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)"

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

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

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.

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.