Why do we do that?: Call to Confession

Confession of sin is foreign in this world's graceless culture. If we have no hope of mercy and grace in light of our failures, then we must hide them at all costs. The gospel culture of Christ and his church is entirely different. We are in covenant relationship with the living God not because of our steadfastness, but because of his grace and kindness towards us in Jesus. Therefore, we are free to confess our failure to live with covenant faithfulness in the safety and certainty of the promise that God will meet our confession with forgiveness and grace. So we confess—in things done and things left undone—the ways we fail to live faithfully towards God. And we confess in the peaceful assurance that God will meet us with renewed mercy and grace because of his great covenant love for us his people.

This post is part of a series of posts on the Sojourners Church Sunday morning liturgy. See the whole series here.

Resources For Lent

Observing Lent is not required of Christians, but many believers throughout the history of the church have found the heart preparation of this season helpful leading up to Holy Week and Easter. Below is some background on lent and resources to aid in lenten devotional practices.

What is Lent?

Lent is a season in the church calendar with origins in the third-century. Lent begins with Ash Wednesday and lasts the forty days (excluding Sundays) leading up to Resurrection Sunday. Sundays during Lent are "mini Easters" and are still celebrations of the resurrection.

Why observe Lent?

We often enter Holy Week with little prior heart preparation. Easter becomes a weekend affair, rather than the apex of a period of anticipation. Lent prepares us for both the low of Good Friday and the high of Resurrection Sunday. We might think of Lent as similar to Advent.

Lent is oriented around “baptismal spirituality.” This refers to our union with Christ in his death and resurrection. Because we are united with him in his death, we forsake sin through repentance. And because we are united to him in his resurrection, we embrace holiness as a new way of life.

Our baptismal spirituality has both objective and subjective realities. Objectively, God has united us with Christ and all his blessings are ours. Subjectively, we experience our union with Christ in our daily lives through embodied action.

This may be difficult to understand, but baptism itself provides a good example. In Christian baptism, we are both objectively united with Christ (because God does the work spiritually in us) and we subjectively experience our union with Christ (by going under and rising from real water and hearing audible words spoken). When we baptize, we are acting out a spiritual reality that God has brought about in the spirit of the believer. As Kevin Vanhoozer writes in Hearers & Doers, “Baptism is Christian doctrine taught by embodied symbolic action.”

In a similar way, observing the season of Lent provides us an opportunity to subjectively experience union with Christ as we live out repentance and renewal in light of the objective reality of that union.

How do I observe Lent?

The Ash Wednesday prayer from the Book of Common Prayer captures the tone of Lent: "Create and make in us new and contrite hearts.” Traditionally, practices emphasize Jesus’s teachings in Matthew 6:1–21 with a focus on fasting, prayer, and generosity. Modern religious culture has distilled this practice down to eating fish on Fridays. For a richer observance of Lent, check out the following resources (including lenten devotionals and ideas on different practices to focus on our union with Christ). Keep it simple and trust the Lord to enrich your practices.

Why do we do that?: Prayer of Invocation

After hearing God speak through his Word and call us to worship, we respond with the Prayer of Invocation. In this prayer, we invoke or "call upon" God to work powerfully through his Spirit during the worship service. By responding to the Call to Worship with prayer, we express our longing for God and our deep and humble dependence upon him. In this prayer, we begin the dialogue with God that characterizes Christian worship—he speaks to us through his Word read and preached and we respond to him in prayer and song and sacrament.

This post is part of a series of posts on the Sojourners Church Sunday morning liturgy. See the whole series here.

Why do we do that?: Call to Worship

In Christian worship, our liturgy is gospel-shaped. We rehearse the reality of our relationship with our Creator and Redeemer. And so, we begin with a Call to Worship. Just as our story begins with God speaking, so too does our worship service. In the Call to Worship, God speaks to us through his Word and invites us to respond to him. The Call to Worship invites us to turn from the world and to focus our hearts, minds, and actions on God. It is an invitation to participate in the activity of all creation—to declare the glory of God. And it is an invitation to respond in worship to the reality of the gospel given to us by God in his Son Jesus Christ. The gospel shines forth even in the Call itself. How else could sinful people come before the Holy God and live unless He himself has made a way?

This post is part of a series of posts on the Sojourners Church Sunday morning liturgy. See the whole series here.

Why do we do that?: Sunday Morning Worship

Our Sunday morning service is the pinnacle of our week as we enter into dialogue with the Lord of the universe. On our own, we are separated from Christ, alienated from his people, and strangers to the covenants of promise—without hope and without God. And yet, our great God does not leave us in our hopelessness. He speaks light into our darkness in the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Therefore, we gather weekly to hear God speak the gospel of Jesus to us in his Word and in the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. And we gather to respond in faith as we pray, read, and sing God’s Word together.

This post is part of a series of posts on the Sojourners Church Sunday morning liturgy. See the whole series here.

Proposed Constitution: Voting

Introduction

This post continues our walk through the proposed constitution and bylaws. This series aims to draw attention to specific details in the documents and provide an opportunity for questions and feedback. See the first post in this series for more information.

Today, we are going to address Bylaws Article 2 "Meeting Procedures" and Article 3 Section 2 "Elders." Download the proposed constitution at this link to follow along.

On Meetings & Voting

"Meeting Procedures" does not sound that exciting. And most of this article is pretty standard stuff. We will have an annual meeting once a year and may meet throughout the year through special meetings. We will make sure the congregation is well informed of the time and agenda for the meetings.

The part to pay most attention to is under Section 6 on voting. Voting is new for Sojourners Church. We are an Elder Ruled church, which means: "Under the authority of Jesus Christ and the Word of God, the Council of Elders is the governing authority of this local church. The Council of Elders shall be responsible for the general operation of the affairs of the church in accordance with the constitution and bylaws." (Constitution Article VII). The aim of all of this is to do what Paul calls for over and over in the Pastoral Epistles: "guard the deposit entrusted to you." (1 Tim 6:20).

What is the congregation's role? In Matthew 16, Jesus gives authority to Peter to bind and loose regarding gospel confession: "Who do you say that I am?" (Matt 16:15, 18). In Matthew 18:15–20, Jesus extends that authority to the ekklesia—or church gathered. One way for the congregation to exercise this Christ-given responsibility and authority is through voting on key issues regarding gospel confession.

Therefore, this new constitution introduces the idea of voting on a few such issues: "Church Members shall have the privilege and responsibility to vote on the following matters: the calling of staff pastors; termination of the lead pastor; confirmation of elders; acquiring, selling, or building upon real property; and any amendments to the constitution or bylaws." Not all of these areas are necessary as an implication of Matthew 16 & 18 (buying a church building, for example, is not). But we believe a congregational vote on each of these matters is prudent. Additionally, the Council of Elders may decide other matters are wise to put to a church vote, even though it is not required.

We believe voting on these matters (especially confirming elders and constitution and bylaws) will enable the congregation to exercise appropriate, God-given authority and that the Spirit-led wisdom given to all believers will benefit our church family immensely.

Voting and Elders

The most significant change voting brings is in the process of bringing on new elders (Bylaws Article III Section 2). Previously, new elders were appointed by current elders. Under the new process elders would go through a process of training and public assessment, followed by a confirmation vote by the current Council of Elders and another confirmation vote by the congregation.

We believe this process is wise, therefore this is the process we are using with Thad Rosenberg. Over the last year, Thad began the elder-in-training process. Charlie and I have assessed Thad's fitness for eldership through his participation in elder meetings, personal conversations, written reflection, and other assessments. We've also seen him preach at Sojourners and teach in other contexts.

In the fall, we wrote a letter to the congregation commending him as an official Elder Candidate. The goal of this letter was to put him before you for feedback during his elder-in-training process. Now, near the end of this process, we are confident in commending him to you for eldership at Sojourners. Thad is sound and faithful in his gospel convictions, demonstrates model godliness and humility, loves his family and the church well, and is fit to lead others in following Jesus. We believe Jesus is giving us a gift in Thad and encourage you to recognize that gift with us (Eph 4:11–12).

You will have an opportunity to do just that very soon. On June 6th, after the regular church service, members of Sojourners Church will gather together to vote "yes" or "no" on confirming Thad as an elder at our church. Per the proposed constitution, this will be a written, secret ballot. To be confirmed, a majority "yes" vote will be required. The meeting will not be long—we will vote, count the votes, and announce the results. We encourage all members: plan to attend this important meeting.

Voting and the Constitution

Two weeks after the vote on Thad's eldership, current members will vote on the proposed constitution and bylaws. It seems wise to the leadership team to use the same procedures for amending the proposed constitution to adopt it initially. Therefore, on June 20th, we will vote "yes" or "no" on accepting the proposed constitution and bylaws as the official constitution and bylaws of Sojourners Church.

The procedures for this vote are in Article XI of the constitution. We will require a quorum of 50% of current members present for the vote. Of those voting, 75% "yes" will be required to adopt this new constitution. We hope setting these high standards ensures unity among the congregation as we step into this new chapter in the life of Sojourners Church.

Because of this high standard, it is vitally important that members plan to attend this meeting and ask any questions or express reservations about this process before that weekend. Please reach out to Charlie or Tyler if you would like to talk more about the proposed Constitution and Bylaws or if you have any questions or concerns.

POSTS IN THIS SERIES:

Featured
Proposed Constitution: Voting
Proposed Constitution: Church Discipline & Leaving Membership
Proposed Constitution: Membership
Proposed Constitution: Articles 4–11
Proposed Constitution: Article 3
Proposed Constitution: Preamble & Articles 1–2

Proposed Constitution: Church Discipline & Leaving Membership

Introduction

This post continues our walk through the proposed constitution and bylaws. This series aims to draw attention to specific details in the documents and provide an opportunity for questions and feedback. See the first post in this series for more information.

Today, we are going to address Bylaws Article 1, Sections 3–4 titled "On Church Discipline" and "Reaffirmation & Termination of Membership." Download the proposed constitution at this link to follow along.

Maintenance required

Last time, we examined the theme of church membership from the perspective of entering into membership (qualifications, the process for joining, etc.). The aim of these processes is to encourage meaningful membership at Sojourners Church. Because church membership is vital for all followers of Jesus, we must be clear on what it is and how we enter into membership.

But membership does not remain rich and meaningful on its own. Because we live in a fallen world and lead busy lives with many cares, membership unmaintained will degrade into just another mailing list we belong to. How many of us have memberships in things we don't even remember joining? I paid $20 for a lifetime membership to REI five years ago, and I don't even think about it until I get my annual coupon.

Meaningful church membership requires maintenance. And God has given us a means of maintenance in the scriptures: church discipline.

Church Discipline

Church discipline often gets a bad rap, because we view it only as punitive discipline. But we must understand that church discipline is both proactive and reactive. We know that "believers are directed to not 'continue in sin' and sin in the Christian's life is to be confessed and forsaken." This is true for all of us all the time. To sin, confess our sin, and repent and turn from our sin to Jesus is the normal Christian life. A repentant sinner needs proactive church discipline to help them live with godliness. In that case, church discipline is like the road sign that says "SLOW"—be careful, it's icy here. Proactive church discipline is fellow believers helping one another confess and forsake sin and pursue righteousness. So in that sense, church discipline happens constantly.

But church discipline can also be reactive and reformative. We practice reactive church discipline when professing believers are "in persistent, unrepentant sin...." To sin and refuse to recognize or forsake sin that sin calls for more direct and sometimes forceful church discipline. In those cases, church discipline is like the sign at the edge of the cliff that says "STOP!"—the aim is to save someone from utter disaster. It's this more direct and forceful, reactive church discipline that is addressed in Article 1, Section 3.

Reactive church discipline can be both private and public. Normally private admonition proceeds public admonition (Matt 18: 15–17). It can also be formal or informal. It may take the form of private admonition from the elders or public warnings to the person and the congregation. It may even go as far as removal from church membership—the most drastic form of church discipline.

When we welcome someone into membership, one of the things we are saying about them is: "You seem to be bearing fruit in keeping with repentance. You say you are a Christian, and we agree and support your testimony." Conversely, when we remove someone from membership, we are saying: "You are acting in a way that calls into question your claim to belong to Christ. Your sinful actions and refusal to repent mean we are no longer willing to say that we agree with and support your testimony." This is a hard, but necessary thing to do. Thankfully, we have been given a clear warrant from scripture to do such things (Matthew 18:15–17; 2 Thessalonians 3:14–15; 1 Timothy 5:19– 20; 1 Corinthians 5:4–5).

The goal of church discipline is always restoration. Our tenor in church discipline should follow Paul's admonition in 2 Tim 2:24–26: "And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will." In church discipline, we aim for the holiness of the individual, the instruction in godliness of other Christians, the purity and witness of the church, and ultimately the glory of our Holy God.

It is clear from these aims and from experience that church discipline can go rightly but often goes horribly wrong. Much Spirit-given wisdom is needed to practice church discipline in a God-honoring way. Pray with me that God would give such wisdom to Sojourners Church. And pray that we would all be built up and strengthened in the faith, to be able to flee from sin and pursue grace-given righteousness.

Reaffirmation & Termination of Membership

One of the goals of this constitution process is making our Membership Covenant (discussed last time) both more accessible and more meaningful. To encourage us regularly to reflect on our promises to one another as members, we are going to implement yearly membership reaffirmation. The actual process for reaffirming membership is simple and straightforward. This reminder will be helpful in keeping these things at the front of our minds the rest of the year. We also plan to use our membership covenant regularly in corporate worship to remind one another of our promises.

The proposed constitution also has clear language for ending membership at Sojourners. Just as we want to bring people into membership well, we also want to help them leave well. Frequently, transferring to a different church involves slowly fading away from one church and fading into another. That is neither healthy nor helpful for God's people. We recognize that for a variety of reasons God may call us to one church for a season of life and to a different church at a different season. We want to encourage folks to be all-in to the membership and mission wherever God is planting them. Leaving well and clearly helps that transition.

POSTS IN THIS SERIES:

Featured
Proposed Constitution: Voting
Proposed Constitution: Church Discipline & Leaving Membership
Proposed Constitution: Membership
Proposed Constitution: Articles 4–11
Proposed Constitution: Article 3
Proposed Constitution: Preamble & Articles 1–2

Proposed Constitution: Membership

Introduction

This post continues our walk through the proposed constitution and bylaws. This series aims to draw attention to specific details in the documents and provide an opportunity for questions and feedback. See the first post in this series for more information.

Today, we will discuss church membership. Download the proposed constitution at this link to follow along.

What is church membership?

Article 5 of the constitution describes our understanding of church membership. We believe that all who confess faith in Jesus and seek to follow him are members of his universal church. This includes saints at different times and in different locations. Yet the Bible teaches that Christ's universal church is made visible at specific places and times by local churches. These local churches are made up of believers sharing a common confession of faith in Jesus and a commitment to following him together.

As early churches gathered together "the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved" (Acts 2:47). And as they sought to follow Jesus together, sometimes it was necessary to remove those who forsook Jesus and pursued sin (1 Corinthians 5:2). Therefore, some way of knowing who is brought into the church and who is removed from the church is necessary.

We believe that formal church membership is a good and godly way to do this. Our process for church membership is therefore not directly prescribed in scripture, but we believe it flows as a good and necessary consequence of scripture's teaching (See, for example, the Second London Baptist Confession chapter 1, paragraph 6).

How do we become members at Sojourners Church?

Bylaws Article 1 describes our qualifications and process for church membership. Five qualifications are necessary for church membership. In brief, members must: (1) confess faith in Jesus, be baptized, and be following Jesus, (2) believe our Doctrinal Essentials, (3) submit to the teaching of the elders, (4) abide by the Constitution and Bylaws, and (5) promise to keep the Membership Covenant. Because our church is an elder-ruled church, the Council of Elders is responsible for determining that an individual has met these criteria for membership. It is also up to the elders to establish a process for meeting these criteria (a membership class, for example).

What does it mean to be a member at Sojourners Church?

Section 2 of Bylaws Article 1 describes the duties and privileges of church members. We believe that members are, in a sense, the church. Therefore church membership is always participatory. Members engage in the life of the church. Members also support and encourage one another. Church membership is a commitment to follow Christ together. The Bible is full of so-called "one another" commands and these commands are primarily obeyed in the context of local church membership.

The members of the church are also the primary recipients of the pastoral care of the elders. Elders, as leaders of Christ's church, will be held accountable for the souls of those they care for (Heb. 13:17). Church membership is one way to identify those for whom the elders will give account. This does not mean the elders ignore people at Sojourners who are not members, but this does mean that member care is our priority.

These duties and privileges highlight the distinctive nature of church membership. Membership in a local church is not like membership in other organizations. We do not merely join and pay our annual dues. This is why the body is used as a metaphor for the local church. As members, we are connected like the parts of a body are connected. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12:26: "If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together." All are welcome and invited to attend Sojourners Church. We want everyone to come and hear the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. But church members are distinctly connected and committed to one another.

What is a membership covenant?

One way of expressing our commitments to one another is through a membership covenant. A covenant is a promise and our membership covenant is a promise between our members (which includes our elders, as elders are first and fundamentally church members). Our membership covenant is in Article 4 of the Constitution. This covenant covers four broad promises that characterize the weekly rhythms of the church.

All members at Sojourners promise to do these four things: (1) to the unity of our church, (2) to share the responsibility of our church, (3) to serve the ministry of our church, and (4) to support the testimony of our church. These four promises characterize our life together as we follow Jesus and are meant to be guiding principles for us to walk out our faith together. The membership covenant is intentionally simple so that we can keep these promises in front of us often to be reminded of our commitments to one another. The covenant also begins and ends with the grace of Christ Jesus as we know that—as sinners saved by grace—it is only through divine enabling grace that we can keep these promises.

POSTS IN THIS SERIES:

Featured
Proposed Constitution: Voting
Proposed Constitution: Church Discipline & Leaving Membership
Proposed Constitution: Membership
Proposed Constitution: Articles 4–11
Proposed Constitution: Article 3
Proposed Constitution: Preamble & Articles 1–2

Proposed Constitution: Articles 4–11

Introduction

This post continues our walk through the proposed constitution and bylaws. This series aims to draw attention to specific details in the documents and provide an opportunity for questions and feedback. See the first post in this series for more information.

Today, we will discuss the remainder of the articles in the constitution and outline the plan for discussing the bylaws. Download the proposed constitution at this link to follow along.

So far in our series, we've looked mainly at doctrinal and philosophical components of our constitution. Today, we will begin looking at sections of the constitution focused more on the structure and operation of the church.

Articles 4–7

We are going to skip over Articles 4–7 for now. We will return to cover these topics when we discuss their corresponding section of the bylaws. For now, all that is significant to note is that the constitution spells out our underlying position on these issues (for example, that we are an elder-ruled church in Article 7) whereas the bylaws articulate how we will walk those convictions out in the daily life of the church.

Articles 8–11

Article 8 addresses indemnification. This section is legal language to provide liability protection for individuals (such as staff or elders) when fulfilling their duties as a representative of the church. This language is common in church and other non-profit constitutions.

Article 9 affirms our desire to handle disputes within the church in a God-honoring way. This article is also further fleshed out in the disciple section of the church bylaws.

Article 10 addresses issues related to property owned by the church, including how would we go about purchasing a permanent facility and what happens to our church assets in the event the church splits or closes. We are not anticipating any of these things (God preserve us from division!). This is one example of the way this constitution is written with an eye towards the future. We want this document to serve our church well for years to come and part of that process is providing guidance for situations like these.

Article 11 outlines the process for amending the constitution. Note two things. First, the constitution is not easy to amend. It should generally be a very stable and static document. But it is not infallible, therefore there are provisions for amending our constitution. Second, the one part of the constitution that can never change is Article 2, Section 1: "The foundation of this church is the Lord Jesus Christ, and its final arbiter in all its affairs is the Bible—the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments—which we believe is the Word of Almighty God." We believe the future of Sojourners church is best protected by ensuring Jesus' rule of the church through his Word remains at the center of all we do.

Posts in this series:

Featured
Proposed Constitution: Voting
Proposed Constitution: Church Discipline & Leaving Membership
Proposed Constitution: Membership
Proposed Constitution: Articles 4–11
Proposed Constitution: Article 3
Proposed Constitution: Preamble & Articles 1–2

Proposed Constitution: Article 3

Introduction

This post continues our walk through the proposed constitution and bylaws. This series aims to draw attention to specific details in the documents and provide an opportunity for questions and feedback. See the first post in this series for more information.

Today, we will discuss Article 3: Doctrine. Download the proposed constitution at this link to follow along.

In the last post, we saw that the foundation of Sojourners Church is and always will be Jesus, who rules his church through his word—the Holy Scriptures. As we read and seek to understand the Scriptures, we often summarize our understanding in statements of doctrine. This section of the constitution outlines those statements and how they relate to one another and the life of the church.

Doctrinal Essentials vs. Distinctives

Notice first, sections 1 and 2 distinguish between Doctrinal Essentials and Doctrinal Distinctives. This distinction is important. Doctrinal essentials are the things most clearly taught in scripture and most central to our faith in the gospel. They are the marks of orthodoxy which distinguish between the True Church and false churches. These are things which every Christian (and therefore every member of Sojourners) must believe.

In contrast, Doctrinal Distinctives are issues of doctrine that Christians can disagree on. At Sojourners, we believe our position on these distinctives best represents the teaching of Scripture. Nevertheless, orthodox Christians can disagree with our position. For example, many who hold to our understanding of Regeneration (Article 3 - Section 1 - #6), would disagree with our stance on Believer's Baptism (Article 3 - Section 2 - #5), because they believe the Scripture teaches differently concerning Baptism.

Notice as well that all Sojourners Members are expected to hold to the positions in our Doctrinal Essentials. But only elders (as the teachers of the church) are required to hold to our Doctrinal Distinctives. Members may disagree with Doctrinal Distinctives as long as they agree to remain non-divisive and to joyfully submit to the teaching of the elders. Such submission does not require adopting a different doctrinal stance, but it should include a willingness to sit under and trust the teaching of the elders week by week without continually opposing the elders' teaching.

Other Statements of Doctrine

Notice second sections 3 and 4. Section 3 is our statement on Marriage, Gender, and Sexuality. These things are under tremendous pressure in our culture today. At the core of this attack is a desire to suppress the truth of God plain in his creation (Rom 1:18–23). By distorting God's design for marriage, gender, and sexuality, our culture is ultimately rejecting God. Because these issues are so pressing, churches must take a clear biblical stand. Therefore, we have included this statement to make our position on the Bible's teaching clear.

Section 4 refers to the Elder Affirmation of Faith. This is the fullest expression of the doctrine of Sojourners Church. For our Elder Affirmation of Faith, we have adopted the Bethlehem College and Seminary Affirmation of Faith. This affirmation faithfully summarizes our understanding of what the Bible teaches. Members are not required to agree with everything in this statement of faith, but elders at Sojourners will teach according to the standards of doctrine found there. We encourage you to read the statement of faith in its entirety by accessing it here.

Posts in this series:

Featured
Proposed Constitution: Voting
Proposed Constitution: Church Discipline & Leaving Membership
Proposed Constitution: Membership
Proposed Constitution: Articles 4–11
Proposed Constitution: Article 3
Proposed Constitution: Preamble & Articles 1–2

Proposed Constitution: Preamble & Articles 1–2

Introduction

Last fall, the elders at Sojourners church introduced a proposal for a new church constitution. We asked members at Sojourners to consider the new constitution carefully and we planned to discuss it together during the Sunday School hour. Then, as Covid numbers rose, it seemed prudent to us to postpone our discussions.

Recently, the leadership team met to discuss the best way to move forward with the proposal. We decided highlighting different aspects of the constitution through short posts and videos would be a good strategy. Therefore, that is our plan over the next several months, starting with this post. Please consider these things carefully and prayerfully and ask any questions you may have along the way.

First up for discussion are the Preamble and Articles 1–2. Download the proposed constitution at this link to follow along.

Preamble & Articles 1-2

The first thing I want to draw your attention to is this statement in the Preamble: "[we] have recognized the need to reconstitute ourselves to more closely conform to [God's] will for the Church in this age and prepare ourselves for greater efforts in His name..." This captures our intent with this constitution. We are not starting over, nor denying the efforts and effectiveness of what has come before. Rather, we believe this constitution will help us conform and stay conformed to what scripture calls for the church to be like. Many of the things in this constitution are things we are already doing. We believe it is time to codify those things, especially as a foundation for future ministry.

The second thing I want to draw your attention to is Article II. Article II describes the foundation, purpose, and chief priority of the church. It is staking our claim that as the bride of Christ, we wholly belong to him and are about his work. Our foundation is and always will be Christ, who rules his church through his word, the scriptures. Our purpose as a church, just as individuals, is to glorify Jesus. And we accomplish this aim by making our chief priority to be and make eternally joyful disciples of Christ. Everything we aim to be and do as a church revolves around these things. They are therefore a summary of what we believe it means to be a church. The rest of the constitution explains how we believe God is leading us to keep Christ as our foundation, fulfill our purpose, and walk out our chief priority.

Next week, we will examine the foundation itself in Article III: Doctrine.

Posts in this series:

Featured
Proposed Constitution: Voting
Proposed Constitution: Church Discipline & Leaving Membership
Proposed Constitution: Membership
Proposed Constitution: Articles 4–11
Proposed Constitution: Article 3
Proposed Constitution: Preamble & Articles 1–2

The Benefits of Learning a Catechism: Catechisms promote Christian Culture

This week brings us to the third benefit of catechisms: catechisms promote Christian culture. Christian culture has gotten a bad rap in the news lately—often for good reason. Our country will have a hard time forgetting mobs waving signs with the name of Jesus as they illegally entered the capitol building.

Yet when I say Christian culture, I am not meaning a kind of Cultural Christianity. We are not aiming for either the anti-Christian Cultural Christianity expressed in much of the capitol riots or the often benign Cultural Christianity expressed in Christian music and Christian kitsch and Christian camps. What we are after is something much different. The kind of culture catechisms promote is the distinctly Christian culture expressed in the local church. Let me explain.

In the constitution proposed by the Sojourners Elders, we talk about the local church this way: "[Local churches] are marked by believers gathered together in covenant with God and one another and united by a personal and common confession of faith in Jesus Christ." Many churches today place a massive emphasis on personal and almost no emphasis on common confession. This emphasis on personal confession means all it takes to be "Christian" is some kind of general affirmation: "I believe in Jesus". Without a robust common confession in the church, “I believe in Jesus” often means very different things depending on the person. To believe in Jesus becomes defined by the individual. Catechisms can provide a helpful corrective.

In learning catechisms, we learn the contours of the faith we together confess. Take question #34 of the New City Catechism, for example: "Q: Since we are redeemed by grace alone, through Christ alone, must we still do good works and obey God’s Word?" Ask many who profess a personal relationship with Jesus and you'll get a vast array of answers, some more biblical than others. The question of the relationship between our faith and works is sometimes confusing to believers.

But the Bible is clear, and therefore so is any catechism based on the Bible: "A: Yes, because Christ, having redeemed us by his blood, also renews us by his Spirit; so that our lives may show love and gratitude to God; so that we may be assured of our faith by the fruits; and so that by our godly behavior others may be won to Christ." In other words, Christians saved by grace through faith still pursue godliness (1) to show our love and gratitude to God, (2) to strengthen our own assurance of salvation, and (3) as an evangelical witness to unbelievers. We saw this clearly taught in Titus: grace works. Any congregation who together holds this confession will be shaped by it to display a distinctly Christ-shaped culture.

As we go through these questions, we are syncing up our diverse understandings and readings of the scriptures with a common confession that we all can share. We are learning the grammar of our faith. This common confession acts as a plumb line for the culture of the church. In this way, catechisms promote the unity of the local church and unite us with the church universal in common confession.

Catechesis doesn't just unite, however; it also divides. The distinctly Christian culture of the church exists in local expressions amid the anti-Christ culture of the world. Our confession of the core doctrines taught in God's word will bring us into conflict with a culture that has rejected the witness of God's word.

For example, this weekend, we will be studying the first question and answer: "Q: What is our only hope in life and death? A: That we are not our own but belong, body and soul, both in life and death, to God and to our Savior Jesus Christ."

In America, the news that you are not your own but belong to someone else is anathema. When we gather and repeat these words together, we are standing in counter-cultural witness to the word of God and dividing ourselves from the world and the world from us. When we scatter and live out these words, we are embodying true reality—but a reality which a world blinded by Satan cannot see and does not want to see.

Jesus called us to be "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." (1 Peter 2:9). As a holy nation, we have a distinct culture. And as part of a holy nation, local churches function as kingdom outposts—testifying through our culture to the reality and coming return of the King. Catechisms are one tool to help us do this. So let's gather this weekend and study the catechism together in eager anticipation of Christ working in us through his Spirit to build us into his people—people who proclaim his excellencies through a distinctly Christian culture.

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The Benefits of Learning a Catechism: Catechisms promote evangelism and discipleship

"Why did Jesus have to be a human?" Has anyone ever asked you a tough question like that? How did you respond? Both Not-Yet-Christians exploring the faith and baby Christians learning the faith ask questions like this. Even our own children ask penetrating questions about the nature of Jesus and the gospel we confess.

Sometimes, we avoid talking about our faith because we don't have the words to describe it. Even if we affirm Jesus was both God and man—both divine and human—we still struggle to answer some of the "why" questions like the one above. We think to ourselves: "I've got to study that more" or "I'll have to ask the pastor about that one" (which really leaves you in deep water when you ARE the pastor!). But so often we never do and we miss a prime gospel opportunity for evangelism or discipleship.

This brings us to the second benefit of Catechisms: Catechisms promote evangelism and discipleship by summarizing the promises and commands of scripture concisely and memorably.

Take the question above for example. Say you were explaining Jesus to a Not-Yet-Christian. You read John 1:14: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us...."and then you try to explain that the Word is Jesus and Jesus became flesh (i.e. human) in the incarnation (what we celebrate at Christmas). "Why" is a perfectly natural question. Imagine if you had this in your pocket as an answer: Jesus became truly human so that "in human nature he might on our behalf perfectly obey the whole law and suffer the punishment for human sin; and also that he might sympathize with our weaknesses." (New City Catechism Question 22.)

Sure, it would take some explaining to help a Not-Yet-Christian understand what you are saying. But the key is, it would give you a solid starting point. Having such jumping-off points in the back pocket of our brain increases our confidence to engage those who don't know Christ with the precious truths of the gospel. Just think about all the good discussion you could have with someone who doesn't know Jesus about Jesus' ability to "sympathize with our weaknesses". You get the point.

The same benefits apply for discipleship. For parents longing to disciple their children in the gospel, the catechism provides a firm foundation of truth. Will children understand everything in the catechism? No. But it will give them language to answer life's questions from a gospel perspective. When they're faced with questions like "Where did all this come from?" instead of only hearing the answers of a god-less naturalistic worldview (it all came from a big bang followed by billions of years of evolution), they will hear in their head and say with their mouths: "God is the creator and sustainer of everyone and everything....He created all things by his powerful Word, and all his creation was very good; everything flourished under his loving rule." (New City Catechism Questions 2 & 5).

As children grow and as Not-Yet-Christians become baby Christians, Catechisms provide starting points (a syllabus if you will) for deeper study of truth. They begin from the truth ("God is the creator and sustainer of everyone and everything.") and ask "Where is that in the Bible?". And so begins a lifetime of diving into the rich truths of scripture and feasting on the Words of life. Catechisms done well should lead to a lifetime of love for the basis of the catechism—the Word of God.

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The Benefits of Learning a Catechism: Catechisms promote sound doctrine

Last week, I introduced the idea of Catechism Sundays. Beginning this January, we will start a new pattern of preaching through the New City Catechism on the last Sunday of every month. In the next three weeks, I will write about some of the benefits of learning a catechism. Let these benefits stir you to take full advantage of this helpful discipleship and devotional tool.

Benefit #1: Catechisms promote sound doctrine

The first benefit I want to discuss is that catechisms promote sound doctrine. As we've studied the Letters to Timothy and Titus, we've seen the importance of sound doctrine again and again. Elders are to instruct the church in sound doctrine because sound doctrine accords with godliness and holds forth the promise of eternal life in Christ Jesus (Titus 1:9; 2:11). We do this by opening and explaining scripture.

In one sense, scripture is straightforward. Take John 3:16 for example. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believed in him should not perish but have eternal life." This verse is a favorite of many for good reason. In this verse, we see the promise of the gospel in simple terms. But in order to understand and explain what John wrote, we must answer a few questions such as: (1) Who is God?, (2) Who is the Son?, (3) What does it mean to "believe in him"?, (4) Why are we perishing?, and (5) What is eternal life?

Here we see that even the most basic doctrines exist in a web of doctrinal complexity. This is not over-complicating scripture; this is just acknowledging that God gave us not verses, but chapters and books and whole testaments. One way to answer the question "Who is God?" is to read the entire Bible. Another way to answer that question is to summarize the teaching of the whole Bible on that question—that's what the catechism does.

According to the New City Catechism, "God is the creator and sustainer of everyone and everything. He is eternal, infinite, and unchangable in his power and perfection, goodness and glory, wisdom, justice, and truth. Nothing happens except through him and by his will." This means that the God who loves the world also created and sustains the world—and that affects how we understand his love for the world and the sending of his Son. In this way, the catechism gives context to the sound doctrine we teach from the scriptures.

Obviously the catechism's description of God is not exhaustive (he is infinite after all!). But it provides a starting point to act as guard rails, so to speak, for our reading, interpretation, preaching, and hearing of scripture. In this way, a sound catechism faithful to the teaching of scripture will promote sound doctrine within the church, giving us a solid foundation on which to read and understand the Bible.

Next week, we'll expand on this idea as we think about the way catechisms promote evangelism and discipleship.

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Introducing Catechism Sundays

Starting in January, we will begin a new pattern in the preaching at Sojourners. On the last Sunday of every month, we will preach a question and answer from the New City Catechism.

What is a catechism?

Catechism comes from a Greek word for teaching. At the beginning of his gospel, Luke says to Theophilus that he is writing "that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught (katechethes)." Likewise in Acts 18:25, "Apollos had been instructed (katechemenos) in the way of the Lord." Both Theophilus and Apollos were catechized in a summary of doctrine ("the things you have been taught" and "the way of the Lord"). This is what catechesis is: systematic religious instruction in "the way of the Lord."

Throughout church history, local churches have summarized the teachings of scripture in statements of faith (or confessions). These confessions were then taught to the congregation. Catechisms put the confessions into question and answer format. This made it easier for God's people to learn doctrine and to see how it all fits together.

Are catechisms biblical?

Sometimes, people wonder if catechisms are biblical. After all, shouldn't we only teach the Bible? However, catechisms have strong biblical precedent. We've seen in Paul's letters to Timothy and Titus the call to guard the good deposit. Paul calls Timothy to charge false teachers not to teach a different doctrine (1 Tim 1:3), to guard the deposit entrusted to him (1 Tim 6:20), and to follow the pattern of the sound words he's heard (2 Tim 1:13). And from its earliest days, the church has devoted itself to the apostles' teaching (Acts 2:42).

These passages do not refer only to the written text of scripture. Rather, the "pattern of the sound words" means a summary of the teachings of the apostles consistent with the teachings of Jesus and the Old Testament. To teach "the whole counsel of God" then, means to continue to teach in this pattern (Acts 20:27). Catechesis (teaching a catechism) is one way to continue this pattern.

Why the New City Catechism?

Historically, catechisms served three purposes in the church: (1) to comprehensively summarize the gospel, (2) to form the church into a distinct, counter-cultural, Christ-like identity, and (3) to address and refute particular errors threatening the church. These aims mean that catechisms are both timeless (because the gospel is unchanging) and exist in a particular historical context (because cultures and errors change over time). Since catechisms are timeless, the core content remains the same. But since catechisms exist in a historical context, new catechisms can be written to place historic truths in contemporary context.

We considered several faithful and comprehensive historic catechisms to study together including An Orthodox Catechism and A Baptist Catechism. These catechisms have served the church well and are beautiful, faithful summaries of scripture's teaching.

However, since we plan to preach through the catechism, we felt these were too long and comprehensive to be helpful. The New City Catechism is shorter and more limited in scope to core doctrines like the Trinity and the plan of redemption. Yet, it is rooted in the rich tradition of historic catechisms. The New City Catechism is based on Calvin's Geneva Catechism, the Westminster Shorter and Larger catechisms, and the Heidelberg Catechism.

Studying the New City Catechism also enables families to use some helpful resources for personal learning. Families can purchase a physical copy of the catechism, use a web browser to study, or download a free smartphone app. The catechism also includes shorter answers for young children to memorize. This accessibility makes the catechism very easy to use for family worship and discipleship.

What can we do to prepare?

Over the next several weeks, we will post more articles discussing the benefits of studying the catechism together. Read those articles and let God stir your heart to long for the fruit that comes from studying his Word and works this way together.

On January 31st, we will consider the first question and answer together:

Q: What is our only hope in life and death?

A: That we are not our own but belong, body and soul, both in life and death, to God and to our Savior Jesus Christ.

To prepare your heart, we encourage you to read and think over this question and answer in the coming weeks. Consider memorizing it. Discuss together what it means to belong to God and why that gives us hope in life and death. Doing this will prepare us to consider this together on the last Sunday of January. If we do this together as a church, we are confident that God will use it to bear much fruit in our faith and in our daily lives.

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