Dr. Lyle Bierma helps Faith PCA

Last weekend Rev. Jack Phelps and Covenant Bible Church hosted their annual Reformation Day Church History Conference in Chugiak. Their special guest was Dr. Lyle Bierma (bio), professor of systematic theology at Calvin Theological Seminary.

Dr. Bierma’s talks opened with a beautiful rationale for the usefulness of historic confessions in the life of the church. In short, he helps us understand that when a congregation confesses what they believe, (a) the people are united to one another and to fellow Christians throughout the history of the church, (b) they have a way to instruct one another in the truths of Scripture, (c) they learn how to recognize counterfeit teaching, and (c) they have a testimony to proclaim to those examining the Christian life.

Of course, Dr. Bierma says all of this better than I! Since this talk was not recorded, I asked him if he has published the talk elsewhere. He emailed a PDF copy of Calvin Theological Seminary Forum, a publication of the seminary, in which he authored, “Why Be a Confessional Church?” This is a very clear and helpful guide. You can find more Forum articles in PDF, but as a gift to Faith PCA, Dr. Bierma offered to mail some hard copies of his article. Please contact me if you would like a copy.

While we’re talking about it, you should know that Faith PCA is a confessional church. You can learn about what we believe, or you can plan to attend our next Introduction to Faith seminar in the Spring.