Spring Sermon Series: Foundational Presbyterian Principles (Being the Church in an Age of Chaos)

Foundational Presbyterian Principles (Being the Church in an Age of Chaos)

In times of deep political division and polarization, amid expressions of hate and intolerance, even under tyranny and persecution, Presbyterians have stood firm in the faith through the affirmation of a set of principles first articulated in the wake of the American Revolution by the Synod of New York and Philadelphia and the first General Assembly in the United States in 1788–1789. Our Spring Sermon Series (April 27–June 8) will examine these principles: freedom of conscience, separation of church and state, the right to govern the church and determine its membership without interference, the right to choose our leadership by election, our commitment to truth and holiness, mutual forbearance, and right use of church power and discipline. We will illustrate the strength and effectiveness of these principles in the resistance by Barth and Bonhoeffer and the Confessing Church in Germany to Hitler’s Nazi rule in the Barmen Declaration of 1934.

April 27: Liberty and Conscience (1 Corinthians 10:23–11:1 and 1 Peter 3:13–22)

    Foundational Presbyterian Principles (F-3.0101), Barmen 8.10–11

May 4: Youth Sunday, Communion Sunday, and Town Hall

    1700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed (Council of Nicaea, May–July, 325)

May 11: Church Doors (John 10:1–18 and John 14:1–14)

    Foundational Presbyterian Principles (F-3.0102)

May 18: Ministers and Ministry (Ephesians 4:1–16 and 1 Timothy 5:17–25)

    Foundational Presbyterian Principles (F-3.0103), Barmen 8,11–12, 15, 17

May 25: Truth and Goodness (2 Peter 1:1–15 and 2 Peter 1:16–21)

    Foundational Presbyterian Principles (F-3.0104), Barmen 8.20–21

June 1: Differences and Forbearance (Colossians 3:5–17 and 2 Timothy 2:14–26)

    Foundational Presbyterian Principles (F-3.0105)

June 8 (Pentecost): Church Power (Genesis 11:1–9 and Acts 2:1–21)

    Foundational Presbyterian Principles (F-3.0106–3.0108), Barmen 8.23–24, 27