After returning from the EFCA National Leadership Conference, I gave a brief report to the congregation during our Sunday worship service. I mentioned the workshops I attended, the networking that I did, the teaching we received on living on mission. No one blinked. I think someone may even have yawned.
And then I shared that the revision of the Statement of Faith had been passed by an 86% affirmative vote. A few folks sat up a bit straighter at that. I did not think it would be that much of a surprise -- we have discussed the revision process at congregational business meetings, and we make copies of EFCA Today available free of charge.
Some of you who are reading this are laughing at me now for being naive. I deserve that. After the service, several people approached board members with questions and with concern. Why change the old Statement of Faith, which has served the EFCA so well for over fifty years? That's a fair question, and I intend to address it through a variety of means: a letter sent to everyone in the congregation two weeks ago, an evening meeting next week, a Sunday school class this fall using the new Statement to help us all know our doctrine better and understand what it means to be the Free Church.
And this blog. I'd like to spend several posts explaining why I think this revision is not just a good thing, but a great thing that all Free Church folk should be excited about. In this post, I want to direct our attention to an article in Christianity Today that gives an excellent overview of the revision and the reasons for it. The key idea is this: By revising now, we saved ourselves much trouble later. The EFCA leadership showed farsighted vision and concern for the church for which they should be commended.
I look forward to diving in with the next post!
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