Presbyterian Distinctives (5): Reformed and Reforming
- Rev Norman Cameron

In our journey through our Presbyterian Distinctives we have emphasised a number of things-the importance of our roots. We are an historical denomination going back almost 300 years in Ireland and that solidity is a good thing especially in days such as ours where there is much change and instability and rootlessness amongst our post modern generation.

We are a church within the reformed family and I have sought to emphasise key reformed doctrines such as the sovereignty of God, the supremacy of God’s word, salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, the Biblical theme of covenant which runs through our theology and the idea of the church visible and invisible. It is not just Presbyterians of course that believe these things, but we do emphasise them in our Confession of Faith. A modern Presbyterian church will continue to have these emphases for they are part of our core identity.

Our symbol as a church is the burning bush with the Latin ardens sed virens which means burning yet living. It is the idea of burning for God and yet not being consumed but living and growing. Another motto of the church is that we are to be reformed but reforming and it is really that idea that I want to develop in this last message. We are an historic church and we are rooted in the scriptures written hundreds of years ago – how can we be ancient and yet modern? How can we be grounded in confessions of four centuries ago and yet minister and witness to a generation that has been to the moon, has internet, i-pods, flat screen TV’s and does not know the difference between an epistle and an apostle, between justification and sanctification and further does not care.

Is there a future for Presbyterianism as a denomination which, with other mainline denominations, seems to be continuing a relentless slide of falling numbers and reduced influence in the West? Never mind Free Presbyterian, or Reformed Presbyterian or Evangelical Presbyterian - what does it mean to be a modern Presbyterian today? There is much in our church that is good, but there are also things about our church with which we may have problems and yet we also know that no church is perfect. But we continue to work within the one we are in to make it the best possible under God.

In our modern world we are tempted to jettison a lot of church simply because it is good to change and do things in a modern way – but change for change’s sake is not always good. Traditions can be good. Following the culture and the world because we want to reach the world and culture sounds good but if we are not careful what can happen is that we capitulate to the world and the world’s way of thinking. The church should aim to be relevant and yet not be squeezed into the world’s mould. That is a hard balance and we need to keep working at it.

What I want to do is to leave with you six priorities, marks, emphases – call them what you will – which I think we need to have if we are to be a modern Presbyterian church that will thrive into this century or until Christ returns. There are no guarantees but here is the sort of church that I think we need to be to be faithful to God’s calling. These marks are in no particular order except to say I think that the last one the most important of the six.

1. Modern in our Structures & systems

Alistair McGrath in his book Roots that Refresh says “The creative interplay of the traditional and the modern is a central feature of Reformation spirituality”.

We live in the modern world and we need to take note of our culture and the way it works. We are to be in the world but not of the world – this is a fine balance but we need to note how the world works otherwise we could be guilty of being seen to be so out of date and other worldly that we have no way of communicating with the world we are in.

Thus churches today have sought to use technology in our worship and witness – computers, powerpoint, sound systems and the internet. Modern churches use technology but we must not become slaves to the technology. The technology must always be our servant but in an age which expects a certain amount of excellence and efficiency it is unwise to ignore modern trends in communication, but we must be careful for although much technology is neutral in some cases the medium can be the message and can affect the message and the seriousness of the message.

Another important issue within the idea of modern ways of working is the interesting issue of leadership structures. Many people have raised with me the issue of elders being ordained for life. The benefit of this is that it can provide stability and build up hopefully a deposit of wisdom and that is something our generation needs. On the other side it can lead to not just stability but stagnation as it may not encourage new ideas, freshness and vision. I think this will increasingly be an issue for our denomination and others, esp. as people are living longer. How can we achieve a balance of older wisdom and younger vision – of our old men dreaming dreams and our young men seeing visions (Acts 2:17)? This is a challenge but I think if the Presbyterian denomination is going to thrive into the future it needs to grasp this nettle.

2. An outward focus

When Jesus left this world he said “Go and make disciples”. Over the years the church has turned go into come. Jesus’ ministry was supremely one of incarnation, the word becoming flesh and dwelling among us. His ministry certainly took place in the religious places – synagogue and temple – but was not defined by or confined to these places. His ministry was in the market place, on the beach, in the home and on the street. The disciple’s ministry began in the temple but after a while they found that they were excluded from the temple and had to go out and witness not only in Jerusalem but Judea, Samaria and the rest of the world.

The churches that are thriving today are outward focused, investing in mission, encouraging their people to be equipped to give the reason for the hope that they have and looking for opportunities at work and leisure to reach people and influence people for the kingdom of God. For the average person the world of work is their mission field.

We are a church that gives a sizeable part of its giving to missions, this is great. We are a church that has just employed an Outreach Worker for we see this as one of our priorities. Our money follows our priorities and I believe God will honour this. Long gone are the days when our society considered itself Christian – look at your average street. How many people in your street attend a church on a Sunday? The number is shrinking daily. We can no longer assume that education, politics or state will be sympathetic to the Christian position. The churches that are growing today are talking about how to reach others, how to invite others, how to plant churches in new areas. They are taking risks, thinking imaginatively, stepping out of comfort zones. This is what must increasingly be our priority, mission and evangelism is not an optional extra but one of the core purposes of church.

3. Intentional disciple-making.

Jesus said go and make disciples. A church should be a disciple-making centre. A disciple is many things, a student, a learner, a follower, a servant. Our church has been working on making disciples through the 4 M’s – membership, maturity, ministry and mission. We never stop growing as followers of Jesus Christ, we have never arrived but are always moving on in our understanding of God and of ourselves.

Too many Presbyterians are content to be Christian in name but there is little growth, little action, little change, little service, little impact on lives Monday through Saturday. Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said “when Jesus calls a man he bids him come and die”; die to self, die to the world, die to ambition and put Jesus on the throne. Is there enough evidence to convict us of being followers of Jesus? Is there enough different in our lives to make people sit up and take notice that we have been with Jesus?
A modern Presbyterian church that will grow will be one that takes disciple-making seriously and that is why we encourage you to read your Bibles and other Christian books, to pray, to engage in the spiritual disciplines, to attend courses, to find your gift and use it to serve the body of Christ. This church has been a thriving church for it has taken these things seriously and has raised believers who do not remain as children but who learn how to feed themselves and who develop a relationship with Jesus.

The Reformers believed in the priesthood of all believers and sought to narrow the huge gap that had opened up between the clergy and the laity, which in some churches continues to be wide. Presbyterians tend to be more low church than high church, more concerned about equipping the people to do the work of ministry and resisting the trend for the minister to do all the work of ministry. Today we continue that reformed trend and make no apology for it. We aim to turn our members into ministers. A thriving church is a ministering church, with everyone ministering to each other. Have you ministered recently?

4. Exhibiting the Fruit of the Spirit

If we are to make a distinctive difference in our world then we need to be distinctively different. Jesus said that people would know that we were his disciples by our love for one another, and our love for our enemies. We can never underestimate the importance of bearing the fruit of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control(Gal.5:22-23). The churches that thrive are the ones that show grace in their relationships, are welcoming to the outsider, forgiving to the sinner, open to those who wish to repent and make a fresh start.

This does not mean we ignore sin or treat it as if it is unimportant for it is not. It is an offence to God. But when we treat the sinner as Jesus treats us and offer forgiveness the way Jesus offers it to us it is amazing what can happen. The only thing that the church can offer which the world cannot is grace – amazing grace. The world does not want to forgive it wants to get even, the world does not give grace it tells you that you must earn your way. Salvation is a gift, it is free, it is God’s mercy to the undeserving. This is the best we can offer and the world cannot beat it.

We must always preach grace, live grace, give grace and exhibit the fruit of the Spirit. If nothing else it proves, it shows, that we have the Spirit of God within us. It is a mark of being Christ’s for we exhibit his characteristics.

In the church of the future relationships will be key, especially as we live increasingly in a world which is hungry for relationship and family and community life is breaking down.

5. Authentic worship and prayer

One of the key words today amongst our generation is the word authenticity. People are looking for integrity and there is a suspicion of institutions. Younger people are more reluctant to join clubs, organisations and churches. They hold off at arms length and take time to check them out before committing. But where they see real passion, real engagement they sit up and take notice.

Churches that are doing well are churches where there is a sense of God’s Spirit, His presence and power in the worship. God is the focus and the worship is vital and meaningful, not dull and lifeless. People pray with heart and soul and as if things depended on prayer. In the growing church further east and south we find people are less sophisticated but they have a real love for the Lord and real faith in their prayer lives and God is moving. Our brothers and sisters in Korea and Africa and S America have much to teach us here.

If our church is to thrive then the Holy Spirit must be evident in our lives and our corporate worship; worshippers on fire for God who meet realising that this is the highlight of our week, not an optional extra, but the reason why we exist – to worship the living God and to give thanks to him for his Son.

6. A church that takes the Word of God and Jesus seriously.

I am convinced that the foundational principles of the Reformers are still relevant today – scripture alone, faith alone, Christ alone. But we need a shake down, a purging, an offloading of so much baggage that has gathered around the evangelical church and which is beginning to stifle it; baggage that may be cultural, maybe once was helpful but is actually distracting us from our focus on Jesus. Programmes, para-church organisations and even preachers who should be leading us towards Jesus have sometimes obscured him. We and our precious traditions can get in the way of Jesus just as they did when Jesus walked this earth – religious hypocrisy and dead tradition has always been a problem but it obscures the gospel and neutralises the word of God. In short we have not got a thinking evangelical church any more.

There are two kinds of churches that are growing in our world today – those that are dumbing down and placing entertainment or having their selfish needs met as the most important values and those that are rediscovering doctrine - the bible - and Jesus as the all sufficient one. These are the two ways we can go as modern Presbyterians – we can aim for a middle of the road church that stands for nothing and seeks to offend no-one (which is the way a lot of the mainline denominations are going I fear) or we can go the route of God’s Word, the hard road of a thinking Christianity that engages with God’s word and seeks the will of Jesus Christ for his church. This is a more painful road for it seeks to be different from the world, and from religion. Ironically religion is what killed Jesus and religion is what kills churches –when Jesus is Lord the church is growing and being what God intends it to be.

If our church, our congregation is to thrive we must once again hear the word of God, be humbled by it and follow Jesus where he leads. To be a modern Presbyterian is to follow Jesus who is the same yesterday, today and forever. It is to declare Jesus is Lord, it is to say that he is sufficient in himself. The reformed and reforming church is a Christ centred church which takes God’s word seriously and calls people to repent and believe on the only one who can save us from our sin, lead us into joy and honour the God who made us to be his friends.