5 Suggestions for Your Church’s Statement of Faith
A church exists according to its joint confession and covenant commitment. This will look different for every church, no doubt. A simple but vital tool for expressing church unity is the Statement of Faith.
A Statement of Faith is a church’s document of theological unity.
In this article, I offer five suggestions for writing a Statement of Faith.
1. BE BROAD, BUT ALSO DEEP.
While individuals may write Statements of Faith, we typically encounter creeds as part of a communal effort. Statements of Faith typically exist to solidify a set of theological affirmations for an institution or among a group of people. In this way, aiming broadly allows for greater unity over unnecessary division.
For example, the BFM2000 states the biblical prescription for elders/pastors to be male but is silent on deacons. Some churches will choose to spell out a stance on deacon gender more specifically.
Additionally, each organization may have reasons for broadening or narrowing its theological scope in a Statement of Faith. The Evangelical Theological Society seeks to foster a culture of academic curiosity—thinking outside the box to see past traditional blind spots—so their Statement of Faith is two lines: “1) As God’s Word, the Bible is inerrant and 2) God is the uncreated Father, Son, and Spirit between whom there is perfect equality and union.” This broadness works for a theological society. But a church will want to close the wagons a little more tightly.
As a guide, churches might consider aiming for the inner rings of “theological triage.” A concept that Al Mohler popularized, the theological triage helps Christians weigh various doctrines according to significance. As typically taught, first-order issues are essentials of the gospel (e.g., the nature of Christ, human sinfulness, salvation by atonement, etc.). Second-order issues speak to matters on which Christians should agree if they want to covenant together within a local church—views on ordinances and offices, to name a few. Finally, the third tier holds a grab bag of everything else. Matters in the third tier have theological significance but should not be areas on which Christians should break fellowship.
Regarding Statements of Faith, in particular, we may want to focus on matters of salvation and covenant commitment and avoid the third tier and beyond. Again, these are matters of loving exhortation within the church, not mere advisement.
It’s worth noting that each church can determine what they understand should fit into each tier. For some churches, planting their flag somewhere along the Calvinism-Arminianism spectrum may be second-tier worthy—so be it. Others will opt against requiring their church members to adopt a particular stance on the doctrines of grace but will aim for relative uniformity among its leadership.
Practically, I’ve seen some churches split a Statement of Faith into two sections—one section for beliefs and another for convictions.
2. BE SUCCINCT BUT ALSO SUFFICIENT.
The primary goal of a Statement of Faith is to summarize. Theological summaries have at least two key features.
First, writers should be wary of over-defending every assertion within a Statement of Faith. Yes, say what is necessary for your statement to make logical sense, and feel free to write with anticipated rebuttal in mind. Even still, the principle holds: less is usually more.
For example, the Orthodox Creed of 1678 devotes an entire article to arguing for the agreement between the Old and New Testaments. In defending their reasoning, the writers spend nearly 200 words explaining the typology of the priest, altar, lamb, and fire of temple worship as Old Testament analogs for Christ to connect the Testaments. While this is a worthy pastoral endeavor, it may not best fit the precise aim of a typical statement of faith. In other words, we can sufficiently argue the same concept in 20 words or less.
Second, the statement need not answer every available question head-on but should set a foundation for answering questions that often arise. For example, a church’s stated Doctrine of Humanity doesn’t have to wade into the issue of abortion per se. Instead, we should labor to craft a holistic theology of life that can provide a much-needed anchor for addressing abortion, euthanasia, racism, etc.
3. BE THOROUGHLY BIBLICAL, NOT BIBLE-THUMPING.
Without a doubt, a good statement of faith will place people firmly within the Scriptures. A healthy church will want to root its core beliefs according to divine revelation, not human wisdom. However, the Statement of Faith should not merely regurgitate Bible passages or haphazardly tie together proof texts. Let us not be guilty of hijacking content from context to prove a theological point.
Instead, well-crafted creeds will point people to the source of truth in their language (and ample citation work). They will help instruct people by explaining the biblical material via synthesis and being careful not to over-reduce it.
Churches might also consider referencing historical confessions and creeds for continued instruction. Yes, we hold no authority but the Bible, but we gain so much by being rooted and united with the church throughout time.
Perhaps most practically, churches should consider freeing themselves from the felt burden of writing a Statement of Faith from scratch. Modern evangelicals sit downstream from centuries of really helpful doctrinal clarification. No single Christian or church will experience perfect theology while on this earth, but with each passing year, until the Lord returns, our confession becomes ever more sharpened. Don’t go rogue. Don’t try to be a hero. Lean on the brothers and sisters before you.
4. BE INTELLECTUALLY ACCESSIBLE, BUT ALSO INSTRUCTIVE.
We’ve got to ask the question, for whom does the statement exist?
A church’s creed is the collective confession of its members. A Statement of Faith that is too wordy or involves intense theological jargon may contradict the importance of congregationalism. A statement of faith shouldn’t be so clunky that the members mindlessly sign it but cannot understand or agree in their heart of hearts with its sentiments. At the same time, a church’s leaders should not settle for a watered-down confession. A healthy church will want to strike a balanced approach here.
On the one hand, leaders should hold members to a high standard of discipleship in which theological instruction is frequent and appropriately rigorous. A church should expect its members (and leaders!) to grow in understanding and depth of doctrine over time. But also, leaders should accommodate those who are young in the faith and early in their growth journey.
Ask yourself, “How much of this Statement of Faith could be fairly re-presented by my average church member?” Or “How long would it take to equip the average church member to feel comfortable sharing our confession with someone else?”
One practical suggestion for churches is to mind sentence structure when drafting the statement. In my observation, big sentences are much more obstructive than big words (after all, we have the common grace of Google). When harmonized well, simple sentences are usually adequate for conveying complex ideas. Far too often, we inadvertently embrace the writing style of 1st-century Paul without remembering the reading sensibilities of 21st-century congregants. Will our Statements of Faith be dense? Probably. Must they be unwieldy? By no means.
5. BE CLARIFYING, NOT CONFUSING.
The Statement of Faith is a document for your church, but it will play a vital role in what your church communicates to the observing world.
In the age of postmodernism, there is no shortage of objections to orthodox Christianity. The task before churches is to clarify the Christian worldview amidst increasing confusion. A well-planned Statement of Faith should land on the core essentials but should also address issues that our cultural moment is prompting.
Yet, while you’ll want to clarify your stances for the present day, you’ll also want the statement of faith to be somewhat timeless. In this way, you aren’t aiming to address theological trends or dilemmas of the day. Instead, focus on doctrinal truths that are unearthed most frequently as your church ministers in a confused world.
If we’re honest, a Statement of Faith is a small but meaty sample of systematic theology. As I understand it, systematic theology is always contextual theology. Therefore, good systematic theology will respond to the pressing questions of the day but doesn’t have to exhaust every concern known throughout human history. For example, to proclaim the orthodox Trinity, your statement need not spell out every single heresy our ancestors unseated. Permit yourself to avoid specific landmines our predecessors marked and decommissioned on our behalf.