I Still Believe in the Church

How reciting the Apostle's Creed restored my faith in the Church.

Photo Credit: Unsplash

A few years ago, the boys and I memorized the Apostle’s Creed. We moved from a more liturgical Southern Baptist church to a traditional Southern Baptist church, and I missed the presence of the creeds. I wanted them exposed to historic confessions of faith—ones Christians have recited for centuries.

We’ve continued this routine. Every morning on the way to school, we pray and say the creed together. There is a temptation in reciting the creeds to lose the beauty. It can become rote. In fact, it’s an argument against it, in favor of a more “organic” worship gathering. When we let the Spirit guide us, not written documents, we feel closer to the Lord. I’ve loosely adhered to the “no creed but the Bible mantra” as much as any Southern Baptist. But this year, I’ve needed the Apostle’s Creed.

I told a friend recently that one line is my battle cry each morning. And I wonder if it hasn’t been the same for other believers over the years.

“I believe in the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints.”

The Apostle’s Creed wasn’t written by the apostles. It was written as a baptismal creed. New believers recited the creed at their baptism. As you think about what we expect of believers when they profess their faith in baptism—the Apostle’s Creed is it. It’s robust in its doctrine but doesn’t expound on the finer points. Christians have recited the creed across denominations for centuries, united by these core doctrines. But you can be new to the faith, not know the difference between Calvinism and Arminianism or any other “ism”, and link arms with fellow believers around the creed.

What’s striking to me is the inclusion of the Church. I expect the deity of Christ, the Trinity, and the death and resurrection of the Savior. But the Church and unity of the believers is not a theological point we typically bring up in a conversation before we proceed with baptism.

In the early church, baptism preceded church membership. Baptism is the outward symbol of an inward transformation. As a church ordinance, it’s practiced among a body of believers who publicly witness your faith. When you’re baptized, it’s as if they’re saying “We affirm your salvation. We’re in this with you.”

When new believers said the Apostle’s Creed at their baptism (or a version of it), they were essentially saying “I’m not a lone ranger. I believe in Christ, and I believe in the Bride he died for. We’re in this together.”

Baptism was the start of a “’til death do us part” relationship with fellows believers. As hard as church can be sometimes, the whole of church history has no category for a Christian apart from the Church. In the hardest moments of this past year, remembering what I believe not only about Jesus Christ, but also his Bride sustained me.

Church isn’t any easier or harder today than it was when the creed was written. Reciting the Apostle’s Creed daily reminds me that I’m not the first or the last Christian who has needed to remember that the Church is God’s idea. Alongside the beautiful promise that we will be resurrected, we have the equally hopeful statement that the Church is not going to fall apart—even if it feels like it is.

We recite the creeds personally, but it’s even more important to recite them corporately. Imagine saying the creed under the threat of persecution. “I believe in the Holy Catholic Church,” when your enemies are on the prowl and ready to pound through your door. “I believe in the communion of saints,” when the person sitting next to you hurt your feelings last week. “I believe in the Church” when you don’t know if you trust her yet. This is a cry of faith in the God who keeps the Church, not the ones who lead her.

As a writer, I know why we write new things. It’s cathartic to write about what we’re walking through. And to write for today’s Christians in today’s language is part of using our gifts and leading God’s people. But there is a shared promise when we recite the creeds, especially through tears.

We aren’t the first who have had to hold on to the truths creed when we didn’t know if we believed it yet. And we won’t be the last.

“I believe in the Church,” we say along with countless other Christians who have been hurt, disappointed, broken, and disillusioned by the very “Holy Catholic Church” the creed talks about. But we also believe in the next line “I believe in the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting.” Remember Peter? He’s the one Jesus said he would build his church upon. But Peter had nothing promising in him. He only brought weakness and a quick tongue. The Church Jesus builds is built on broken people because we trust him, not the people in it. We believe in the Church, but we don’t believe in the people—including ourselves. We believe in the Church, but we believe she will be purified and made new.

The church we experience today won’t be the church we experience in glory.

And that is why I’ll keep reciting the Apostle’s Creed with my boys. I believe in the Church because I believe in Jesus Christ. I believe she is being purified. Even when it’s painful and hard to witness, I do think she will come forth like gold—stronger and more beautiful than she was before.