Calvinist church

[Tony Mel]

Are there Calvinist denominations that are not obsessed with the Doctrines of Grace™ as a distinctive?

I am familiar with PCA (Presbyterian Church in America) congregations, and all of them seem to overemphasize Calvinism and Reformed theology to the expense of other Bible truths, or even outreach.

[Presbygirl]

It doesn't come up much in our church. In fact, during membership classes at our church when we cover the 5 solas we are told that we do not have to be a 4 or 5 point anything! But, I would definitely agree with Don in that blended groups of people work best. Our churchhas about 1200 every Sunday divided between two services. The first service which is more traditional and the second or more contemporary worship service. I know our pastoral staff has differing views.

And IMHO our community outreach is commendable and we are always looking for ways to make it better.

[Tony Mel]

(08-31-2011 01:50 PM)Tony Mel Wrote:  Too much Westminster and Heidelberg. But don't you Anglicans worship the Book of Common Prayer?

No, in fact my experience has been that the new crop of Anglicans use it as a template but de-emphasize it to varying degrees. It is however a form of worship and not a doctrinal statement like WCF or 3FU.

Ok, I did not say the second part! How did our responses get merged, Don? Is this a sign?

[briceman]

Our church is a mixed group as well... most of the staff are 4 or 5 pointers, but it's not what the church is all about. We have a ton of outreach ministries and the goal of our church is to express Christ's love to others, bottom line.

[IFB No More]

(08-31-2011 12:14 PM)Tony Mel Wrote:  Are there Calvinist denominations that are not obsessed with the Doctrines of Grace™ as a distinctive?

I am familiar with PCA (Presbyterian Church in America) congregations, and all of them seem to overemphasize Calvinism and Reformed theology to the expense of other Bible truths, or even outreach.

Most of the mainline Presbyterian/Reformed denominations (e.g. PCUSA) IMO pretty much don't obsess with TULIP anymore.
There's the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC), a mostly evangelical breakaway from the PCUSA, it's like a more liberal version of the PCA (allows women deacons/elders). And I doubt bigger, urban PCA churches place the major on the 5 Points.

[richao]

At the risk of being merged into the Tony Mel - Donb123 amalgamation, let me just say as that I much prefer the traditional Anglican approach of finding your core identity in your worship rather than in your theology. Idolizing the BCP is of course error, but I'm not sure it's a greater error than idolizing one's preferred brand of systematic theology. The BCP ideally provides an avenue for Christians from a wide range of theological perspectives to join together in worship and is a useful safeguard against the tendency of American Protestants to divide over arcane points of doctrine or standards.

Of course, things start going off the rails when a significant proportion of the church continues saying the words long after they've become convinced that those words have no meaning...