There was a sad and gaping hole in my Christian upbringing. I was raised in an evangelical church, several in fact, and none of them were confessional. Catechism? Confessional? Reformed? Covenant? These may be foreign words to you; I know they were to me. These are for catholics! We have statements of faith. We’re protestants! Away with your traditions and extra biblical writings.
I was horribly ignorant! I was raised in the church. That is not good. I hope your experience has been better. Ignorance came not from being raised in the church but it came from not being taught well by the church. The church should do better. The church must do better. I know some churches do really well. I wish all did.
Fast forward 25 years and here I am still a protestant, but a very different sort. An actual protestant with roots and understanding back to the very source of the Reformation and to the Historic Christian Church.
I didn’t know the Reformation had occurred. It wasn’t talked about. Turns out a lot of things weren’t talked about. Maybe I was exceptionally dull and not getting what was being said. I’ll give the churches I grew up in the benefit of the doubt.
I am thankful for my upbringing. The fact that church was a part of it was a blessing, regardless. It is important to have an informed faith. A faith that rests on the history from which it comes. A history which serves to make important distinctions, de-mystifying as they clarify.
One example from my past: it was clear to me – my church was all about the Bible. Bible only! Ok! good with that. Don’t know why, but fine by me. This sound commitment gets de-mystified in history. It gets clarified as one of the 5 Sola statements of the Reformation.
I didn’t get that bit (history) but I was glad to be taught it nonetheless. It would have been great to have had the “why” but that didn’t come up or I wasn’t listening.
This brings me to my point. What if there are others like me who have been raised in the church but have some de-mystifying to do. We can de-mystify together! We can clarify our faith together.
One of the most wonderful tools I learned about, goes a long way in de-mystifying our Christian faith, is the the Westminster Confession of Faith and the larger and shorter Catechism. I discovered it to be so helpful. It answers the questions I had right out of the scripture.
Catechism was one of those words I knew was associated with Catholics. I knew I was not one of them, so no thanks, I don’t need your catechism. Turns out I did need the catechism, just not the Catholic catechism. That should still be avoided, turns out.
Starting today and for a number of weeks to come, I will be making periodic posts from one of the best historic Confessions and Catechisms of the Christian Faith. I’d encourage you to take a look and read them along with me. My posts will be mostly pertaining to the Westminster Larger/Shorter Catechism and there may be an occasional post about the Westminster Confession of Faith. These two are indispensable to de-mystify our Christian faith. I’ll provide some links below for you to access online.
I can already hear some protests from the protestants. We only need the Bible. Keep your confessions and catechisms – Me and Jesus got it handled. I’m 100% in agreement with the Jesus part, it’s the “Me” part that is a concern.
Me, you, we, ain’t got it handled. If you’re willing to listen to a trusted friend, why not listen to a bunch of trusted friends who died 350+ years ago. There are so many friends to your faith that you’ll never talk to but who can talk to you through the things they have left for that very purpose.
It is what is meant in Ephesians 4:11 “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”
Don’t be as dumb as me and think God can only work through the living men of God. Lord help us with some of those living men of God today – if only they could switch places and we could get some of the dead ones back in their sted. God gave all the pastors, teachers, evangelists and prophets and apostles to all the church in all the ages of the church.
That was one of those Aha! moments when I first realized this. The dead ones are fantastic and in many instances much better than the living ones. Not all, but some.
So come with me if you want. Join in my de-mystifying journey through one of the Historic Christian Catechisms.
Try it, you just might like it, like Mikey does!
Westminster Confession of Faith
More resources available at: Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church
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