Introduction
Three miles North on Main Street from where I am writing sits the campus of a well-known Christian college founded within the Restoration (or Stone-Campbell) movement. This movement, led by Barton Stone (of Cane Ridge Revival fame) and the father and son team of Thomas and Alexander Campbell, embodies the anti-confessional and individualistic spirit of the broadly evangelical American church today. They rejected the creeds and doctrinal statements of the church as divisive. Denominational labels were contrary to Scripture, hence the wish to be known simply as “Christians,” or “Disciples of Christ.” Above all, unity was to be desired. (1)
This philosophy of ministry has become prevalent in many churches today, distilled into a common slogan, “No creed but Christ, no book but the Bible.” This mantra, a Christian “Show-Me” mentality, is the prevailing culture in churches around the country, and especially in my neck of the woods, the Ozarks.
How can we bring sound biblical teaching and Reformed theology to an area that so emphatically believes that doctrine divides? I cannot claim to have figured out the solution, and only time will tell how successful my efforts will be. But what follows are some suggestions from my time growing up in Southwest Missouri, and being the pastor of the only confessional, conservative Presbyterian church in town.
Emphasize The Main Things
The first thing we must do is emphasize the main things. Christ and him crucified, of course, is our message. Salvation through the cross is the main thing. Many churches in this area faithfully preach the gospel every Lord’s Day, and for that I am thankful. But without a strong commitment to a confessional heritage, church teaching becomes shallow. Our people will begin to feel they are missing something (because they are). They naturally desire to grow in their faith and learn the whole counsel of God, which we find so clearly articulated in the doctrinal standards of our church. How, then, can we preach and teach the rich truths of the Reformation to our people who have been formed by a culture so adamantly opposed to its confessions? We cannot simply teach doctrine for its own sake but must always tie it back to the main thing: Christ himself.
One example of how we can do this is the biblical emphasis of God’s sovereignty in salvation. From beginning to end, Christ is the Author and Perfector of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). God is the one who not only accomplished the work on the cross, but also works faith in the believer by which he receives Christ in salvation. From this union in Christ, we receive all his benefits, the great biblical doctrines of justification and sanctification, which are nowhere more clearly summarized than in our rich Reformed confessions and catechisms. We can bring clarity to the Reformed faith even while, and primarily by, emphasizing the main thing: salvation in Christ alone.
Similarly, we can recognize the commendable (albeit often misguided) desire to put the Bible above everything else (see the mantra above). It is a good desire to be people of the Word, like the faithful Bereans dutifully searching holy Scripture. We can applaud the desire of our people to love their Bibles, while at the same time encouraging them to love Scripture enough to know it well. Again, our Reformed heritage, with its extensive literature on Covenant Theology, helps demonstrate the unity of Scripture as one grand story of redemption, pointing to, culminating in, and reflecting upon the person and work of Christ.
Another way we can do this is by recognizing and encouraging the desire to be “New Testament Christians,” a popular slogan among believers and churches today. Well and good! So, what did the early church believe? How did they structure their gatherings? Acts 2:42 tells us that “they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (ESV).
When the first century believers gathered for worship, they centered themselves around Word, Sacrament, and Prayer. These means of grace comprise the foundational elements of Christian worship. This was true not only on the day of Pentecost, but throughout the book of Acts we see that church planting and church growth are inseparably connected to the preached Word. If we, then, desire to model our churches after the New Testament example, we will necessarily focus our ministries on God’s means of grace. In other words, Reformed Worship, the means of grace, and the Regulative Principle are not Reformed inventions, but clear articulations of biblical truth.
If It’s Important, Show Me
Having tethered these great biblical doctrines to Christ himself, we can then do the necessary work of applying it to the lives of our people. The doctrine of predestination, of God’s sovereign will to save, is not just biblically true, but provides great comfort to believers, and we should strive to articulate these points of doctrine not simply for the mind but for the heart. That God has predestined sinners unto salvation, before and apart from any work or merit within them, is a glorious reality. Far from being a cold and heartless doctrine, we can demonstrate its importance by preaching the gospel assurance that it brings. If God’s sovereign purposes in salvation are unchanging, then our standing before him is secure. What great news for weak and weary sinners!
Likewise, for many in our pews, covenant theology will be a novel way of reading Scripture. But we must press home the importance of the covenants as God’s chosen way of relating to mankind, before and after the fall. In doing so, we open to them the unity of Scripture, and how every word of it ultimately points to their Savior (Luke 24:27, 44). Many simply do not realize that this biblical hermeneutic is what they are searching for, especially those coming from dispensational backgrounds. Yet, I have heard from several people in our church who feel as if their eyes have been opened to reading their Bible in a new way, simply by preaching Christ in all of Scripture. We must help our people read their Bibles better by demonstrating God’s unending covenant faithfulness in his plan of redemption.
God has also given us great signs and seals of his covenant, and some of the richest growth I have seen in our church has been around the sacraments. With baptism in particular, emphasizing the unified covenant of grace across the Old and New Testaments has helped our people see not simply the validity, but the importance of our practice of infant baptism. We have seen parents bring their previously unbaptized children up for baptism because they have come to understand the covenant promise is extended not only to them but also to their children (Genesis 17:7; Acts 2:39). Others have renewed faith in praying for wayward covenant children, trusting in God’s unending faithfulness.
Our Reformed worship also brings with it many great blessings. When we order our services around God’s Word, we are blessed with the certainty that our worship pleases God, that God is truly meeting with us, and that ultimately Christ himself (not the pastor, elders, or anyone else) is leading his own people in worship. (2) Many who come from concert-style services have found peace in our Reformed worship and helpful guidance in our structured liturgy. Yet, seeing the whole of the service as worship (not simply the singing) is a foreign concept to many and can feel off-putting at first! I have learned to make it a point most Sundays to take one part of the service (the call to worship, the assurance of pardon, etc.) and provide a brief, two-sentence explanation of what it is and why we do it. We cannot assume our visitors, let alone long-time members, already have a full understanding of the elements of our worship. Explaining how these elements are rich blessings for us takes time but helps move the preconception of the Regulative Principle from a stuffy Presbyterian quirk to a cherished, joy-filled biblical truth.
If these things are important, then we also need to find multiple avenues to teach and preach them beyond just the Sunday morning worship service. Simply starting a Sunday evening service provides another opportunity to reinforce what is being taught in the morning service. Sunday school and midweek gatherings should also be intentionally structured to complement the main Lord’s Day services. As pastors, we also must remember that we cannot do this work alone. We need faithful elders to help shepherd our people and be models of Reformed piety and practice. If the leadership is not convinced of biblical, Reformed theology, we can hardly expect our congregation to be!
Many of these Reformed concepts and theological convictions will be unfamiliar, but we should not shy away them. In fact, we should seek to defend them from common misconceptions. Not because they are so important in themselves, but because they help us know and love Christ. Whether they truly see or understand the need for doctrine, our churches want to grow in their knowledge and devotion, moving from spiritual milk to solid food. We must, therefore, teach and preach the whole counsel of God, faithfully summarized in our standards. Each pastor will need to decide how best to do this in his specific context, according to the needs of his people.
In every case, patience is needed while we remember that few of us came to full Reformed convictions quickly. We cannot expect our people to be different. At times it can feel like introducing solid food to a baby whose diet has only been milk. This can be a discouraging process, but solid food is what our people need, so we must not give up while being aware of how much food can be handled at a time without choking. I have not always done this well. But, if we truly believe that our God is sovereign, then he is certainly sovereign over his churches. We must trust that he will do what he promises—that he will build his church. He will cause the increase as we are called to be faithful ministers of the gospel, administering Word and Sacrament, in season and out of season.
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(1) It is a great irony that this unity movement has since itself divided over doctrinal disagreements, with three major strands from this Restoration Movement found in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the Christian Churches, and the Churches of Christ.
(2) I am grateful to Jonty Rhodes for helpfully articulating these blessings in his book Reformed Worship, P&R Publishing, 2023, see pages 63-70.
