CONSENSUS AND CREED

Everett Thomas

Easter Sunday calls us once again to confess the central truth of our faith, that Jesus Christ is Lord. Although we may debate other elements of our faith, this creed first guided early Anabaptists and is the core of Mennonite discipleship around the world today.

But the status of other parts of the Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective appears to be unclear to many members of Mennonite Church USA. That has created persistent debate about the authority of the Confession of Faith itself in these first years of our new denomination.

Each side in this debate occasionally caricatures the other. Some imply that others misuse the confession of faith as a litmus test for correct belief. We claim that such use of the document reduces it to a "creed." The appellation is usually meant derisively, as if the document is misused as some kind of church law.

On the other hand, some imply that others view the Confession of Faith as little more than the opinion of the majority at one moment in history. We claim that such a view of the document empties it of any real authority and allows church members to decide what of the document fits their personal beliefs today.

Both caricatures are wrong and unfair. The Confession of Faith is both eternal creed and carefully crafted consensus.

How we view the confession is the source issue from which many other controversies derive. Membership issues (who can be a member of the church and who decides), academic freedom, abortion, women in ministry, and pacifism are some recent issues to which the Confession of Faith has been applied.

There is irony in this simmering debate about the authority of our confession. One survey showed that while 84 percent of us consider Scripture as the most important source of authority in our congregation, only two percent hold "creeds, doctrines, and traditions" as the most important authority—the same importance attributed to human reasoning and understanding. The Holy Spirit, however, was cited by 11 percent as the second-most important authority (Faith Communities Today, 2000).

So why all the energy around how we view the Confession of Faith? One clue is in the confession itself. The introduction explains that the current confession was adopted as our "statement of faith for teaching and nurture in the life of the church."

So here is a modest proposal for partisans on each side of the debate.

For those who worry that the truths in the confession are not being earnestly taught by others: Talk only about how the church can help those with genuine questions toward faith in Christ. Explain how the church can create a nurturing space for genuine exploration. Talk about grace.

For those who worry that the confession is being used by others as a graceless litmus test of right belief: Explain how the church can be clear about the cost of discipleship when inviting unbelievers to faith. Talk about truth.

Each of us on either side of this debate begins from a laudable point, of course. Those who want the confession to provide certainties are worried that our church is sliding away from biblical truth and too easily accommodates the sins of our culture. Those who want less rigidity in the way we hold church beliefs worry that sharp boundaries will leave us devoid of grace in the mysterious process by which God’s Spirit moves in the hearts and minds of believers and unbelievers alike.

Scripture speaks here as John 1:17b reminds us that "grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."

There is grace in consensus; there is truth in creed. This Easter season we declare with absolute conviction that Jesus is Lord. When we do so, we also affirm that grace and truth are both essentials of Jesus’ lordship. As subjects of this Lord, we are called to search our hearts and consider whether we genuinely care about the essential that seems most important to other sisters and brothers whose confession of faith we share.

—Everett J. Thomas is editor of The Mennonite,MC USA denominational magazine, where this editorial first appeared on April 15, 2003.