It shows how much I don’t know… and I readily admit it.

But there is something that is becoming evident to me: I want to be more confessional in my Pentecostal roots and beliefs. I want to be more “credal.” Is that a word? I just got a spell-check squiggly… (This isn’t going to be a very formal treatise.)

This I know:

The creeds of the ancient church are vital to the unity of the Church. They are basic Christianity and should be things on which we agree as the Body of Christ.

I don’t need any post-Reformation creeds. The Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed (and we can debate the filioque if you like) are fine. Certainly from there we will have our “distinctives.” But if we can come back to this… the creeds… is it possible that we can find the Body of Christ?

As a Pentecostal I am certainly going to have a “disctinctive,” and I am certainly not about to shove it down anyone’s throat. However, I am willing to live out that distinctive and contribute that to the Church. Should I not be allowed that grace? Could Pentecostals add something to the Body of Christ? Certainly, just as Reformed, Lutherans, etc., can add to the Body of Christ.

This is why I think the Assemblies of God should be more credal. Not reciting our “Fundamental Truths,” but emphasizing the creeds that lift up the essentials of Christianity. I am not asking that we cease living in the power of the Spirit. Quite frankly, I am begging Pentecostals to start acting like Pentecostals more! Focusing on one of our Fundamental Truths doesn’t make us Pentecostal, friends. We need the life of the Spirit in demonstration now.

Loving Christ. Loving the Body. Confessing the great truths of our faith.

The Apprentice.