Page 8 - what a christianbelieveslastfinaltest3a_Neat

Foundations of any kind are only intended to be laid once, yet
some churches will return to them over and over again and to
the same group of people. Any master builder or educator
will tell you that if they are poorly laid, correcting them is
harder than getting them right the first time.

At the end of the 1990’s I was asked to teach foundational
doctrine into a not untypical congregation in Inner London
which was cosmopolitan in culture and churchmanship. The
world has become a global village and many teachings have
crossed cultural and church boundaries. In some places they
have created a form of ‘Old Covenant Christianity’ which is a
blend of law somehow attached to the Cross; yet not recog-
nising the distinctives of Christ the Saviour concealed in the
Old Testament and the outpouring of Grace on God’s people
in the New Testament resulting from Jesus’ death and resur-
rection. At the same time I was aware that there were plenty
of other types of churches providing minimal instruction in the
faith. The effect of such approaches inevitably results in per-
sonal spiritual instability and ineffective Christians.

Any confusion of doctrine and a lack of clear understanding
of the truth of the Gospel makes it very difficult to teach
Christians that they are to be Led by the Spirit, in contrast to
living under law and walking according to the flesh. This was
Paul’s message in Galatians 5.

The Bible makes clear the foundational teachings of Christi-
anity in Hebrews 6 v1-2. Described as elementary doctrines
they are designed, once absorbed, to allow all other Christian
teaching to be overlaid them, to allow the believer to become
mature, or as one translation states, ’to go on to perfection’.

Unable to find any adequate resource that was not tainted by
denominational or doctrinal bias, I embarked on producing
something that would allow believers to be firmly grounded
without impeding them in whatever denominational or net-
work structure they chose to follow. Chris Woolley 2006

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