The State of Theology
Spoiler: the catechism question I am sharing about during the home visits I do this year is from the Baptist Catechism: “What is God?” The question itself catches us off guard—“What is God? Not ‘who’?” A.W. Tozer famously wrote in The Knowledge of the Holy, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” What Tozer implies in that sentence is profoundly true: theology leads to doxology. What you think about God—how you answer, “What is God?”—shapes how you live and what you praise. And that’s why the pastors are asking that you take a brief survey to help us gauge the “state of theology” at Westview.
Theology → Doxology
Let’s first consider this connection between theology and doxology. Take, for example, the atheist. If you reject the premise of the catechism question and deny the existence of God, that will have a profound impact on your life. You will live according to naturalistic convictions, understanding people to operate out of relativism and base instinct for self-advancement. And ultimately, nothing in life matters, since we will all die and simply decompose. There is no foundation in this “theology” for love. You will live for your own praise and gratification.
Or another example, closer to home. When you think about God, you might think he is concerned only with your spiritual life and that’s about it: “All God cares about is if I believe in Jesus.” This can be a footing for you to praise God for the precious blood of Christ. You can hold to true things about God—theology—and respond to his redemption in grateful praise—doxology. But the progression between those two terminals, the movement from theology → doxology, can leave that arrow a hot mess. That arrow is where most of life happens. You won’t have an abiding confidence in God to supply sufficient grace when suffering comes. You won’t search the Scriptures when your marriage is hard. You won’t invest deeply in discipling relationships. Your theology has separated the spiritual of life of “then” from the Christian life of “now.” And your doxology will be stunted.
Or another example, closer to home. When you think about God, you might think he is concerned only with your spiritual life and that’s about it: “All God cares about is if I believe in Jesus.” This can be a footing for you to praise God for the precious blood of Christ. You can hold to true things about God—theology—and respond to his redemption in grateful praise—doxology. But the progression between those two terminals, the movement from theology → doxology, can leave that arrow a hot mess. That arrow is where most of life happens. You won’t have an abiding confidence in God to supply sufficient grace when suffering comes. You won’t search the Scriptures when your marriage is hard. You won’t invest deeply in discipling relationships. Your theology has separated the spiritual of life of “then” from the Christian life of “now.” And your doxology will be stunted.
The State of Theology
As your pastors, we aim to shepherd you well in following Christ in all of life. There are multiple avenues through which we strive to know you and shepherd you. Our pastoral home visits are a clear example. We aren’t just generic pastors of a generic people. We are your pastors, so we want to know you. And as we press into more personal, experiential aspects of life in home visits, we can further identify areas we need to address by getting a sense of the church’s theology.
Ligonier Ministries and Lifeway Research have been working together for a number of years to produce and distribute a short survey among evangelical Christians in the U.S. Their data reveals where there are shortcomings to theology—areas that do not align with historic statements of faith. This helps identify where more attention in teaching and preaching is needed: areas that are short-circuiting doxology.
You perhaps have seen results from Ligonier. If you haven’t, don’t go looking yet. They make the same survey available for churches to utilize, gaining focused insights into an individual local church. The pastoral team would appreciate you taking a few minutes to complete the survey. You can look up the nationwide results after so that exposure doesn’t influence how you would respond. Now, don’t worry—you don’t need to study. The questions are straightforward, and if you don’t know what the question is asking, answering accordingly will still be helpful.
We are not putting all of our “shepherding eggs” into the one basket of this survey. Formal theological statements are not the be-all, end-all assessment. But this is one aspect of being a disciple of Christ that does have a significant downstream impact. Having a better sense of where our church is at on the theological topics addressed in the survey will help us know where exhortations, sermons, and articles could focus instruction and application. We want to help you believe truly, live faithfully, and praise robustly. Thank you for helping us do that.
Ligonier Ministries and Lifeway Research have been working together for a number of years to produce and distribute a short survey among evangelical Christians in the U.S. Their data reveals where there are shortcomings to theology—areas that do not align with historic statements of faith. This helps identify where more attention in teaching and preaching is needed: areas that are short-circuiting doxology.
You perhaps have seen results from Ligonier. If you haven’t, don’t go looking yet. They make the same survey available for churches to utilize, gaining focused insights into an individual local church. The pastoral team would appreciate you taking a few minutes to complete the survey. You can look up the nationwide results after so that exposure doesn’t influence how you would respond. Now, don’t worry—you don’t need to study. The questions are straightforward, and if you don’t know what the question is asking, answering accordingly will still be helpful.
We are not putting all of our “shepherding eggs” into the one basket of this survey. Formal theological statements are not the be-all, end-all assessment. But this is one aspect of being a disciple of Christ that does have a significant downstream impact. Having a better sense of where our church is at on the theological topics addressed in the survey will help us know where exhortations, sermons, and articles could focus instruction and application. We want to help you believe truly, live faithfully, and praise robustly. Thank you for helping us do that.