Our Statement of Faith

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Benjamin Kreps:

Hey everyone. And welcome to the Mark Prater podcast where our aim is to connect our global family of churches with our Executive Director. Mark, we're just finishing up this week, coming out of the Council of Elders, which was done virtually and something historic happened. We voted as a council to ratify our new Statement of Faith. And I understand as well that my region, the one I'm a part of, Lower Great Lakes region, was the first region to ratify the Statement of Faith, as well. A shout out to the LGL. the Lower Great Lakes.

Mark Prater:

Right. That's right. The Lower Great Lakes, they did vote to affirm first, so good job guys. Thank you.

Benjamin Kreps:

We're small, but we're mighty.

Mark Prater:

That's right.

Benjamin Kreps:

So coming out of that historic moment, what thoughts do you have as you reflect on that moment?

Mark Prater:

It's a moment that's still actually affecting me as I reflect on the decision we made as a Council of Elders on Tuesday afternoon. It was a wonderful moment. If you weren't in our Zoom Council of Elders meeting where I did a roll call, vote so that every elder that was a delegate representing their church verbally cast their vote. And it had the impact, I think on all of us, that we just made a historic decision as a Council of Elders.

And if you're listening to this and you don't know what a Council of Elders is, that is the highest governing authority in our denomination, comprised of elders throughout the world, really, that represent their churches as delegates. And it's one expression of really being elder led.

It was historic though, in my mind, for a couple of reasons. One is just the content itself. It is glorious. Let’s just begin there. It is foundational truth. It is the truth that we believe theologically, that we build our churches on. And that is not only strengthened among our existing churches. What it does is it gives pastors and churches outside of Sovereign Grace who might be interested in partnering with us an idea of what we believe in and how we build our churches theologically. I know Dave Taylor is one of the guys that told me they're going to be able to use this around the globe, as we expand globally with pastors to give them an idea of where we stand theologically.

So, it's foundational. But it's also a unifying document. What that vote represents is a theological unity that we have as a family of churches. And it's a strong Statement of Faith, in my opinion, that I think will strengthen our unity as a family of churches as well.

And then from a personal standpoint, it is filled with such good theology.

Benjamin Kreps:

Yes, it is.

Mark Prater:

And good theology should always lead to doxology. So as I've read through that, there have been moments where I just had to stop and worship God, because our theology really does reveal who God is in wonderful ways and how he has an is working in the world. And it's just wonderful. And so in that regard some of the things that we have planned that will really be led by Jeff Purswell, our Director of Theology, who led the Theology Committee to work on this Statement of Faith over the last seven years, they will continue to work on things like a study guide that can be used in our small groups as a devotional that could be used personally. So that theology turns to doxology and then probably further down the road, potentially a catechism that we think could be really helpful as well.

So a shout out to all of the guys on the Theology Committee for all that you did to write this Statement of Faith.

Benjamin Kreps:

Yes, one of my favorite things about this new statement of faith is the sound doctrine like you're saying. And as you're reading that doctrine, you cannot help but feel worship rising. Even the document itself has a worshipful feel to it and how wonderful that will be to serve us going forward. When you reflect on the process that led to that moment this week voting on the Statement of Faith, what are your thoughts?

Mark Prater:

Yeah, I think the process itself is historic. So, back up seven years ago from the vote that we took on Tuesday. The Council of Elders decided that the Theology Committee needed to take a look at our past Statement of Faith, our most recent Statement of Faith. And the Theology Committee looked at it and said, “I think we can change it and improve it some.” And that led to a decision by the Council of Elders to actually rewrite the Statement of Faith.

So that was a denominational decision. It's another expression of how we are an elder led denomination, where the Council of Elders has been involved in every step of approving, not just the process, but the content. And then as you know, Ben, over the last probably six years, each of the sections of the Statement of Faith were presented, typically two or three at a time, per year, to the Council. And they gave a provisional approval to those sections, leading to the final approval that the Council gave on Tuesday of this week in our Council of Elders meeting. So it's just a wonderful expression of partnership and a wonderful expression of how our policy works in terms of being elder led.

Benjamin Kreps:

Yes, the way that you led us through that vote, where each one of us vocally voted and the face appeared on the zoom call, I will remember that for the rest of my life. It was precious to see so many faithful pastors that we are joined together in partnership with, working together on the Council, cheerfully, happily affirming our new Statement of Faith. What a wonderful moment that was. So thank you for leading us through the Council of Elders this week and just increase my gratefulness to be a part of Sovereign Grace Churches. And as I'm sure it did for many other guys as well. So, thanks, Mark. And thank you for watching. We'll talk to you here soon. Bye for now.