Living the Faith

We are living in a difficult time for Mainline Protestant Christians. For more than fifty years the signs of institutional health have all been negative. We have seen a decline in numbers in worship, money, quality of leadership and probably what has been most painful of all the loss of cultural significance.

There have been so many changes that have contributed to these crises. This post-modern, post-Christendom reality has posed challenges to the wider Christian community at all levels.

There have been all kinds of responses to the problems besetting the church. All kinds of people have tried to provide some great program that will turn things around. People have developed the "surefire marketing strategy" that bends the demographic trajectory. Others have suggested that contemporary music in worship will make all the difference. For others, it is small groups that is the answer. But the reality is there is no magic bullet.

I believe that we are living in a time of fundamental change. This is a time of fundamental change as important as the reformation and the enlightenment. In times of such transformational change it is important to look at the core meaning and practice of the faith. It is only by reconnecting to the power of the core teaching of the faith that we can begin to re-engineer how we do church.

The most fundamental of all Christian understandings is found in the creed developed by the Christian Church in the fourth century. This creed developed over many years at two ecumenical councils (325 AD and 381 AD) is called the Nicene Creed. It is shared by almost all Christians across time and space. It serves as basic understanding of the Christian movement.