The Narnia 3 Blog

Doctrinal Statements: Short or Long?

There is a question about the usefulness and appplication of doctrinal statements in local churches, particularly as it relates to membership.

There is a school of thought that advovates the ideal that, "We must not exclude from the body (i.e. local church) those whom Christ has included." That is anyone who is a genuine believer, regardless of whatever doctrinal position they may hold vis a vis the individual local church, should be allowed to join the membership.

This has led to some churches reducing their doctrinal statements to a bare minimum or for some churches to devise a concept whereby "all believers" can join a local church; but only those who affirm the totality of the doctrinal statement can be elders. This creates sort of a "two-level" status in the membership.

Other churches or associations, are under pressure to remove "unnecessary" portions of their doctrinal statements. For instance there has been a move for some time for the EV Free churches to drop their premillennial statement.

Here are some thoughts I have on this matter:

• I think that long, detailed doctrinal statements are good safeguards for the purity of local churches. I think along with a statement of position, some extra "affirmation and denial" statements along with the main position statement would be helpful.
  
• Although the EV Free church (another of which I recently finished an interim pastorate at) has been somewhat successful in the "two-tier" approach to membership (that is the elders must affirm the fulll doctrinal statement, whereas "regular" members don't have to) may be workable to a degree, but ultimately it is problematic and most churches will decline to the lowest common denominator. Historically, would any argue that the changes to the Westminster Confession, the 39 Articles, or the SBC Faith and Mission, strengthened those statements theologically speaking?
  
• I am certainly not stating that every member (esp. new Christians) must fully understand the doctrinal statement and be able to affirm the same, but at the same time, a potential church member should not be accepted is they "deny" any portion of the church's doctrinal statement.

I worry that the influence of the "seeker friendly" movement is behind this debate on doctrinal statements. The desire to appeal to a wide spectrum of the evangelical world is a deductive appeal but it must be resisted.

Posted by Narnia3 at March 29, 2004 7:56 PM | TrackBack