The Essential Practice of Confessing the Faith
Reflections on BCO 55
While the Book of Church Order is often viewed as a technical manual for church government, I believe there is a profound, pastoral heartbeat beneath it's requirements, especially when it comes to how we gather as a congregation.
What follows is a look at BCO 55, a brief but vital chapter focused on Confessing the Faith.
The Proper Nature of Confession
The BCO 55-1 begins with a simple statement: “It is proper for the congregation of God’s people publicly to confess their faith”. Confessing our faith isn’t just a tradition we’ve hung onto or a stylistic choice for “vanilla Presbyterians” like us; rather, it is a right and fitting response for the people of God.
In our worship services, we make use of creeds and confessions that are true to the Word (specifically citing the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, or the Westminster Standards). While some might debate the specific documents used, it is certainly not unbiblical to use creeds and confessions. There are, in fact, confessions in Scripture that were likely used by the early church and then inscripturated by the Apostle Paul. Whether we are using constitutional documents or the ecumenical creeds, these are essential tools for our worship.
Why We Confess
We confess our fiath to remind us of what is true. When we gather, we need to be reminded of what is true.
We confess to counteract the world. We spend our entire week in the midst of a world that is false in many ways.
We confess to encourage our hearts. We arrive on Sunday still struggling with our own sins, and we need the encouragement of these broad summaries of our faith to reorient our hearts.
The Power of the Unison Voice
There is something uniquely pastoral about the act of reciting these truths alongside the rest of the church. It is a practice that encourages us, reminding us that we are not alone in our belief. However, an outsider (or even to our own modern sensibilities) this practice can feel a little strange.
The “Cultish” Rhythms of Liturgy
I once had a visitor tell me that our practice of saying the same paragraph of words out loud in unison felt “cultish”. I had never really thought about it before, but from his perspective, seeing 200 voices standing up to read the same words in a rhythmic, methodical, and rote way was the strangest thing he’d seen.
It’s true that when a large group reads together, it’s hard to have natural inflection. It sounds different than a normal conversation. But I would argue that this “weirdness” is actually a good practice. There is a beauty in that rhythmic sound. It is the sound of a people setting aside their individual “takes” to speak the common, true things of God together.
Systematic Truth in Evening Worship
In my own ministry, we try to make systematic use of these standards. We aren’t just reciting them to check a box; we are using them to ground our people in the faith.
Morning Worship: We regularly use the Apostles’ Creed to confess our historic, ecumenical faith.
Evening Worship: We are systematically working through the Westminster Confession of Faith.
This systematic approach ensures that we aren’t just hitting the “high notes” of our favorite doctrines, but are being shaped by the full breadth of the truth.
Conclusion: A Reminder in the Midst of Falsehood
At the end of the day, BCO 55 is about more than just polity; it’s about the heart’s need for truth. We gather to say out loud what we believe because we so easily forget it. We recite these things because they provide a “broad summary” of our hope when our own strength and clarity are failing.
It might feel rote at times, and it might seem strange to the world, but it is good to remind each other—in one voice—of the things that are eternally true.