What We Believe #1 – Statement of Faith
3-MINUTE VIDEO LINK: https://fb.watch/fGb4BPRw_h/
A recent Christianity Today article (September 19, 2022) detailed how adults in the U.S. are moving away from orthodox understandings of God and his Word year after year.
For example, the percentage who agree that “the Bible, like all sacred writings, contains helpful accounts of ancient myths but is not literally true” has increased in the past seven years.
In their survey, five of the most common mistaken beliefs held by evangelical Christians are: (1) Jesus isn’t the only way to God. (2) Jesus was created by God. (3) Jesus is not God. (4) The Holy Spirit is not a personal being. (5) Humans aren’t sinful by nature.
What does the Bible actually say about all these?
A simple way for reflecting on Christian beliefs is using a Statement of Faith as a starting point. A Statement of Faith is a short summary of the core beliefs of a denomination, church, or Christian organization.
I used to collect Statements of Faith. Now you access them easily online.
A Statement of Faith will tell you what a Christian group believes and why they believe what they believe. Many Statements of Faith have a lot of similarities.
What I’ve found especially interesting in a list of core beliefs is what is emphasized, what might be unique, and even what is omitted.
Our own Christian & Missionary Alliance is updating its Statement of Faith. It was written in 1963 and the language and terminology itself needs updating. Other aspects need clarification for how we articulate what we believe in our contemporary world.
One particular absence is a reference to God as “Creator”. Of course, we’ve always believed that God is the Creator of all things. But it wasn’t mentioned in our Statement of Faith. And in the newer edition that phrase will now be included.
This doesn’t mean that every detail of every belief needs expanding. Leave that to lengthy theological conversations and books. A summary has its purpose.
Our Statement contains 11 points on what we believe about God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Bible, Humanity, Salvation, Sanctification, Healing, the Church, Eternity, and the Second Coming. Alongside these points are some supporting Scripture texts. It’s all summarized in less than 650 words.
Everyone already has a theology or belief system about God and his Word. But not everyone has a good theology. Let’s be among those “who correctly handles the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).
~ Pastor Dave
