I grew up in a branch of evangelicalism that centered on the teachings of one particular pastor who helped start a fellowship of churches, now numbering more than twelve hundred around the world. As the father of these churches, this pastor was highly respected. In fact, to end most theological arguments in our churches, we only needed to appeal to this pastor and his views, which were widely disseminated through his radio program, books, and tape ministry. Most of our churches had simple statements of faith in the back of our bulletins, but on the whole we believed that God had raised up our founding pastor and our fellowship to restore the way the early church worshipped and believed. We were getting back to the basic message of the Bible and didn’t want to fall into the old divisions that creeds and confessions created between churches.
Now that this pastor is dead and the large association of churches he founded is led by more than a thousand other pastors, the foolishness of a noncreedal, nonconfessional approach is bearing the obvious fruit. Infighting has erupted between groups that claim loyalty to the founding pastor, forcing these churches to take sides. Accusations of heresy and betrayal fly easily across the Internet. I guess it’s not so easy to simply interpret and apply the Bible—even among those who were trained and mentored in many cases by the very same man.
A creed or confession is more than a statement of faith. It goes into greater detail on key Christian doctrines, and it functions as a sort of constitution of the church. Rather than one person being responsible for articulating the beliefs of the church, a creed or confession is written by representatives from many churches. Rather than one man expecting people to fall in line with pronouncements he makes on every aspect of doctrine or practice, a creed or confession finds unity on central issues of the faith, while allowing liberty in areas that shouldn’t divide Christians from one another.
Merely having a creed or confession, however, is no guarantee that a church will be free from error or controversy. After all, creeds and confessions are not inspired. Even the best of them were written by mere mortals, and so they must be subject to Scripture. In many circles, though, problems arise when creeds and confessions are ignored or reinterpreted. This happens in all kinds of churches across the theological spectrum, and it has led to even deeper divisions in the body of Christ.
For this issue, we’re borrowing the well-known title of English essayist Dorothy Sayers, “Creed or Chaos?” The choice she first set before the church in 1940 is still relevant to us today. In this issue, we hope you’ll find the resources you need to recognize the value and usefulness of the creeds, confessions, and catechisms of the church.
Eric Landry executive editor
