Recently I had to write a statement of what it means to be Presbyterian. So here is what I said.
To me, to be Presbyterian means to be connected with the Reformed tradition which holds a high view of the authority of scripture, the sovereignty of God over all of life, a belief in the priesthood of all believers, justification by faith in Christ alone, practices a representative form of church government and its theology is continually reforming. I agree with both the historical development of these beliefs and practices as well as their Biblical soundness.
The Heart of Presbyterianism and the Reformed tradition is its perspective on the theology of the church, that is, ecclesia reformata semper reformanda secundum verbum Dei - the church reformed, always being reformed, according to the word of God. The spirit that birthed the Presbyterian and Reformed tradition (though largely lost now) is that he church must always be being reformed by the Word and the Holy Spirit. This belief allows local churches to evolve and emerge in a variety of changing cultural contexts. This is so important in the life of the local church because every local congregation must answer the question, what is God calling us to do in our missional context?” This may require the shape and form of the church to change and morph into something new and different. It may even require a shift in theology in order to incarnate the Gospel in that unique missional context. The idea that the church is always reforming is essential in every age but I think it to be particularly important as we shift form a modern to postmodern culture.
Finally Presbyterianism holds to a representative form of church polity, which I believe to be the most Biblical model of church government. It guards against a pure democracy where the pastor is at the mercy of any tangential disagreement in the congregation as well as the abuse of authoritarianism in a hierarchical model of church government. It places appropriative power and authority in the congregation through its elected elders and the pastor gives leadership and oversight to them while still being only one voice among the other elders.
What do you think?
