Were you saved in a reformed/confessional church?

[Tim]

To the best of your discernment, what was your church situation when you were saved?

---------- Post added at 07:16 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:01 AM ----------

The Westminster Confession of Faith states,

II. The visible Church, which is also catholic or universal under the Gospel (not confined to one nation, as before under the law), consists of all those throughout the world that profess the true religion; and of their children: and is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the house and family of God, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation.

However, I desire that we would be charitable to those who believe they were saved outside the visible church. And that is why I put the third option. We can discuss the locale of salvation, but let us remember to be kind when considering this most important time in each person's life. EDIT: I understand that this may be an overly simplistic use of the term "salvation". Feel free to discuss.

---------- Post added at 07:17 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:16 AM ----------

I heard the gospel in a Christian & Missionary Alliance Church.

 

[Backwoods Presbyterian]

Reading John Calvin while attending a PC(USA) church. My Pastor thought that if I read Calvin I would think he was crazy, turns out it was my Pastor who was crazy!

 

[MarieP]

How about supposedly confessional but not really? (PCUSA) My church was more conservative at the time of my conversion than a lot of PCUSAs. And then they proved otherwise so I left 4 years later (as did about half the church).

To be fair, I think there may be reformation going on in the church recently...some long-time family friends still go there, who are strong Christians. Actually, this is the confession of faith that is on their website now...and this is PCUSA!

There is one God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

God is sovereign.

God became flesh in Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is Head of the Church.

God alone is Lord of the conscience.

God calls all people to a joyful life of faith and service.

Sin causes separation between us, God and those whom we have wronged.

We are saved by grace through faith through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Old and New Testaments are together God’s unique and authoritative word.

The baptism of children witnesses to the truth that God’s love claims people before they are able to respond in faith.

All are called to share the Good News of God’s love and offer of salvation.

 

[Christoffer]

I wasn't attending church at all. I woke up on monday the 14th of June 2004 and found myself believing the gospel (or rather the little I knew of it)

Though it might be that I was "forced back" to the faith. A friend of mine had witnessed to me about 10 years earlier and I believed at that time. But the little faith I then had died as I didn't have any christian friends or christian connections.

If I understand your question correctly, this means that I was saved outside of the visible church then?

 

[Steve Curtis]

Fundy Dispensational SBC! Praise God for a godly family that encouraged me to read God's Word, and read it to me every night as a child.

 

[Andres]

i hadn't been to church in years and had never heard the gospel until i was 18 years old and some friends invited me to one of those plays about going to hell.

 

[lynnie]

CS Lewis was sitting on a bus.

 

[Scottish Lass]

I don't remember a time when I didn't believe. I grew up in PC(USA) churches, and heard the gospel in bits and pieces in Sunday School, though rarely clearly from the pulpit. Glory be to God that he uses a variety of means to draw us to Himself!

 

[Montanablue]

I grew up in a fundamentalist church, where I suppose you could say I heard the gospel, but it had a slant on it. I didn't really understand the Bible until I made a friend in college who was EPC and we started having conversations.

 

[ubermadchen]

I heard the gospel for the first time after I called a prayer hotline to ask for prayer for a friend and came to know Christ through a Campus Crusade website. So yes, I was outside of the church so I hope it's still valid.

 

[Scott1]

I was very young, probably first or second grade when I became aware God was redeeming me.

I would attend the Methodist Church during and around visits from my grandfather, a nonconfessional church, which had some remnants of the gospel, but with much direct input from my grandfather in and around that.

 

[Montanablue]

I heard the gospel for the first time after I called a prayer hotline to ask for prayer for a friend and came to know Christ through a Campus Crusade website. So yes, I was outside of the church so I hope it's still valid.

Nope, not valid. Get out of here.

 

[Idelette]

I heard the gospel outside of the visible church through several people that the Lord brought into my life. In fact, I was given 3 Bibles by 3 different people...all at different times! I decided to pick up the Bible one day and start reading the NT and I became a believer while reading the book of Matthew. I'm certain of my salvation, and it wasn't in the context of an actual church.

 

[Augusta]

I didn't vote because I was attending a charismatic church when I heard the true gospel on the radio and was forever changed from that day. That church was not instrumental in my conversion but hearing the gospel on the radio was. I would say I was evangelized. I do credit my current confessional church with nurturing and growing that faith so that I was not just a seed among the rocks which sprang up and then died.

 

[ClayPot]

Dispensational church holding to doctrines of grace.

 

[Tripel]

I don't know when I was saved, but I've always been in a confession/reformed church, so I guess that's my answer.

 

[Simply_Nikki]

God must definitely be sovereign, as I was saved and baptized in a mega-church that preached the health wealth prosperity gospel (Word-Faith Movement).

 

[MLCOPE2]

I was saved while in an AoG church. Through personal study of the scriptures I began to move slowly towards reformed theology.

 

[dudley]

I was exploring the many Protestant denominations and studying about the Reformation and Protestantsim for about 1 year after leaving the roman catholic church and becoming an Episcapalian. I started to read about John Calvin and Reformed Protestantism and started to explore the Presbyterian fold. It was after attending services in an OPC congregation and then their inquirers class that I can say i experinced conversion to the tue Gospel and true church and was saved.

 

[VictorBravo]

To the best of your discernment, what was your church situation when you were saved?

---------- Post added at 07:16 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:01 AM ----------

The Westminster Confession of Faith states,

II. The visible Church, which is also catholic or universal under the Gospel (not confined to one nation, as before under the law), consists of all those throughout the world that profess the true religion; and of their children: and is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the house and family of God, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation.

However, I desire that we would be charitable to those who believe they were saved outside the visible church. And that is why I put the third option. We can discuss the locale of salvation, but let us remember to be kind when considering this most important time in each person's life. EDIT: I understand that this may be an overly simplistic use of the term "salvation". Feel free to discuss.

---------- Post added at 07:17 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:16 AM ----------

I heard the gospel in a Christian & Missionary Alliance Church.

To be fair, I think that section of the WCF is not saying that people don't often come to faith outside of the church, but, rather, that people who profess faith ordinarily undergo salvation through joining others in a local church. Of course, they ordinarily come to faith through preaching, but how many people were members of a church before coming to faith in the time of the Apostles?

We often use the word "salvation" as a one-off event, but it's not. The drafters of the WCF recognized that it is for a lifetime and includes sanctification as well as justification.

As for me, I had heard the gospel many times and thought it was a nice idea-- for people who needed it. I was fine enough on my own, thank you much.

That all changed when I was sitting in a kayak contemplating the fact that my wife starting thinking that the Bible was the Word of God. All those C.S. Lewis essays I read as a young man, and sermons I had heard by the few men who seemed to take Christ seriously, came back at me like a runaway logging truck. I was simply pinned against a wall and knew I could not escape. I even thought of Paul on the way to Damascus and hoped I wouldn't be blinded like he was.

And, no, I was not attending any church at all. My Sundays were devoted to boat building.

 

[Tim]

To be fair, I think that section of the WCF is not saying that people don't often come to faith outside of the church, but, rather, that people who profess faith ordinarily undergo salvation through joining others in a local church. Of course, they ordinarily come to faith through preaching, but how many people were members of a church before coming to faith in the time of the Apostles?

We often use the word "salvation" as a one-off event, but it's not. The drafters of the WCF recognized that it is for a lifetime and includes sanctification as well as justification.

Yes. That is exactly what I was getting at in my original post (in the "EDIT").

I suppose I could have re-phrased my question somewhat, but I wanted to keep it simple. If anyone wants to try to articulate the question differently, given Mr. Bottomly's comments, please feel free to do so.

 

[Sgt Grit]

Johnny Mac sermon series on making sure your salvation. In a Rick Warren church.

 

[Gforce9]

When I was 15, I worked for a man (a Roman Catholic and friend) who picked me up for work and dropped me off at night. On the way home, we would listen to Dr. D. James Kennedy's program, then discuss the message. Ironically, my friend was arguing alongside Dr. Kennedy for faith alone in Christ alone. It was through those rich times that God moved in me.

 

[JennyG]

I was attending a non-confessional church at the time, so I voted for the second option - but that wasn't where I heard the truths of Calvinism, so does that mean I should have picked the third?
I learned it from a book (as Manuel said in Fawlty Towers,- though not referring to the gospel)

 

[Bern]

I said the "sinners prayer" after reading a tract before I ever attended a church, but I don't think I was actually saved until later while attending a charismatic arminian church. Although several years later when I discovered the doctrines of grace I felt like I had been born again all over again, as it made my previous understanding of God and salvation seem so pathetic, flawed and weak!

 

[JM]

I was not attending a church and grew up in an unbelieving home. I read Matthew and believed.