The best way for us to go forward in carrying out our doctrinal commitments in public and ecclesial ways is to go back to the Scripture and see the way in which God always calls His church to hold fast to the pattern of sound words in Scripture (2 Tim. 1:13). The consistent expositional, doctrinal and exegetical preaching of God’s word in our pulpits is certainly one of the best ways for ministers to build into the minds and hearts of God’s people the dire need that we have for public and ecclesial doctrinal commitment. 

God calls His people to be truth-loving and truth-speaking people–which is why it’s disheartening to see many self-professed Calvinistic and Reformed ministers downplay doctrinal teaching, preaching and transparency. Many years ago, a pastor of an Evangelical and Reformed Presbyterian Church intimated to me that the church he pastored reserved teaching on the doctrine of election for adult Sunday School classes. He said, “We believe that more mature Christians need to hear about those doctrines. The Worship service is for a much larger group of people, including a large number of new believers, seekers or unbelievers. We wouldn’t want to run them off by teaching about doctrines that are for mature believers.” Sadly, the doctrine of election was rarely–if ever–taught in an adult Sunday School class in that church. Not all that long ago, a pastor of a large community church–who professes to be a Calvinist–told me, “Our people don’t need a sermon on limited atonement; they need to know how to have a better marriage.” Statements like these reveal that for many pastors biblical doctrine is functionally a private and personal matter rather than a public and ecclesialmatter.

To be sure, there will always be stage-cage Calvinistic pastors who annoyingly manage to make almost ever sermon they preach fit a five point outline that follows the five points of Calvinism. There will always be those who, by the emphasis they place on the Westminster Confession of Faith and Heidelberg Catechism, functionally put them on par with Scripture. However, in the grand scheme of things, it is unfathomable that anyone who has spent any amount of time in any church anywhere on the planet could ever conclude that the great problem in most pulpits is that there is too much doctrinal teaching, preaching and transparency. I have never had a congregant visit another church while on vacation only to come back and say, “You know, they were just too doctrinal in their preaching there.” In fact, the opposite has always been the case.

In part, the phenomenon of a private and personal approach to Calvinistic doctrine belongs within the realm of what D.A. Carson calls “The Underbelly of Revival“–associated with the ‘Young, Restless, Reformed’ (YRR). Though a movement that gloriously helped fuel a God-centered view of the world, a Christocentric hermeneutic, Calvinistic and Reformed doctrine and the importance of local church membership, numerous dangers and undesirable consequences have accompanied the YRR movement.

For many, the allure of the YRR movement and its related churches was the fact that “this isn’t your grandpa’s religion.” The caricature that Calvinists were stogy old men in three-piece polyester suits who never evangelized went out the window. Myriads of hip young men with beards and flannel shirts–who had grown up in Arminian churches–zealously started flocking to professedly Calvinistic churches that had high energy, edgy praise bands. The YRR movement had as much a cultural draw as it had a doctrinal appeal. The problem? D.A. Carson has aptly noted, “when things seem to be going swimmingly, the church is likely to attract more people who want to go along for the ride.” When that happens, there will always be numerous undesirable consequences. One such inescapable consequence is the relinquishing of widespread discernment. Many assume that if a pastor professes to be Calvinistic, his teaching and preaching must necessarily square with whatever others have defined as “biblically faithful preaching.” Many rushed into church and put their imprimatur on self-professed Calvinistic pastors. They loved the pastor’s personality and cultural normality; therefore, affinity and assumption started to cloud discernment. As Carson again concludes, “when people are eager to join the people of God and identify with them is precisely when more discernment is needed, not less.”

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