2015 RCF Pastors’ Conference
(The Reformed Congregational Fellowship involves some of our CCCC pastors and others. Co-Moderators of the group are CCCC pastors Paul Wanamaker and Kirk van der Swaagh. The fellowship meets each spring in New England. We are pleased to announce their conference, that others in the CCCC may wish to know about it and participate. — Editor)
What Do You Believe?
How would you answer that question? An easy answer: “I believe what the Bible says.” But it’s not as simple as that, is it? History is witness to many who have cited the Bible as the basis of their creed who go on to prove that the content of their confession could not be countenanced by the word of God.
What do you believe? The apostle Paul would have expected an answer that reflected, “the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me” (2 Timothy 1:13).
What do you believe? How we answer the question will shed light on what we understand to be the substance of “the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).
In reality, every church, every minister, has a creed, whether it’s acknowledged or not. Dr. Carl Trueman, in his recent work, The Creedal Imperative, cites a pastor who from his pulpit, with a Bible held aloft, simply said, “The Bible and the Bible alone is our only creed and our only confession.” As it turns out, this church was characterized by teaching Calvinism, Dispensationalism, and a Plymouth Brethren form of church government. So, in fact, there was a creed and confession… it just wasn’t written down and subject to public examination and assessment!
Instruments that God has graciously provided to sustain the “pattern of sound words,” the once-delivered faith, are the creeds and confessions of the church. Whether it’s the Nicene Creed, Heidelberg Catechism, Westminster Confession, or the Savoy Declaration of Faith, such thoughtful and hard won summations of biblical faith keep us on track. They provide a protective doctrinal fence for the safety of church leadership and the congregation.
So, what do you believe?
The annual Reformed Congregational Fellowship Pastors’ Conferences are born out of the conviction that creeds and confessions are vital to the fundamental health and security of the church. Won’t you join us April 14–16 at the Salvation Army Wonderland Conference Center in Sharon, Massachusetts for the 2015 RCF Pastors’ Conference? We will be engaging chapter 21 of the Savoy, a thought-provoking consideration of the “liberty which Christ has purchased for believers” and the corresponding freedom of the conscience from the doctrines of men.
More details, including registration information, click on this link: www.reformedcongregational.org And God willing, we’ll see you there,
Paul Wanamaker & Kirk van der Swaagh
