3/27 - Five Eras of Church History
Last night’s class was a little scattered. We talked about a few different things that felt linked in my mind but could have been connected a little more clearly. I know few read these recaps in full but I am glad for this chance to try to clarify a little.
The three key ideas were this:
At ERC, we are Protestant which makes us distinct from other Christians; and Reformed which makes us distinct from other Protestants.
Despite these differences, we share a common history which we now get to expand upon together.
Reformed Beliefs are different from other Christians’ but whether you accept them or not does not affect your salvation.
We began with a Kahoot Quiz. Each questions listed a belief statement and students had to select which group affirms it. While we didn’t discuss every idea in detail, I think the biggest takeaway was that different Christians do believe different things. Still, other beliefs are the same across the board - Jesus’ death brought us salvation, it’s important to love God and others, etc. Most of our classes have focused on these beliefs - the mere-Christianity which you share with billions of people around the world.
This is what ought to bring us to our next idea - a super zoomed-out view of Church history. Squeezing complex events into simple boxes, we get a cool little timeline that looks something like this:
You can see that every 500 years the shape of the Church changes. We are at the start of a new shift which can be sensed but is hard to measure. It’s thrilling to realize that we get to participate in the next chapter of this giant story. We discussed briefly some ways that we were seeing the Church changing right now. Even so, each of us will face these ages in our own lives. You will experience eras of struggle, of understanding, of darkness, of mission. By learning about Christians throughout time we can prepare ourselves to live well whatever life throws at us.
Which brings us to our last concept, zooming in on the Reformed Church. This is where we fit in the story. We are part of a tradition which we should at least try to understand. Last night I did a very poor job of this, jumping into controversial theology instead of focusing on the way of thinking and worshiping that produced these beliefs. At its core, the Reformed belief is that the words of the Bible provide absolutely everything we need to understand everything God wants us to know. Truth can be reached if we put aside every preconceived notion and systematically study the Bible. If you have a question, the answer lies somewhere else in the Bible. Most of the ideas we get from this approach match what Christians have always believed (to some degree). But five ideas early theologians developed using this method are unique to this version of Christianity (T.U.L.I.P. - which we discussed last night). As Corban wisely pointed out, however, not one of these beliefs affects your salvation. They are an explanation of how the machine runs, but not instructions on how to use the machine. When you choose to be part of a Reformed Church you are affirming the importance of the Bible and connecting to a tradition of deep thinking about God and His ways.
But this is not the only way to be a Christian. Pentecostals seek to understand the Scripture through the Holy Spirit. Baptists and Presbyterians rely on a community of transformed believers. Catholics look to church leaders to explain the Bible, Orthodox Christians rely on Holy Tradition, and Coptic Christians inspiring stories. If anything divides us, it is our approach to understanding scripture. Which means that HOW you read the Bible is the most important decision you can make once you have decided to follow Jesus.
That was a lot, so was our class last night. I am feeling the weight of only having two months left! If you have any questions - please ASK US! Parents reading this, I encourage you to check in and have conversations at home about these concepts. We are all part of a grand story and by understanding our place in it, we can be ready to go boldly into this new age together.