The Pastor's Corner

October 2025

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:2)

We will celebrate Reformation Sunday on October 26. It is a good time for us to remember the basis for the reforms that came from the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century and to examine what we yet need to reform the twenty-first century church.

Our current Book of Order includes this statement: “The church affirms Ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda secundum verbum Dei, that is, “The church reformed, always to be reformed according to the Word of God” in the power of the Spirit (F-2.02)

The phrase first appeared in 1674 in a sermon/devotional by Jodocus van Lodensteyn who was a minister in the Reformed Church of the United Provinces, Netherlands. He emphasized the need for the individual church member to allow the Word of God and the work of the Holy Spirit to transform their heart. At that time, the Church as an institution was reformed in its worship, doctrine, and form of government. Lodensteyn argued that the Church, as individual people, still needed to allow God’s Word and the work of the Holy Spirit to transform their hearts and lives.

The phrase “always being [or always in need of being] reformed” reflects the Reformed doctrines which are based on biblical teaching. The Reformed doctrines teach that we (individuals and the collective church) are sinful in nature and always in need of the saving grace of God.

The message is incomplete without the ending: (secundum verbum Dei) “according to the Word of God.” This states clearly that the reform that is to happen should be in keeping with the teachings of the Word of God; not the will of humans, nor changes in cultural or political leanings. This is accomplished through the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of individuals and in the life of the church to discern and understand the scriptures and causes us to be re–formed in Christ’s image.

Reformation is more than simply a change; it is a return to living according to the will of God as stated in Scripture. Reformation is not a one-time event; it is an ongoing movement toward God and away from our natural tendency to sin; it is a restoration from deformation.

May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word. (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17)

Rev. Teresa Reed