Essentials and Unity
This Sunday (9/1), we are about to embark on our fall teaching series through the EFCA’s Statement of Faith. As an EFCA church, this is our statement of faith (SOF). So why are we taking the time to do this as a church? I mean, we can all just read the SOF, can’t we? Well, yes, that is true. But, our SOF is so much more than just a document of key or core doctrinal positions. It is a statement of our commitment to unity in Christ and to faithfulness in the gospel. It is a statement that allows us the freedom to major on the majors and give liberty and charity on matters of conscience (secondary issues) and matters of preference (tertiary matters). In that way, when we hold to the essentials, we are able to remain unified in both purpose and fellowship while having differing views on other doctrinal matters. Just think about the powerful witness of that reality in our current cultural moment. People unified around core convictions while living in and giving grace for disputable or matters of preference and perspective. That is a powerful witness to our neighbors and friends. But, to do that, we must know what the essentials are and how they keep us in alignment with the gospel. EFCA President Kevin Kompelien helps us to understand how essentials unify and focus us when he writes,
The Centrality of the Gospel In Doctrine and Life
“I am grateful the EFCA remains committed to the inerrancy and authority of the Scriptures (2 Tim. 3:16-17) and grounded in the gospel of Jesus Christ (Mk 1:14-15). We affirm the centrality of the gospel in doctrine and life (cf. 1 Tim. 4:16), orthodoxy and orthopraxy. In this day, it is important to add a third, orthocardia, a right heart. This is created by the power of the gospel (Rom. 1:16) to transform lives (2 Cor. 3:18), which is manifested in love for God and love for others (Matt. 22:37-39).
We affirm doctrinal truth and purity as foundational to relational unity. Any true experienced unity, created by the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 13:14), is grounded in doctrinal truth, and doctrinal truth is to be manifested in relational unity (Eph. 2:11-22; Eph. 4:1-6). This is not a matter of doctrinal minimalism. If so, many biblical truths would not be included and necessary to affirm in our SOF. The better way to understand our SOF is that it is an essentialist statement, as we focus on the essentials of our faith.
In the EFCA, we take seriously the one new community God creates through his Son by the Spirit. This is experiencing and living out the truth and reality of the work of Christ. This is somewhat the realization, a foretaste of Jesus’ high priestly prayer for oneness (John 17; Eph. 2:14-16; Eph. 4:1-6). There is no need to go to a conference to experience being together in and for the gospel. We are truly together by, with, and for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We experience this reality every Sunday in our churches and throughout the week. We give thanks to God for creating this one new humanity, and we give thanks that by his Spirit we can live out this truth in community, by walking in a manner worthy of the gospel together (Phil. 1:27). This unity in belief and practice as we live life together as the local body of believers is not a unity that is hierarchically governed or forced, but a true fellowship created and sustained by the Holy Spirit. It is a unity centered on the truth of the gospel, even if and when there are differences on secondary and tertiary matters.” [1]
Let us remain unified and focused on the mission of God as a redeemed people, not for our glory, but that Jesus would be known and exalted.
[1] Excerpt from: EFCA. Evangelical Convictions, 2nd Edition (pp. 14-15). Free Church Publications. Kindle Edition.