Transformation, Piety and Doctrine

I (Mark) recently had the privilege of listening to Jerry Dykstra address my CRC polity class. CRC Polity was a course for graduating M.Div. students where we learned about and discussed issues facing the Christian Reformed Church. During our final class session we listened to the Executive Director (read: lead guy) of the denomination, Reverend Jerry Dykstra.

The session was incredibly interesting, as Rev. Dykstra proved to all of us why he has been entrusted to lead our denomination. One of the points he spoke of has been bouncing around my brain since that lecture. He stated that in each church there is an interplay between three foci: transformationalism, piety, and doctrinalism. All three elements are essential to the Christian life but each church (and each person) tends to lean towards one.

In every church there are people who value transformation, that is seeing people changed by the Holy Spirit into a follower of Christ. Meanwhile there will also be people who focus more on piety. They strive to be a light to the world by living a holy life. Thirdly, there are others who focus on doctrine. These people want the teaching and thinking in the church to be orthodox and theologically accurate. The transformationalist values change. The pietiest values right living. The doctrinalist values right thinking.

Each side of the triangle is essential for every church and every Christian person. Reverend Dykstra pointed out that it is the pastor's duty to analyze how the three perspectives are playing out in the church while also keeping his/her own perspective balanced.

So which one are you? Transformationalist, Pietist or Doctrinalist? None of us is a perfect equilateral triangle, and when we address the area that falls into our blind spot we become more complete in our perspective. Much like an athlete needs to work on the weak areas of their game, it is helpful to consider which side of the triangle you might be neglecting. Personally, I lean towards doctrinalist and need to tune my sermons/lessons to appeal more to the transformationalist. I really value Reverend Dykstra's wisdom because it reminded me of the diversity of perspectives in the church and how that diversity is invaluable to our spiritual health, a church's health and the health of the denomination.