THE TRUTH OF THE FAITH
by Rev. Paul T. Stallsworth
NC Christian Advocate
February 11, 2003
In the January 14th column of
Generous Orthodoxy, The Reverend Fred M. Reese, Jr. has made
very thoughtful comments on and criticisms of The Confessing
Movement within The United Methodist Church.
Rev. Reese is especially
critical of The Confessing Movement and its friends for
“calling the church to a brand of orthodoxy that is highly
selective in its use of history, the Bible, and the witness of
the present church hierarchy.” According to Rev. Reese, such
efforts waste energies that could be more wisely spent on
various causes -- such as supporting those persecuted for the
sake of justice and healing divisions in the church.
Furthermore, he contends that the source of these allegedly
arrogant attempts at orthodoxy is “fundamentalism [which]
begins from the literalism of Biblical interpretation.”
To respond to Rev. Reese, one
might recall that the Church catholic has been divinely graced
with a faith. In The United Methodist Church, this faith of
the Church is described and given boundaries by the Articles
of Religion and the Confession of Faith, which are found in
The Book of Discipline and are protected by the
denomination’s Constitution. Furthermore, United Methodism’s
bishops are charged “[t]o guard, transmit, teach, and
proclaim” the faith of the Church (Discipline, par.
414.3). Clergy seeking full connection are asked these
questions, among others: “8. Have you studied the doctrines of
The United Methodist Church? 9. After full examination, do
you believe that our doctrines are in harmony with the Holy
Scriptures? 10. Will you preach and maintain them?” (Discipline,
par. 327) And The Baptismal Covenant has the congregation
“join together in professing the Christian faith, as contained
in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments[,]” which is
from The Apostles’ Creed.
Why, one might ask, is all
this ecclesiastical energy given to the faith of the Church?
Because a church assumes this faith -- again, this faith and
no other -- is true.
As generations come and go,
the Church’s faith is challenged by various theological fads
and fashions on the right and on the left. Early in the
twentieth century and on the right, fundamentalism arose to
protect what it took to be fundamentals of the faith. Its
defense of the faith drained the Church’s faith of its beauty
and mystery. Liberalism on the left, in various forms, has
taken prevailing cultural norms quite seriously and with them
has reinterpreted the Church’s faith. Liberal reconstructions
of the faith have been offered by existentialists, Dr. Peale,
liberationists, and others.
When a church begins to
proclaim and practice a faith that contradicts the historic
faith of the Church, clergy, laity, and movements have a
God-given responsibility to recall their church to the
Church’s faith. That is what Luther attempted. That is what
Wesley attempted. That is what Bonhoeffer and Barth
attempted. And that is what The Confessing Movement within
The United Methodist Church is attempting.
