A Lament for the Reformed Church

A word of caution before I begin: this post will be negative, and it may depress you. It is about the church. More specifically, it is about the problems with the Reformed church. Many Christians say that the church is in trouble. And I agree. But I’m not sure that I agree with the most common diagnoses of this trouble. There is a lack of interest in the Bible today, and this hurts the church. There is also a lack of interest in doctrine today, and this too hurts the church. These are the diagnoses that I hear most frequently, but there are others as well. There is reluctance to participate in the life of the church, and reluctance to be discipled; there is ineffective preaching, but there is also impatience with ineffective preaching. More generally, there is a demand for instant spiritual results that pervades much of the church. In some cases, there is even a demand for entertainment. I agree that the church is hurt by all these things. However, the last few months in Raleigh have led me to suspect that the single greatest threat to the church today, including the Reformed church, is the lack of love among Christians. Let me explain.

Jill and I moved to Raleigh in December, and we immediately began visiting Reformed churches in the area. In particular, we have visited a number of PCA churches, one RCA church, and a few Reformed Baptist churches. Some of these churches have been great, but we have also witnessed a disturbing lack of Christian love at several of these churches. Today, I will write about just one of these churches. I won’t use its name, but I will say that it is a PCA church in the Raleigh area. I listened to a number of sermons by the pastor online, and I liked them, so Jill and I decided to visit. We attended a service, and we then began sitting in on the membership classes. (We were prepared for a short courtship!)

Well, we have now attended four of the six membership classes, and we have been distressed by what we have heard. In particular, we have repeatedly heard the teachers excoriate Baptists, Lutherans, and Catholics. Some truly terrible things have been said about these churches. Furthermore, many of the criticisms of these churches have been grounded in ignorance. Let me mention some examples. A few weeks ago, one of the teachers stated that only Reformed Christians, and not Lutherans or any other Christians, believe in justification by faith alone through grace alone. But that is simply false, as anyone with even a superficial acquaintance with the Protestant Reformation (or the writings of Augustine) can attest. Last Sunday, this same teacher said that the Lutherans abandoned Luther’s teachings after his death. Now, there was a great deal of theological controversy in the Lutheran church after Luther’s death, and many Lutherans did turn away from some of Luther’s central insights; but, the Formula of Concord (1577) resolved many of these debates in favor of the conservative Lutheran party, and many Lutherans today certainly adhere to the doctrines of depravity and grace. It is a gross overstatement – and in fact it is simply mistaken – to claim, as the teacher did, that Lutherans after Luther aren’t really Lutheran. I don’t mean to nitpick, and normally I would excuse such talk as harmless generalization, but the teacher then went on to trash Lutheranism on the basis of this statement.

Another elder said some terrible things about the Catholic Church, such as that Catholics don’t understand anything that is going in the mass, and that the Bible is never preached in Catholic churches. I believe that there is plenty wrong with the Catholic Church, but it is simply false – and also incredibly mean-spirited – to say these things about Catholics. To cite another example, one participant in the class said that Baptists have no doctrine, and that their churches breed heresy. This man said these things in several classes, and the teachers never corrected him.

What grieves me is not just that these things were said, and that most of them were said by elders in the church. I am grieved by these things, but I am also deeply grieved by the fact that these things were stated with an air of smugness and superiority. I heard no love in the words of the elders. I heard no concern to proclaim the Gospel of Christ, no concern to help other Christians better understand Scripture. Instead, what I heard was simply the condemning of Christians who don’t already understand and subscribe to everything in the Westminster Confession. There was no humility, no acknowledgment that they have received the true doctrine as a free gift of the Holy Spirit. It was almost as if they had won the true doctrine for themselves through their superior intelligence, moral character, and yes, personal holiness. There was very little Christian love in those classes. In fact, there was often none at all. I am sorry to be so severe, but I believe that my assessment of the situation is accurate.

If Jill and I only heard these things in the membership class, we would probably stay at this church. And, if we heard these things said at only one Reformed church, we wouldn’t be concerned about the Reformed church generally. However, we have heard such things said at many Reformed churches in Raleigh. Furthermore, in the last few months, I have read such things on many Reformed blogs, and I have heard such things in many Reformed sermons online.

I spend a large amount of time in the Reformed world, as it were. Unfortunately, I see little love in that world. Instead, I see an ugly mixture of hatred, fear, and a smug confidence in personal religiosity that would rival the worst of the Pharisees. I am greatly alarmed by this. I am also deeply saddened. I do not mean to be dramatic, but I have felt on the verge of tears the last few days. If Christians don’t get Christ, who will? In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul says that we may have everything, but that if we don’t have love then we really don’t have anything at all. In other words, Paul says that if you don’t have love, then you can memorize Calvin’s Institutes and all the Reformed confessions and catechisms, but you will have gained nothing. I fear that large parts of the Reformed church don’t have love, and thus have nothing. I fear that the Reformed forest is largely populated with dead trees. I am grieved for these Christians, but I am also grieved for all those non-Christians who won’t hear the true Gospel preached to them because these Christians are spiritually dead. And I am grieved for Christ, whose precious blood was spilled so that His church could tear itself and others to pieces.

Please don’t misunderstand my complaint. I think that doctrine is essential. In fact, I am concerned that Reformed churches don’t spend enough time teaching both Scripture and doctrine to their congregations. The teachers in the membership class clearly didn’t have a good grasp of the history of the Reformed tradition, and they seemed a bit shaky on some points of doctrine as well. That is not good! Reformed Churches should hold classes on Scripture and doctrine, and they should proclaim them publically. But they must do this in a spirit of love.

I am largely Reformed in my theological outlook. I affirm the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed. I affirm the doctrines of depravity and grace. And, I affirm the distinctively Reformed teachings on the sacraments, the third use of the law, the unity of the Old and New Testaments, and so on. But I don’t affirm these teachings because I like Zwingli and Calvin – I affirm them because I believe that they are the teachings of Scripture. Reformed Christians must preach these doctrines, but not for the purpose of demonstrating their superior religiosity – they must preach these doctrines because they are the teachings of Scripture, and because Scripture cannot be truly preached apart from these teachings. All Christians should engage one another in discussion about Scripture and doctrine. But again, we must do so in a spirit of love. If we notice that someone else is in error, we shouldn’t react with hatred, fear, contempt, or vanity. Instead, we should look on that person as our brother or sister in Christ, and we should set about instructing them with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is so much that I want to say about love here, but this post is already way too long. I will try to wrap things up quickly.

Christ died for us. Think about that for a moment – Christ died for us. But Christ was God. Thus, God died for us. God – the Creator of the world – died for us. And not only did God die for us, but He was humiliated and tortured for us. Why did He do this? Love.

God commands us to do many things, but love is at the very top of the list. As Christ made clear, the two greatest commands are to love God with every fiber of our being and to love our neighbor as Christ does. This is the law and the prophets. God is life, and God is love (1 John). Thus, if we are devoid of love, then we are devoid of God, and we are devoid of life.

God commands us to proclaim the Gospel. The Holy Spirit is all powerful, and He could use a tin can to call armies of people to faith. Therefore, He can certainly use people devoid of God and life to bring others to faith. But might not our evangelization be more effective if we possess God, life, and love? I would think so. Let’s try it and see.

Finally, I am sure that the problems I have described are found in many non-Reformed churches, but they seem to be rampant in Reformed churches, at least in this part of the country. If you love the Reformed tradition, as I do, then you should be alarmed by this, and you should take action to help Christ's church. I would be grateful for any suggestions that you might have.

Lord God, Heavenly Father, please bless Your church. Please send the Holy Spirit to fill us with the love of Christ as well as knowledge of Your truth. Finally, please help us to proclaim both Your love and Your truth to all nations. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.