Calls are often made to 'update' the Basis of Union or to develop a contemporary statement or confession of faith. Such calls are prompted by various concerns - some concerning the status of the Basis, some concerning its content, some concerning the call within the Basis itself for 'fresh words and deeds'. The Uniting Church has already developed its own contemporary statements of faith. Uniting in Worship 2 includes a contemporary Statement of Faith built upon the Basis itself. Following the adoption of the Revised Preamble to the UCA's constitution, the Worship Working Group developed an Affirmation of Faith (in two forms) which includes themes suggested by the Preamble. All these carry some de facto authority, even if the nature of that authority has not been formally articulated.
Another possible way of enriching our theology would be to follow the example of other churches in the Reformed tradition and formally adopt, for authoritative reference and consultation, one or more of the confessions or statements of faith developed by other Churches. To cite just two examples, both the Presbyterian Church of the USA and the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand have formally acknowledged contemporary confessions of other Churches as points of reference for their own theological guidance. Both have also developed contemporary statements of faith of their own. Perhaps, on this fortieth anniversary of the Uniting Church, it is timely to ponder the possibility of a UCA 'Book of Confessions'.
The
Basis of Union already commits the Uniting Church – in very particular ways –
to use, and learn from, the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds as well as various documents produced during the
Reformation and Evangelical Revival, namely the Scots and Westminster
Confessions, the Heidelberg Catechism, the Savoy Declaration and John
Wesley’s Forty-Four Sermons (see Basis #10). The Basis also recognizes that
the “Uniting Church lives within a world-wide fellowship of Churches in which
it will learn to sharpen its understanding of the will and purpose of God by
contact with contemporary thought” (Basis
#11). Engaging with other churches' contemporary confessions is one way of sharpening
that understanding. Of course, Uniting in Worship 2 has already done something like this by its inclusion of the much-used ‘We are not alone’ produced by the
United Church of Canada. There is no reason, so it seems to me, that we could
not formally expand this list of authorised resources from which we might intentionally learn.
This would not simply be a matter of receiving and endorsing this or that statement that emerges from time to time. The genre of 'confessions of faith' is much discussed in the Reformed tradition. They are usually the result of much deliberation. Key to their genre and function is that they emerge from a particular set of circumstances but do so in such a way that they can speak beyond those circumstances. The members of the Joint Commission on Church Union put it like this:
The great Confessions of the reformation period were brought into being…to serve the particular needs of the Church of that day. They, too, have their limitations; limits set by time and place and original occasion which called them forth. But such limitations do not invalidate the universal significance of such documents. They share with all great Christian utterances the scandal of particularity; but what is rooted in a particular act of obedience or confession may have universal significance.
If we were to go down this path, my suggestions for consideration are the following four confessions or statements of faith. I'm sure there would be others to be considered, but this is where I'd start.
In 1983 the United Presbyterian Church in the USA and the Presbyterian Church in the United States united to form the Presbyterian Church (USA). This Brief Statement of Faith was produced as part of the process of union and was included in the new church's Book of Confessions. It is trinitarian, but unlike the Nicene Creed it begins with a confession of Jesus and gives significant weight to the details of his earthly ministry. God's fatherhood is defined in terms of Jesus' Abba-relation to him. Also significant is that the confession of God's creative work gives particular focus to the creation of a single human community equally reflecting the image of God across boundaries of race and culture. The person of the Spirit is linked to works of justice, freedom and peace.
The Belhar Confession was developed by the Dutch Reformed Mission Church of South Africa in the early 1980s. The DRMC was the church established by the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa (DRCSA) in 1881 for 'people of color'. The DRMC adopted the Confession in 1986 and it is now among the confessions of the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA) which was formed in 1994. Strikingly, whilst a theologically penetrating critique of racism, apartheid itself is never mentioned. This, together with the richness of its theological framework, may make it a prime example of a confession that is highly particular yet speaks beyond its particular circumstances. Already several other churches have adopted it, including the Presbyterian Church (USA) in 2016. (I've been unable to find a active website for the URCSA. Hence the link above is to the English translation of the Confession on the PC (USA) website from where I've also drawn the details of the Confession's history. The confession was originally written in Afrikaans.).
In 2010 the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand adopted Kupu Whakapono (Confession of Faith). This too is a trinitarian confession. With regard to that tradition of confessions its most interesting emphasis and correction (to my mind) is the way its article on the Holy Spirit moves beyond the classical and formulaic 'marks' of the church to a summary description of the character and purpose of the church. It is also notable that as well as being available in both English and Maori, the English version includes Maori language not only in the title but also, significantly, in the specific confession of the church as 'one people'.
Pope Francis' 2015 encyclical,Laudato si', might be the most contentious of these four suggestions and not only because of its Roman Catholic provenance. Obviously, as a papal encyclical it does not set out to be a confession in the Reformed tradition. But is there any reason why the UCA (with its commitment to the "world-wide fellowship of churches") could not accept it as a confession of faith? One of the striking things about this document is not only its content (especially its attention to and interweaving of theology, ecology, technology and economics) but the warm reception it has already received in both wider Christian and secular contexts. Obviously, the UCA would have issues with its affirmation of Mary as Queen of Creation. But could we not adopt the same posture towards this (or any of the other three confessions suggested here) as the Basis enjoins us to adopt towards the Reformation Confessions? We are not asked to endorse them but to be intentional about learning from them.Such, then, is my suggestion for a UCA Book of Confessions and some possible candidates for inclusion.
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NB: The reference to the work of the Joint Commission is from The Faith of the Church in Theology for Pilgrims: Selected Theological Documents of the Uniting Church in Australia edited by Rob Bos and Geoff Thompson (Sydney: Uniting Church Press, 2008), 24.
