The doctrines of Christianity are the guiding principles of the faith. These are the teachings of the church as they have been derived from the scriptures and compiled by the various Christian theologians over the past millenniums. The doctrines are the essential teachings of the faith as given by God, through the various authors of the Bible to mankind. These doctrines include the nature of God and creation. They also include God’s relation to His creation, including man. Theology is the study of God and of His teachings. It is also the process of arriving at doctrine. Doctrine is the summation or description of the truths found in the bible.
Definition- A doctrine is defined as; something taught, something taught as the principles or creed of a religion. A theological definition; that which is taught and believed to be true by a church.
Another view of doctrine is that it is systematized knowledge of the true or correct teachings of the Christian faith. Doctrine interprets the scriptures to provide these teachings in an understandable and comprehensive form. It encompasses the collected teachings of authors of the various books of the bible as they were inspired in their writing by the Holy Spirit. The doctrines of the faith have been studied, debated, and finally agreed upon by various church councils in the form of creeds. Doctrine provides Christians with a set of accurate guidelines and parameters in which the teachings of the bible are to be understood. It preserves the truth of scripture and minimizes the possibility of false teaching.
The doctrines of the faith contain ideas which can be complex in their understanding as they delve into deep philosophical concepts, such as the doctrine of Christology. Doctrines can be understood at a basic level by the average Christian as he studies scripture. The study of doctrine does require some time and effort as even the most knowledgeable theologians are constantly learning. The extent of this site is only to present the doctrines so that they may be understood at a basic level. The reader is encouraged to continue the study of the doctrines on their own through bible study groups, personal study, or through formal education classes. The title of each doctrine of the menu bar is followed by its formal title in parenthesis. If a student were to search through a systematic theology book the doctrines would be listed by their formal title.
The Need for Proper Doctrine
During the 1990’s the Seeker Friendly Movement became popular among churches in the U.S. By the next decade tens of thousands of Christian churches had adopted the movement and a new way of “doing church” that was relevant to current times was now the model to be followed. Two mega-churches led the way in training thousands of pastors and church leaders in this movement, Saddleback Church in California and Willow Creek Church in Chicago. The Seeker Friendly Model is the premise that the solution to declining church membership is to become more relevant by adapting the church to the views of the current culture. The goal was to make the church more inviting to new members and seekers. The method was to move away from gospel and doctrine based sermons, to a more entertainment based venue. Church services soon became filled with concert like music, dramatic skits, and large screen monitors displaying video presentations. Sermons were now based on meeting the needs and desires of unbelievers. Preaching about sin, death, hell, atonement, justification and other fundamental doctrines was banished. Popular church sermons were now more culturally sensitive and entertaining. The pastor transitioned from bible preacher, to part motivational speaker and part stand-up comic.
A little more than a decade later the effects of the Seeker Friendly Movement soon became apparent as church leaders noticed that their pews were now filled with immature Christians who were not producing any spiritual fruit. It was evident that these churches had gone from being strongholds of Christian values and teachings to being shallow institutions echoing modern societal views. In 2004, the leaders of Willow Creek Church conducted surveys of their congregation and the results were disappointing. The conclusion was that the church had focused primarily on growth and new membership, resulting in the entire congregation not growing in the faith. Another issue was that the mature members of the church had been neglected and had stalled in their spiritual growth. They had been abandoned and become dissatisfied with the church. Many in this group either left the church or considered leaving.
The lessons learned from this movement were that the Church is not to conform to the beliefs of the current culture; it is culture that is to conform to the beliefs of the Church. The Church transforms the culture through the teachings of God. People are not to conform to the pattern of this world, they are to be transformed towards holiness by conforming to God’s will. Paul teaches this concept in the book of Romans.
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Rom. 12:2
The Church is the community of believers who come together to worship God, and to become disciples who go out to teach and preach the Gospel to others. It is not a marketplace that is primarily focused on reaching new customers. Disciples cannot be trained without the full teaching of Scripture. Seekers can only be brought to salvation by the power of the Gospel. Too many churches today preach shallow messages that merely entertain and make people feel good about themselves; instead of preaching the Full Council of God, (c-my blog on Being Fed A Sugary Gospel of Junk Food). The Gospel matters, doctrine matters; and nothing is more relevant yesterday, today, and tomorrow for mankind than–teaching and preaching the Gospel of Christ.
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
Romans 1:16-17
Hosea 4:6 Teaching Ministry 