Tuesday, August 5, 2008

New EFCA statement of faith

Dear brothers and sisters,

I wanted to make you aware of a change that has happened in our denomination. The Evangelical Free Church of America was formed in 1950, and since that time has centered around a 12 point statement of faith that has helped define what we believe are essential biblical doctrines. Over the last few year the denomination has been reviewing and seeking to revise those statements so as to deal with new issues in the world that have arise since the original document, and to address areas that may not have been as clear in the original.


This summer the national conference has adopted a new statement of faith. It can be found here http://www.efca.org/about/doctrine/ along with a link to the old statement of faith. In reading both you will see that no major changes in doctrine have been made. The main differences are in updating language and adding a section about our responsibilities as Christians. The EFCA has a history of majoring on the major doctrines and not getting hung up on minor doctrines. One way of saying this is, "In essentials unity, in non-essentials charity, and in all things Jesus Christ."

As we at Harvest seek to review and affirm our constitution we should plan to review this new statement to make sure we can affirm it. I personally think the revisions are very helpful and the process to make them has been scholarly, prayerful, and thoughtful. If you have any questions about it, please feel free to email me about it.

Pastor Mike

Harvest Community Church, Litchfield, MN

Always live in confident dependency on your God. Hosea 12:6