So, Just WHAT do you really believe??

As we mentioned in "Let's Begin", 1 Peter 1:16 instructs us that "If someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it." It is vital that we are able to explain why we believe what we believe.  However, one small problem I have observed, even within the church, is that many don't really even know what it is they believe let alone be able to explain it.

Todd and I have put ourselves through an exercise during the past few years because we wanted to be able to not only explain why we believed what we believe, but wanted to clarify for ourselves what it truly is we believe in the first place.  As a result, we have each created our own "Statement of Faith".  We would recommend that if you have not been through a similar exercise, you do so now. 

The last thing we want to do is to put out a statement that some would make a 'test of fellowship'.  Our hope is not that someone would choose to associate, or not associate, with us because of the theological doctrine we believe to be true.  While we do think that there are some essentials as to what is critical doctrine for us to believe in order for us to call ourselves Christians, we want to make sure we don't become 'pharisaical' and create a 'creed' we expect everyone to follow.

Our 'Statement of Faith' is not an end all document.  It would be neither possible, nor right, to try to make an end all document.  It is not our desire for you to create a document that looks like ours.  We are both sharing our "Personal Statement of Faith" here however simply as an example of what we are talking about.

We have shared this with several 'church leaders' over the past years and they have been through this exercise.  In fact, all of the currently serving elders at White Oak Christian Church have been through this exercise.  After all, you can't lead someone to a place you are not going to yourself.  As a result they have also learned more about themselves, what it is they truly believe and put themselves in a position to be able to explain it.

We hope you find this little exercise to be as enlightening for you as it has been for us. Our own personal statements of faith are here just to give you an example of what we are talking about.  Yours should be your own. 

To see Dave's click here. 
We will be making Todd's available here soon. 
An additional approach you my wish to check out. click here.

Enjoy!

May God bless you as you go through this exercise.

Todd Wuske &
Dave Willmore