Evangelical and Reformed

There once was a Christian denomination in the United States called the Evangelical and Reformed Church. Its roots were largely German, and it merged with the Congregationalists to form the United Church of Christ in the 1950's. I have no idea whether it was truly evangelical or reformed; but I would suggest that those are two characteristics that must again be evident in the Presbyterian Church if we are to have a lively, relevant, biblically sound, and theologically accurate witness in the world today. Of course, we need to be evangelical. We need to be going out into the world making disciples, teaching the commands of Christ, bringing people to faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, the only way of salvation. We need to realize that without Jesus, men and women are eternally lost. In other words, we need to be evangelical in the traditional sense of the word. We must recapture the true meaning and the true passion of evangelical Christianity. We also, however, need to be reformed. I do not simply mean that we need to be always open to change, to reforming our institutions in the light of Scripture, though we certainly must be willing to submit to Scripture as we consider our practices and our ideas. When I say that we need to be reformed, however, I mean that we need again to emphasize the doctrines of the reformed faith, as expressed in those great confessional documents of the Protestant Reformation. If we are Presbyterian, we need to teach and expound again the doctrines of the Westminster Confession and Larger and Shorter Catechism. Let's become familiar with the confessions of Dort, the Belgic Confession, and the other great statements which serve as the backbone of the Presbyterian and reformed faith. And while we're at it, we would do well to learn a bit about how these documents came into being as other teachings were put forth, studied, and then prayerfully rejected by the newly-emerging Protestant churches. By so doing, our evangelism will reflect our commitment to the sovereignty of God in all things. We will reaffirm those Calvinist convictions that made for generations of strong Christians and gave rise to the greatest nation in the world. But more than anything, we will be affirming our reformed heritage, educating our children and future generations of new believers, and refueling our passion to spread the truth of Christ and the good news of salvation by grace alone through faithalone. Until we as Presbyterians become both reformed and evangelical, we will continue to see losses in membership and influence. I would also suggest to those who read this blog who are not Presbyterian that you should see if your own denomination or congregation is giving proper attention to its evangelical mission and its foundational beliefs.