We receive frequent requests for our statement of faith from individuals interested in contributing financially. Since Seoul USA is a member of the International Christian Organization along with all the other Voice of the Martyrs chapters, we actually have a shared statement of faith.

But as true as that statement is about us, I've never liked it nearly as much as I do the Nicene Creed. 

Memorizing the Nicene Creed is what Christians across the broadest expanse of time and geography and denomination and language did (and in some places still do) in preparation for their baptism. Notes Thomas Oden in the introduction to magnificent Ancient Christian Doctrine series on the Nicene Creed:

During times of persecution the baptismal confession typically was memorized, not only because it was unsafe to write it down, but also because written texts made other innocent people more susceptible to charges under civil authorities. More reliable was the quiet tradition faithfully passed on verbally through the episkopoi from the apostles. The bishops' primary task was to maintain accurate apostolic teaching without addition or subtraction.

In other words, it's not only Christian nonprofit organizations that ought to have a statement of faith. Every individual believer should as well-and that statement of faith should be the Creed which encapsulates the teaching of the apostles, nothing more and nothing less. Continues Oden:

The first article of the Nicene Creed presupposes that there is an objective body of teaching that Christians are expected to confess as their faith. This idea seems normal and natural to us, but it was a novelty in the ancient world. Neither Judaism nor any pagan religion or philosophy could claim to have a closely defined set of beliefs that everyone adhering to it was expected to publicly profess and defend against all comers.

Sadly, the idea of a defined set of beliefs that every Christian has memorized and can publicly profess and defend is a novelty in contemporary Christianity.

Fred Sanders makes this point in his book, The Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes Everything:

People who grew up under the influence of reductionist evangelicalism suffer, understandably, from some pretty perplexing disorientation. They are raised on "Bible, cross, conversion, and heaven" as the whole Christian message, and they sense that there must be more than that... Inside of reductionist evangelicalism, everything you hear is right, but somehow it comes out all wrong.

That is because when emphatic evangelicalism degenerates into reductionist evangelicalism, it still has the emphasis right but has been reduced to nothing but emphasis. When a message is all emphasis, everything is equally important and you are always shouting... The other problem is that a gospel reduced to four points ceases to make sense unless its broader context can be intuited. "The Bible says Jesus died so you can get saved and go to heaven" is a good start, the right emphasis, and a recognizable statement of the gospel-provided that it is securely lodged in the host of other truths that support and explain it.

That host of other truths? It's the Nicene Creed. And if we're going to be people of robust faith who value, preserve, embody, and impart the fullness of what we received in our baptism, we'd better be able to recite it-and not just some proprietary statement of faith-from memory, in the marketplace and not just in the marketing materials of our ministries.

We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen... 

This article originally appeared in Seoul USA's Bi-Weekly Prayer Partner Update e-Newsletter.  To sign up to receive future emails, click here.