In this podcast, Chad Vegas, pastor of Sovereign Grace Bakersfield talks with Chris Gordon, pastor of the Escondido United Reformed Church about the picking up the pieces after a church becomes Reformed, what a Reformed church may require for membership, and what to do about members of a Reforming church who are not ready to accept the whole confession.
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Heidelberg Reformation Association
1637 E. Valley Parkway #391
Escondido CA 92027
USA
The HRA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization
Chad Vegas
Chad is the founding pastor of Sovereign Grace Church (Bakersfield, CA). After completing his M.A. in Theology at Talbot, and being the high school pastor at RiverLakes Community Church, Chad was called to plant a church in Bakersfield. He is also the founding board chairman of Radius International, an organization that trains people to plant churches among unreached language groups. His passion is to know Christ and to make him known. He has been married to Teresa since 1994, and they have 2 children.
More by Chad Vegas ›Chris Gordon
Chris Gordon was ordained to the Ministry of the Word in October 2004. He is a native of Central California, and prior to answering God’s call into the ministry, he was a high school Bible teacher in the central Californian valley. He earned his Master of Divinity degree from Westminster Seminary California. He previously served the Lynden United Reformed Church from 2004 to July 2012, and is presently Preaching Pastor at the Escondido United Reformed Church and is the radio host and teacher on Abounding Grace Radio.
More by Chris Gordon ›
The URC should stop communing people that presently couldn’t be members. The reasons for Reformed confessional communicant membership entail Reformed (“close”) confessional communion.
I’m looking for a congregation that also believes and practices the latter.
I can help talk Chad or any minister or elder through it, if they’re interested.
I doubt anyone is interested. We have ecclesiastical bodies that make these decisions, we don’t look to random people on the internet to solve these problems.
What a refreshing discussion, thank you. As a relatively new URC member, and a curious comparative religion nerd, your discussion was a great example of sharing your beliefs and reconciling differences. Thank you both.
A discussion of pedo baptism and pedo communion would be great! Ty for the great discussions and pleasant demeanor.
Hi Jamie,
Paedocommunion is essentially a Baptist mistake (also made by the Orthodox churches in reverse). I say Baptist mistake because it conflates two signs with two distinct functions. The signs of circumcision and baptism were and are signs of admission to the visible covenant community. The Baptists confuse the two by treating baptism as a sign of renewal and not admission. Baptism, in the Baptist tradition, is the sign that one has been renewed by the Spirit (as far as they can tell). This is why, in many Baptist churches, the Lord’s Supper is more or less irrelevant. It is nothing more than an annual memorial, as it was in the SBC congregation where I came to faith. Paedocommunion makes a similar mistake by treating Holy Communion as a sign of admission to the covenant community instead of a sign of renewal.
Baptism is the New Covenant circumcision.
The Lord’s Supper/Holy Communion is the New Covenant feast.
The feasts were signs of covenant renewal. Circumcision was the sign of covenant admission.
The single best treatment of paedocommunion is Cornelis Venema’s book. Here is an extended review/synopsis.
Hi Jamie,
Paedocommunion is essentially a Baptist mistake (also made by the Orthodox churches in reverse). I say Baptist mistake because it conflates two signs with two distinct functions. The signs of circumcision and baptism were and are signs of admission to the visible covenant community. The Baptists confuse the two by treating baptism as a sign of renewal and not admission. Baptism, in the Baptist tradition, is the sign that one has been renewed by the Spirit (as far as they can tell). This is why, in many Baptist churches, the Lord’s Supper is more or less irrelevant. It is nothing more than an annual memorial, as it was in the SBC congregation where I came to faith. Paedocommunion makes a similar mistake by treating Holy Communion as a sign of admission to the covenant community instead of a sign of renewal.
Baptism is the New Covenant circumcision.
The Lord’s Supper/Holy Communion is the New Covenant feast.
The feasts were signs of covenant renewal. Circumcision was the sign of covenant admission.
The single best treatment of paedocommunion is Cornelis Venema’s book. Here is an extended review/synopsis.