The Catechism, painting by Edith Hartry

By Pastor Glem Melo

In some Reformed congregations and denominations, full subscription to the Reformed Confessions (i.e. the Three Forms of Unity and/or the Westminster Standards) is required for church membership.

I always had a problem with that because, according to the Bible (i.e. John 3:16 and Ephesians 2:8-9), I was saved in 1988 by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, without works, without Protestant church membership, and definitely without the Reformed Confessions. I was not perfect, had lots of doctrinal and ethical deformities, and was still in the Roman Catholic Church with no Protestant contacts, but I was truly converted, saved and growing in Christ.

Codex Manesse, fol. 292v, “The Schoolmaster of Esslingen” (Der Schulmeister von Eßlingen), between 1305 and 1340

In membership classes, I teach the following “Basic Essentials of the Christian Faith”:

1. The Bible is the perfect and authoritative Word of God for faith and life…