Our Statement of Faith: The Pastors College's Sacred Trust

Our newly ratified Statement of Faith has broad implications for the churches of Sovereign Grace, but its strategic significance for the Pastors College is massive. In essence, it represents a solemn pact between the PC and our churches—guiding and guarding our instruction to help ensure faithful pastoral ministry, by God’s grace, for generations to come.

In a year in which cultural controversies dominated the evangelical landscape, the churches of Sovereign Grace quietly did something truly countercultural: as the culmination of a careful, seven-year process of theological formulation, discussion, revision, and review, Sovereign Grace Churches (SGC) ratified a new Statement of Faith that would function confessionally for every ordained pastor in the denomination (the Statement, along with a description of its history, can be found at http://webelieve.sovereigngrace.com/).

From one angle, this action was unremarkable, as our churches have from their inception defined themselves theologically. By God’s grace, we have avoided many a theological pitfall, and our gospel-centrality—SGC was “gospel-centered” long before that phrase was fashionable—has remained steadfast. 

Still, at least for our small band of churches, this was a historic moment. After a season of pruning, and in the wake of a thorough re-working of our polity, our churches planted a definitional flag, both honoring our past and resolving for the future: “This, by the grace of God, is who we are.” It was a galvanizing moment of unity. It was a public commitment to ongoing theological fidelity. It was an act of glad submission to the God who exercises his authority over us by his Word. It was a willing embrace of pastoral accountability to the teachings of Scripture and the ethical standards therein.

The implications of this action for our family of churches are massive, but none moreso than its significance for the Sovereign Grace Pastors College (PC). In its mission to train pastors for SGC, the PC is, by definition, a confessional institution. We stand accountable to the elders of SGC for the doctrine we teach. Our charge entails that SGC’s biblical and theological convictions undergird all our instruction, producing an overarching theological unity to our curriculum at every point, with the gospel of Jesus Christ as its center.

As a result, the new Statement of Faith is precious to us at the Pastors College. It is an affirming, clarifying, and mission-strengthening gift. Its very existence declares that the pastors and churches we serve stand united in, and devoted to, God’s revelation in Holy Scripture. Its affirmations of great biblical doctrines root us in historic Christian orthodoxy and the faith once for all delivered to the saints. Its careful distinctions draw vital boundaries to guard against heresies ancient and contemporary. Its distinctive elements express specific convictions our churches hold dear. Its doxological tone captures the goal of all biblical truth—to lead us into a deeper knowledge of the Triune God, that we might more genuinely worship him, all to the praise of his glory. Such qualities bolster the mission of the PC with a God-centered, Christ-exalting clarity and joy.

Just as importantly, the Pastors College also receives the new Statement of Faith as a sacred trust. We are charged by the elders of our churches with the responsibility of guarding and passing on the deposit entrusted to us in Scripture and given expression in the Statement of Faith. The battle for truth is never stagnant, and the church is never immune to compromise. In its role of training men for pastoral ministry, the PC is ever conscious of its obligation to contend for the truth, and to train pastors who are equipped to do the same. These realities make the Statement of Faith of central, functional importance for the Pastors College. 

In many ways, the Statement represents a solemn pact between the Pastors College and SGC. It provides our faculty a standard for, and a measure of, the doctrinal fidelity of their instruction. It assures our students of the theological coherence of the diverse training they will receive and informs them of its theological parameters. It provides our pastors and churches with a pledge that its future leaders have been trained in accord with our confessional commitments. In short, it assures the churches of SGC that a Pastors College education is calibrated to match, not the current fashions of our cultural moment, but the biblical and theological character of our local churches. Hopefully, the Statement will help ensure that the PC is a faithful expression of Paul’s own instructions to a young pastor:­­ 

“Follow the pattern of sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.” (2 Timothy 1:13­­-14).

Paul’s charge to Timothy is sobering and uncompromising. Pastors are not free to invent and shape the content of their ministry, but they are charged to pass on the sacred deposit entrusted to them (1 Cor 15:3). They are not self-appointed professionals, but men who will give an account to God for their labors (Heb 13:17). They are not assigned merely to “run the machinery of church” but are called “to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood” (Acts 20:28). Therefore, the training of such men requires the utmost care, sobriety, and vigilance.  

A casual visitor to the Pastors College will quickly observe the joy of the students’ relationships, the competitiveness of the foosball table, the easy laughter of men who love each other and don’t take themselves too seriously. I cherish this atmosphere of warm comradery. But make no mistake: what is happening in the classroom, and afterwards in the study, is deadly serious. The testimony of Christ is at stake. The well-being of Christ’s church is at stake. Eternal destinies are at stake (1 Timothy 4:16b). 

Such realities highlight the critical importance of the Statement of Faith for the PC. As the dean of the college, I am deeply grateful for this document—and not only for its doctrinal precision, but also for its clarifying, theological vision. Our mandate is unchanged, yet reinforced. The PC is not to be a place of theological experimentation and academic innovation, but biblical rigor and theological fidelity, all in the service of Christ-exalting affections and labors. Few things are more countercultural—and more exhilarating.[1] My fervent prayer is that God would be pleased to use this Statement to help secure generations of such pastors to serve the churches of Sovereign Grace in our mission to glorify God through the gospel of Christ.

[1] For insightful reflections on the interaction between culture and theological education, see David F. Wells, “Educating for a Countercultural Spirituality,” in Theological Education in the Evangelical Tradition, ed. D.G. Hart and R. Albert Mohler, Jr. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996), 290-299.