Retreat Leader Guide

INTRODUCTION—Baptism, Call, and Membership

a.    Do you trust in Jesus Christ your Savior, acknowledge him Lord of all and Head of the Church, and through him believe in one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit? 

b.    Do you accept the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be, by the Holy Spirit, the unique and authoritative witness to Jesus Christ in the Church universal, and God’s Word to you? 

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? 

1.     What gifts have you identified in yourself? How have your gifts been nurtured and affirmed by this community? How are you using your gifts for the common good?

2.     What responsibilities do we carry as people and as leaders who have received the salvation of God?

3.     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.

Invite those gathered to say these words from the Book of Common Worship to reaffirm their baptism and their call to leadership.

“In baptism God claims us,

and seals us to show that we belong to God.

God frees us from sin and death,

uniting us with Jesus Christ in his death and resurrection.

By water and the Holy Spirit,

we are made members of the church, the body of Christ,

and joined to Christ’s ministry of love, peace, and justice.”

(Book of Common Worship, Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, p. 408.)