Why I Don't Go To The Christian Reformed Church

People sometimes ask me my church affiliation. No, I’m not a Lutheran. And surprise, I’m not a Reformed Baptist. I go to the Pompton Plains Reformed Bible Church. My church is a member of the United Reformed Churches in North America. My church was previously a member of the Christian Reformed Church. Now, I don’t recall those days, because I was not raised Reformed. I’m a refugee from garden-variety evangelicalism.

Recently, I’ve been teaching a Sunday School class focusing on the connection between sola scriptura and sola fide. The Christian Reformed Church website (CRC) serves as an excellent example of why I probably won’t be part of a Christian Reformed Church, and shows how something is not quite right with this denomination.

The CRC website has a webpage entitled, “Reformation.” Here is an interesting quote

“Reformed Christians are a small part of a much larger body of believers who love and serve Jesus Christ. We’re part of a family that includes Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican, Evangelical, and a host of other churches that confess and practice the Christian faith.”

From their webpage, “Ecumenicity”

“On the way to achieving unity, major differences in the perception of biblical truth must be overcome. God must be trusted to teach all of us as we engage in ecumenical dialogue and thereby to unite us through a more common understanding of his truth. In the search for unity the biblical message must not be compromised, but the presumption of possessing the truth in all of its fullness must also be guarded against. Churches must seek to heal past wounds by overcoming differences with those who are closest to them. The Christian Reformed Church in North America gives high priority to relations with other Reformed churches and after that to churches of other traditions such as non-Reformed Protestant churches, the Roman Catholic Church, and Orthodox churches.”

And lastly, the gospel of justification by faith alone, because of Christ alone, by grace alone, has become:

“How did Calvin get along with other church leaders of his day? Opposing Roman Catholic teachings of the time, he agreed with the other Reformers that Salvation is by grace alone through faith, and not by our own good works.”