomb for a time was a prosperous farmer in addition to his religious activities, at one time operating his own ferry across the Cumberland River from his farm north of Nashville to the side of the river on which the main part of the city was located. He eventually relocated to an estate south of Nashville. Today this estate is the campus of Lipscomb University. The log house in which he lived on his former farm has been dismantled and reerected adjacent to his later home, which is used by the university for some social occassions. Lipscomb founded the Nashville Bible School in 1891, it was the precursor to the current Lipscomb University, which was not named for him until after his death. As Lipscomb was a product of the predominant Southern culture of the time, this institution was segregated and was for many years solely for white students, necessitating a separate sister institution in North Nashville for blacks which was not totally dismantled and largely merged with the bigger white school until the 1960s.

Lipscomb's Gospel Adovcate developed "official" status within the Churches of Christ more than any other similar publication, of which there were (and are) many. As the Churches of Christ had (and have) no recognized leadership above the congregational level, this was more by consenus and force of personality than anything else. Lipscomb already had become so influential as a young man that he engaged in a running correspondence with Alexander Campbell, one of the early Restorationists who was very influential but quite elderly by the time of Lipscomb's ascendancy. Lipscomb disagreed with Campbell most vehemently on the topic of the American Christian Missionary Society, a cooperative effort to fund and cooridnate foreign missions among various congregations which Campbell accepted and encouraged but Lipscomb totally rejected as a sinful, unscriptural innovation. Lipscomb noted that most of the congregations which supported the Missionary Society were likewise those which were not opposed to the use of instrumental music. He began to attack these as twin evils, and felt that those ministers who were not publicly opposed to these activities should not be allowed to address "sound" congregations (those which were in agreement with him). The triumph of this line of thought within the conservative Restoration congregations was the impetus behind the 1906 decision made in the course of the religious census formerly conducted in years ending in "6" by the United States Bureau of the Census to list the "Church of Christ" and the "Christian Church" as separate bodies, formalizing what had long been the de facto case.

Lipscomb's legacy is still felt within the Church of Christ today, perhaps primarily through the Gospel Adovcate, which is still published and still tends to define mainstream orthodoxy within the body, although to a lesser extent than previously, and through its other publishing operations, notably in regard to Sunday School literature as noted previously. His namesake institution in recent years has been accused of selling out to "liberalism" by many of the more conservative voices in the church, although the term "liberalism" must be taken in a relative sense as both sides in this debate tend still to be accepting of the plenary verbal inspiration of the Bible, a theologically very conservative position, while disagreeing about what it means.