Many of us have been to church services where we have witnessed some young people profess their faith. Friends and family turn up for the occasion and the church is filled to overflowing. Why such a fuss? What’s the big deal? Why do so many people turn up for the service? Is it for the free feed afterwards, or something more significant than that?
I would put to you that this a very significant point in the life of the person professing faith. It is not a sacrament of the church holding special grace, but it is a monument in the life of a young person openly displaying the desires of their heart. This person wants to offer himself as a willing servant of Jesus Christ.
What I want to do in this article is to firstly describe what profession of faith is, but then also to trace back how we prepare our young people for this profession of faith.
Before we begin, I want to state from the outset that what I am describing here is the normative path of faith that our young people travel. There are many exceptions to the rule. Much to the pain of many, not least the parents, we experience young people who do not profess faith. In fact some reject all they have been taught, deny the God who has covenanted with them, and walk the way of the world. There are many who, after years of backsliding and wandering, come to faith later in life. There are those who profess faith after having been converted out of the world in which they grew up. Finally, there are also those who after having become Christians come into contact with Reformed Theology and the sovereignty of God. Many of these have become members of our churches as well. I am not dealing with any of these scenarios in this article – they must be left for another article/s. In this article, I want to describe the “ordinary” way in which the young people, who have been raised in the church, come to a point of professing their faith in Jesus Christ.
What is Profession of Faith?
In our form for profession of faith, the minister, speaking about the profession of faith candidates, says “…today they will publicly accept and confirm what was sealed in their baptism, confess with their mouth Jesus as Lord, and offer themselves to God as his willing servants.” In many ways this sums up what we believe profession of faith entails.
Accept and confirm what was sealed in baptism.
When you are baptised as an infant, your parents believe that you, as a child of believing parents, are received by God in Christ as a member of his covenant and church. God says to you in your baptism, “I am your God,” as he stated to Abraham and his offspring in Genesis 17:7. In your public profession of faith, you confess that God is your God and you are his child because of Jesus Christ’s work on the cross.
Confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord.
In profession of faith, what God promised at your baptism, you now confirm with your own mouth. You publicly state that Jesus is your Lord and Master and you want to serve and follow him. You are acknowledging Jesus before others1 and willingly taking up your cross and following him.2 In doing this, you willingly promise to care for and love the church – Christ’s body on earth – and submit to her instruction and discipline.
These are the things you are confessing in your public profession of faith.
But how did you get here?
Well, let’s start at the beginning. Out of all the parents in the world, God, in his rich and overflowing grace, allowed you to be born to parents who love the Lord and have pledged themselves to serve and follow Christ. They presented you for baptism and received some incredible promises.
As well as receiving promises, your parents also make a vow: “Do you promise, in reliance on the Holy Spirit and with the help of the Christian community, to do all in your power to instruct this child in the truth of the Christian faith and to lead him by your example to follow Jesus Christ?” In saying, “we do,” your parents vowed to take up opportunities to teach you whose you are. They promise to remind you of your baptism and that you are in covenant relationship with the triune God. Your parents were promising to show by example and words that to live for Jesus Christ is your calling and duty.
Parents keep this vow by daily reading the Scriptures to their children from a young age, teaching them the Bible stories, and through example and practice, showing them how to pray. As children get older, parents encourage them to read their Bibles. They show their children what it looks like to live a life worthy of the gospel. Parents encourage their children to see whose they are and their responsibility to be God’s people. In these ways, children are constantly reminded of their baptism and how it points them to Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin and hope for eternal life.
Although the home is primary, the church also has its place. If your church had a Sunday School program, you were taught via this means. Then you went to catechism classes to learn more deeply about the gospel. Through this, we trust, you started to see the riches of the faith, the wonders of God’s revealed word, and the beauties of Jesus and his work for you.
All these things God uses to bring you to faith in him, but he also uses individual members in the congregation to do this. We are part of a body – a church. In this family, you grow up together with people of all ages and maturities, both in life and in faith. You will get involved in youth group and Bible studies. We also have elders and congregational members who will have huge influences on your life. At times, members may take special interest in you and spend time with you. So, God uses members of the body to bring you to the point of making this faith your own.
As time goes on, you come (or have come) to an age of physical and spiritual maturity, where you believe for yourself what you have been taught. It is here that you are usually taken through profession of faith class. This class teaches you more in-depth what we believe as a church, and/or provides more comprehensive teaching on the vows that are being made in baptism.
For most, the truths of the gospel become a living reality over a period of time. Like Timothy you have been immersed and acquainted with the sacred writings.3 For some, the truths you have been taught throughout your life suddenly become real and personal. Whichever way it happens, the Lord has impressed this realisation upon you and the day of profession of faith is a culmination of all that has gone before. All that has transpired in the life of a covenant child is what God has used to bring you to this point in your life. Therefore, we celebrate.
Conclusion
So, as we see from all this, profession of faith is not a graduation ceremony, having passed a prescribed course of study with a set pass mark. No, all the teaching over the years is there to bring you to a point where you believe these things as true for you. It is not merely driving you to know more. Yes, you need to know, but any Christian is to continue to grow in knowledge even after professing faith. It is primarily about believing what you know.
Now you see why it is such a special occasion. The profession of faith candidate has come to a point that he believes all he has been taught is true; he believes that Jesus is his Saviour, Lord, and Master. Now, what God promised in his baptism has been confirmed. What a blessed thing to rejoice in!
Notes
1 Matthew 10: 31,33. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.
2 Matthew 16:24-25. Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
3 2 Timothy 3:15 And how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation in Christ Jesus.
Mr Erik Stolte is a minister in the Pukekohe Reformed Church.
Image by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels
