The Statement of Faith Revision

HISTORIC CONFERENCE APPROVES PROPOSED REVISION OF THE EFCA STATEMENT OF FAITH

2008-06-30T12:44:14Z

President Bill Hamel began this historic discussion by asking two questions: would the Conference affirm a new Statement of Faith strengthening our commitment to evangelical, historic faith? And would we debate and vote with godly character? The answer to both questions was "yes."

On June 26, 2008, delegates of the 124th EFCA National Leadership Conference approved the Proposed Revision of the Statement of Faith - 86% of delegates voted for the Proposed Revision. None of the four amendments passed, so the delegates adopted the Proposed Revsion as it was presented to the Conference in 2007.

Throughout the debate and decision, God's presence was evident as delegates kept in step with the Spirit (Gal. 5:25), manifested the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23), and left an aroma of Christ (2 Cor. 2:14-16).

The conference concluded with President Hamel leading the attendees in a strong and passionate confession of the new EFCA Statement of Faith. Here is a link to the Statement of Faith:

http://www.efca.org/about/doctrine/

To God be the glory, great things He has done . . . and continues to do in the EFCA!

Amendments

2008-06-05T15:59:36Z

Yesterday (June 4, 2008) a broadcast email was sent to the EFCA contituency informing us of the six amendments that are to be brought before the Conference the end of this month. Today there is an update that has been sent informing the EFCA that there are now four amendments before the Conference as original amendments 5 and 6 have been withdrawn. Here is the email from Ron Aucutt, the Moderator. Please make sure you check the links to read the pertinent material referenced in Ron's update.

EFCA UPDATE SPECIAL BROADCAST
Consideration of the Revised Statement of Faith
June 5, 2008

UPDATED INFORMATION FROM THE MODERATOR REGARDING THE CONSIDERATION OF THE REVISED STATEMENT OF FAITH AT THE 2008 NATIONAL LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE

Two of the proposed amendments to the Revised Statement of Faith referred to in our last Update Special Broadcast (Proposed Amendments No. 5 and No. 6) have been withdrawn.

The current EFCA Statement of Faith may be viewed at -
www.efca.org/about/doctrine,

the proposed Revised Statement of Faith may be viewed at -
www.efca.org/about/media/sof_proposed_revision.pdf,

the Transitional Rules for Implementation may be viewed at -
www.efca.org/about/media/sof_transitional_rules_adopted.pdf,

the proposed Special Rules for considering the Revised Statement of Faith may be viewed in the Board of Directors' letter of March 11, 2008, at -
www.efca.org/about/media/sof-letter-with-rules.pdf,

and the four proposed amendments may be viewed at -
http://www.efca.org/about/media/proposed-amendment-information-jun-2008-update.pdf.

Ronald D. Aucutt, EFCA Moderator

Special Rules Relating to the Revision of the EFCA SOF

2008-03-13T11:04:37Z

The Board of Directors has released a letter preparing for the upcoming discussion and possible vote of the Proposed Revision at the National Leadership Conference over June 24-26. The letter begins by reviewing some of the history of our Statement of Faith discussion, and previous decisions that have been made by the Conference.

Then the specifics of the Conference are delineated. One of the more important items in the letter is the section, "Special Rules Relating to Revision of the Statement of Faith." During the Business Sessions we will follow the fromat outlined in our bylaws, but due to the nature of this importnat discussion, the Board of Directors have outlined a few more "Special Rules" for this important and historic Conference.

You can and should read the whole letter, which can be linked here:
http://www.efca.org/about/media/sof-letter-with-rules.pdf

Teaching Notes

2008-02-26T17:21:43Z

Last fall I taught an 11-week series through the Proposed Revision, beginning with an introductory lesson, followed by a lesson on each article. This was also recorded - if you are interested in the recording, please let me know as a comment (the notes have been tweaked a bit since I taught through the material, so that would be good to know about the recorded teaching).

This is intended to be another resource for you as you prepare to teach through or to ponder the changes being proposed in this Revision. This is certainly not a "finished product" but it should prove to be another helpful resource for you and others as you prepare to discuss and possibly vote on this Revision this summer at the National Leadership Conference.

To acclimate you to the notes, here is an overview of the key components of what the notes contain:

*List the Proposed Revision article and the parallel SOF article
*Address the differences between the two articles
*Teach what the Proposed Revision article means
*Speak to the ways in which the article has been strengthened
*Respond to reasons why it is important today to emphasis this truth
*Additional resources are included, e.g. questions for further study, longer Scripture texts to preach, memory verses, hymns and choruses
*Appendix 1 includes the commentary on the particular article
*Appendix 2 includes FAQs for each article, which are actual email questions and answers

These notes are now posted. You can get to them directly at

http://www.efca.org/about/doctrine/sof-documents.html

or by going to www.efca.org/about/doctrine (the SOF page) and clicking on "Teaching series and notes on the proposed revision to the Statement of Faith (by Greg Strand)"

"Special Rules" for the Discussion of the Proposed Revision

2008-02-14T20:00:06Z

In the near future, likely within the month, the BOD will be sending out some "special rules" for this process leading up to our discussion and possible vote of the Proposed Revision this summer. One of the items contained in these "special rules" is how to go about recommending amendments. These "special rules" will be sent to all pastors of churches, it will be included in an EFCA broadcast email, and they will be posted on the EFCA Website. We will also post it here, along with a link to the document.

We are excited, and have been since we began this process in 2003, when the task of looking at our SOF was initially given to the Spiritual Heritage Committee. As you may recall, it became a denominational-wide discussion in 2005. We remain excited to see what the Lord will do, and because the Lord is leading, we are hopeful!

EFCA Conference Discussion and Vote

2008-02-07T23:32:24Z

At last summer's National Leadership Conference, the Proposed Revision of the EFCA Statement of Faith was presented as a motion to the Conference. This means that at this summer's 2008 NLC, we will be discussing and possibly voting on the Proposed Revision. This is a reminder and an invitation to post your comments or questions on the blog. We are hoping to address many of your questions prior to the Conference, and this is one of the ways we can do that.

Tools and Resources - Introduction

2007-08-28T15:19:53Z

We are providing materials for those interested in teaching/preaching through the Proposed Revision. Some beginning work was done at one of the seminars at the National Leadership Conference this past June. You can read those notes here: http://www.efca.org/about/media/sof-tools-resources.pdf

We will also be teaching through the Revision this fall quarter (12 weeks - introduction, 10 articles and conclusion) in an adult class in one of our local EFCA churches. Those sessions will be taped, and both the lecture and the notes will be made available through the EFCA website in January 2008.

What additional resources would you find helpful? Please let the Spiritual Heritage Committee know in the comments section, or send an email message to: president@efca.org

Transitional Rules

2007-08-28T15:17:58Z

On June 29, 2007 the National Leadership Conference overwhelmingly approved, by written ballot, the adoption of Transitional Rules for Implementation of a Revised Statement of Faith. As you will recall, the EFCA Board of Directors submitted a motion to the Leadership Conference for adoption of Transitional Rules governing the implementation of a revised Statement of Faith if the EFCA Statement of Faith is ultimately revised by the 2008, or subsequent, Leadership Conference. Transitional Rules numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7A, 7B, and 8 were adopted by the Conference without change from that which was submitted and recommended by the Board of Directors. Transitional Rule #7C, pertaining to the faculty of Trinity International University, was amended by floor action at the time of the business session. In addition, Transitional Rule #9 was amended by floor action, at the business session, to add a third sentence so that this Transitional Rule would apply, specifically, to all District Superintendents.

The entire set of Transitional Rules, as adopted by the Leadership Conference, is now available here ( and on the EFCA Web site): http://www.efca.org/about/media/sof_transitional_rules_adopted.pdf

Proposed Revision with Scripture References

2007-08-28T14:43:11Z

This Proposed Revision with Scripture References is a "working document." This means the Spiritual Heritage Committee will continue to add Scripture references to each article. Even at this draft stage, you will find this version helpful in expanding your understanding of the Proposed Revision. You can download it at the following link:
http://www.efca.org/about/media/sof-proposed-revision-with-references.pdf

Inerrancy, Hermeneutics and Eschatology

2007-07-16T17:49:35Z

The 2007 Midwinter Ministerial addressed this important topic. Though the Ministerial is past, and premillennialism is reinserted, this is an invaluable tool/resource to help one to understand these important issues.

Speakers from outside the Free Church provided instruction in the various eschatological positions - Dispensationalism, Progressive Dispensationalism, Historic Premillennialism and Amillennialism. The first three are the various positions within Premillennialism. The final one is considered outside our Statement of Faith, both the 1950 Statement and the Proposed Revision. It was, however, one of the positions being considered with the broadened statement on eschatology. Even though the position is not being considered, the messages and exchanges between speakers will be very instructive, even to aid in one's understanding of the Free Church breadth with the Premillennial position.

These messages were followed by a presentation outlining how to distinguish between doctrinal essentials and non-essentials.

Here is how you can download the messages:
1. Go to: http://equip.efca.org
2. Read the instructions for "Is this your first time here?"
3. Locate and click on the "Create New Account" button.
4. Create a user name and password and give the requested basic information about yourself. When you are finished, click the "Create my new account" button.

Note: If your e-mail provider has spam blocking, be sure to allow the EQUIP site administrator, Ken Warwick [kwarwick@efca.org], to be accepted in your inbox.

5. You will immediately receive an e-mail from Ken Warwick with a web link to confirm your account. Clicking on the link will take you to the EQUIP site.
6. Find the all course listings, scroll down to EFCA events and Click on the Midwinter Ministerial.
7. You will be prompted to enter a one-time enrollment key which is: MTD07 (an abbreviation of Midwinter Theological Discussion 2007)
8. The Midwinter Ministerial will be listed as a link for you on your EQUIP home page whenever you log in to EQUIP.

Proposed Revision Commentary

2007-07-16T17:45:34Z

The Commentary on the Proposed Revision is now available here. Remember, this Commentary only contains major differences between our present Statement of Faith (1950) and the Proposed Revision. In the future, probably after (and if) this Proposed Revision is approved by the Conference, would a full Commentary be provided for the whole Statement of Faith, something similar to what Arnold Olson did in This We Believe.

Proposed Revision of the EFCA Statement of Faith

2007-07-16T17:36:02Z

The Proposed Revision was unanimously approved by the Board of Directors at their April 2007 meeting. The letter from the BOD can be read here.

The Proposed Revision can be downloaded here.

There were three key changes from the Third Draft Revision. The first was the reinsertion of premillennialism in article #9. This, second, meant that the preamble, which focused on the emphasis in the SOF on gospel essentials, needed to be changed. And this led to the third change, the removal of the gospel as a structuring framework which entailed shortening the headings of each article. You can read of these changes in the BOD letter, mentioned above. You can also follow the details of the changes in the footnotes in the Proposed Revision found on pages 3-7, also mentioned above.

The Proposed Revision was formally presented as a motion at the 2007 Conference, which means it will be discussed and voted upon at the 2008 Conference.

Board of Directors' update letter on proposed revision to Statement of Faith

2007-05-10T15:49:06Z

Board of Directors' update letter on proposed revision to Statement of Faith (Adobe PDF)

Proposed Revision of the Statement of Faith

2007-05-10T15:47:43Z

Proposed Revision of the Statement of Faith (Adobe PDF)

Board of Directors' Recommendation For the Adoption of Transitional Rules for Implementation of a Revised Statement of Faith

2007-05-10T15:46:31Z

Board of Directors' Recommendation For the Adoption of Transitional Rules for Implementation of a Revised Statement of Faith (Adobe PDF)