Ten Reasons To Avoid Reformed Churches
I have argued below that perhaps the best strategy for influence and change in your church is to stay put where you are, but there are a good amount of people in the American evangelical world that move from Baptist or free church traditions into Bible churches and later Reformed or Presbyterian churches. Most of the time it has to do with deeper teaching and what is seen by some as closer fidelity to the truths of the gospel. Scientifically speaking, I can’t say who’s gone back in the reverse direction but I know this–most people who consider moving into Reformed churches just don’t know what they’re getting into and they have little to go on except the excited urgings of Reformed elders and congregants that are happy to see them cross the aisle to join their particular faith community.
Many years ago, I considered going to Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia and I asked James White what he thought about it. He suggested I talk to someone about “Presbyterian ethos” and see if it was really the right move or not because things were different in a Presbyterian environment than what I was accustomed to in the Southern Baptist world. I didn’t know it at the time, but this was exceptionally good advice. Unfortunately, this pointed me in the direction of a particular Reformed pastor that made all things Reformed look good on the surface but later I found out otherwise and in spades.
My guess is that very few people joining a Reformed or Presbyterian church consider both the positive and negative issues surrounding a move from one particular faith tradition to another. Some of these reasons only become obvious once you’ve really been in a Reformed environment for a number of years. Of course, the grass always looks greener on the other side and it’s easy to do things in a hurry. Don’t get me wrong. I understand the desire to be in the right place as the Lord leads, but the question you have to ask yourself is really, “Have I considered everything here?”. So, in the interest of helping others to make careful decisions by providing them with more information than they’d have otherwise, as a devil’s advocate I’m putting forward reasons why you wouldn’t want to join a Reformed or Presbyterian church.
1. Reformed churches aren’t really Reformed and their pastors have received in general a very narrow theological education from their seminaries based on particularly modern American or Puritan understandings of what it means to be Reformed. Of course, Reformed pastors all across this planet will dispute this notion because it doesn’t speak very highly of the education they value and treasure. But, the notion that a seminary education provides a pastor with an appropriate background, theology, and history of the people of God in general is simply a misnomer. It’s just not true. Most pastors in Presbyterian and Reformed churches haven’t read deeply into the Reformed tradition and are largely ignorant of the magisterial Reformers in terms of their conception of the Church and a great variety of other issues. Reading outside the box of modern Reformed history and theology just isn’t normally a part of the mix in Reformed seminaries and congregations around the country suffer as a result. Instead, pastors focus on the very basics of what it means to be Reformed and leave advanced and in-depth studies to the theological academic community who plods along with its own inefficiencies and prejudices. Not to be forgotten, everyone in Reformedville operates with a particular bias and values some Reformed traditions over others. The sad result is that Reformed churches are often presented with theory and practice that is presented as the gospel truth of the matter rather than making clear that what is being presented is actually the modern Reformed pastor’s pet understanding.
2. Reformed churches have an undue focus on fidelity to the classic Reformed confessions that rivals Roman Catholic tradition. In the beginning, confessions of faith during the magisterial Reformation were actually the way that a given church expressed its living out of a lively Christian faith. No one looked at these professions of faith as absolute doctrinal guides that work to interpret or classify the teaching of Scripture in one way or another. Yes, that’s right. I said that today’s Reformed churches use their confessions to interpret the Bible and as a result wind up with the sort of tradition that is part and parcel very similar to a Roman Catholic understanding. This becomes plain as soon as you disagree with your pastor on a fundamental point of what the Confession has to say–never mind what the Bible might say about it.
3. While the Church in America and around the world over the last century was fighting the bigger battles in the war against the powers of this world, Reformed churches were involved in some of the most inane controversies on the planet. Take some Excedrin Migraine medicine first and then take more time and read Machen’s Warrior Children by John Frame and read about one example of an entire Reformed denomination sunk in the mire of controversy after controversy that served to distract churches and denominations from their most basic and fundamental missions. Are you sure you want to grow up with your children watching you fight those sorts of battles right along with the rest of Reformed churches because Presbyterian and Reformed churches get consumed in pitched battles that many never step away from?
4. Reformed churches split every two weeks. Okay, that’s an exaggeration but the truth is over the last one hundred years Reformed and Presbyterian churches in America have gone one of two different directions. The denomination either trends toward abandoning orthodoxy or fighting so hard against unorthodoxy that churches split and split and split and split until there are ‘us four and no more’. You pick where you want to wind up.
5. Reformed churches are often overly intellectual in their worship, their practice of Christianity, and their emphases in the life of the church. This is part and parcel why these congregations and their pastors get into controversies that really aren’t as important when seen from the wider world of church and society in America and around the world. Reformed folks like to accuse evangelicals of gnosticism but Reformed churches do a great job of intellectualizing the Christian faith on a regular basis and forget that doctrinal fidelity to a confession or catechism is not necessarily the same as fidelity to our God and love for others. In the name of truth, some of the nastiest fights I’ve ever witnessed have taken place in Reformed churches. ‘Love your neighbor’–let alone ‘love your enemies’–can be completely lost in Reformed and Presbyterian churches once you cross the right elder or disagree publicly with the ministers of the church.
6. Reformed faith communities are often too insular and can lose contact with the outside world. Reformed and Presbyterian churches can become almost monastic in having such tight knit communities. And, this can be very healing and a great thing for those coming from environments where community means showing up for a Promise Keeper’s rally. But, there is a flip side to this. If and when you fall out of favor with the community, you and your family can become isolated and lost from the community’s sight. In short, you can face a virtual excommunication in a very short period of time and you’ll find that people are more loyal to the community as a whole than they are to their brothers and sisters in the community. This is part of what it means to express a covenantal theology in the life of your church and it represents the dark side of a Reformed environment that very few people find out about until they actually experience it.
7. Reformed churches are not evangelistic and are generally uninterested in expanding outside the walls of their churches. Most Reformed churches I know about expect to cull new members from other churches and are constantly on the lookout for ways to proselytize and attract the ideal church member instead of focusing on the lost and forgotten of our society.
8. Reformed churches can tend toward an intellectual arrogance that gives the impression that they are always and at all times completely in the right and other churches are exceptionally wrong in terms of doctrine, life, and practice. Not only do some Presbyterian churches act as if they alone have the keys to the kingdom, they also pretend to think they have all the good secrets that others could have if only they agreed with them in the first place. If that’s not gnosticism, I don’t know what is.
9. The real ministry in many Reformed churches is done by the elders and laypeople are consigned to listening and following. Since many Reformed or Presbyterian churches see church ministry primarily as the preaching/teaching of the Word and the administration of the sacraments–a professional clergy is required to make sure all of that is done correctly. You will never get asked to teach a Bible Study or other class in a Reformed church without being seriously vetted as to your fidelity to the confessions and whether or not you measure up to their standards. Never mind what the Bible has to say. Your giftedness in the matter is frankly irrelevant. About the only thing you may be able to do is lead music in the church since most Reformed elders are horribly unprepared and ignorant of music and its place in the church in general. The elders lead and you must follow. That is the nature of ministry in a Reformed or Presbyterian church and if you wind up leading because you are gifted without the elders’ say-so you will find yourself in hot water.
10. Joining a Reformed church may mean making vows in regards to church membership you can’t keep. I address this particular point in full in a sermon on church membership that I may post again at some point, but to join a Reformed or Presbyterian church you must swear publicly to obey the elders in all matters of faith and practice. Given that you don’t exactly know what this will mean until it happens, you can find yourself disagreeing with an elder but still obligated by your own word to follow what he may say no matter how wrong he may be. This can also be a very dangerous position to be in if the elder or minister is spiritually abusive and a micro-manager who looks into every nook and cranny of your life. If you think that specificity in terms of doctrinal accuracy is the only thing that elders are concerned about in a Reformed or Presbyterian church, you might take just a second to think about the consequences of having an explanation for every theological problem and whether or not that might have anything to do with taking a microscope to your own life at the hands of overly zealous legalistic elders.
Of course, not every Reformed or Presbyterian church resembles the list above but many do. Your average well-intended evangelical that is just trying to be faithful needs to understand the risks inherent in moving in such a drastic direction from his faith community to another one that’s not really of “like faith and order”. Don’t buy into the lie that the grass is greener or the idea that this particular group of Christians is just more faithful to God’s Word. Remember God’s providential work around you and in your own church now and think twice about moving to unfamiliar territory.