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Question c - Reformed Faith

W-4.0404 c. Do you sincerely receive and adopt the essential tenets of the Reformed faith as expressed in the confessions of our church as authentic and reliable expositions of what Scripture leads us to believe and do, and will you be instructed and led by those confessions as you lead the people of God?

(Slide 20)

 

REVIEW

What is a confession? “A confession is a public declaration of what a church believes. Individual Christians may and should confess their own personal faith, but a confession of faith is more than a personal affirmation of faith. It is an officially adopted statement of what a community of Christians believe. … Whatever their form, confessions of faith express what a body of Christians believe in common.” “Confessional Nature of the Church Report” Book of Confessions, p. vi.1.     (Slide 21) Review the definition of a confession taken from the Book of Confessions.




2.     Summarize the section “What Is Meant by ‘Essential Tenets?’” from the resource material.

3.     Choose one of the options below for presenting the Essential Tenets

Essential Tenets of the Reformed Faitha.    (Slide 22) One of the foremost teachers on the Essential Tenets was Jack Rogers, Professor of Theology Emeritus at San Francisco Theological Seminary and Moderator of the 213th General Assembly (2001) of the PC(USA). Below is an excerpt from a blog which Rogers wrote in 2008:


Essentials are those doctrines that can be embraced by people of different schools of interpretation. They cannot be the property of only one school of thought. The essentials are the great themes of the Christian, Protestant, and Reformed traditions that bind us together, not the differing interpretations which sometimes have kept us apart.

I believe a helpful metaphor that reflects our Presbyterian understanding of essential tenets is to think of a series of concentric circles. According to our Confessions, Jesus Christ is the center of our faith as the one in whom we meet the triune God. That is the heart of Christianity and unites Christians in faith around the world. For Protestants, the next layer of our core values is a belief in Scripture and justification by grace through faith. The third layer in the circle is made up of the characteristically Reformed concepts of sovereignty, election, covenant, stewardship, sin, and obedience. … (https://www.drjackrogers.com/2008/06/a-quick-guide-to-essential-tenets.html)

b.    Make copies of the section “Some Essential Tenets of the Reformed faith, as Expressed in the Confessions” from the resource material, leaving out The Calling of the Church that will be used during the REFLECT time. Separate each of the six essential tenets and distribute them to your participants. If there are more than six people participating, create six small groups. Ask each individual or small group to read the material and identify one-to-two key points for each tenet. Ask them to reflect on how the particular concept informs and guides them in their role as spiritual leaders. If time allows, ask individuals or groups to share the key points with the larger group.

REFLECT

As we considered our call in the first session, we heard these words: At baptism, we affirm that each person is a gift from God, chosen for salvation and for service, endowed by God with gifts to be used in obedience to Christ and for the building up of the Kingdom. An additional tenet of the Reformed tradition is that we, as members of Christ’s body, have a particular calling in the world and to discern our calling we look to Christ.

    • To what have you been called?
    • Are there particular tasks that you believe God is calling you to carry out to deliver the message of the free grace of God in Jesus Christ?

RESPOND

If you are using the PowerPoint slides, use Slide 23. If you are not using the slides, print copies of the slide for each participant or write the content on a board or flipchart for all to see. Invite those gathered to say these words taken from The Confession Belhar (10.5) as an affirmation of our calling as the Church to witness to the grace of Jesus Christ:

“We believe that God has entrusted the church with the message of reconciliation in and through Jesus Christ; that the church is called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, that the church is called blessed because it is a peacemaker, that the church is witness both by word and by deed to the new heaven and the new earth in which righteousness dwells. …” (Book of Confessions, 10.5)


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