Last Lessons#83 THEOLOGIANS

“But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine.”  Titus 2:1 

A defining moment for Rafiki happened in 1994 when James Montgomery Boice, the pastor of the Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, asked me to be on a council made up of theologians to form the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals (ACE).  I told Jim Boice that I was not a theologian!  He said, “No, but as the director of BSF and Rafiki you are putting into practice what we theologians will be writing about.    

The purpose of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals is to call the Church, amidst a dying culture, to repent of its worldlines, to recover and confess the truth of God’s Word as did the reformers, and to see that truth embodied in doctrine, worship, and life.  I was very honored to be involved in the beginning of ACE.  It would do for BSF and Rafiki what needed to be done; that is, to make sure that both organizations were on solid ground doctrinally.  I knew that God would bless organizations that teach sound doctrine as stated in the Scriptures and we wanted God’s blessing.  Both BSF and Rafiki needed theologians who were well trained and who could articulate, especially in written form, sound doctrine and God gave us what we needed in the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. 

Although I was, and am not, a theologian, the theologians in ACE befriended me and helped me to learn from them.  As they wrote their books, especially commentaries, I read them and learned.  I started with books by three ACE authors: 

Foundations of the Christian Faith by James Montgomery Boice 

A number of the sixty plus books written by James Montgomery Boice,  

No Place for Truth by David Wells 

Losing Our Virtue by David Wells 

Putting Amazing Back into Grace by Michael Horton 

Later I read more from ACE writers, particularly: 

Jim Boice’s last book The Doctrines of Grace that had to be finished by Phil Ryken. 

The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul and a number of his other books 

God in the Wastelands by David Wells 

Above All Earthly Powers by David Wells 

The Courage to be Protestant by David Wells (dedicated to the staff of Rafiki) 

I would recommend all these books to you if you want to become well-read doctrinally.  Little did I know that these ACE theologians that I came to know would be the ones who would help us put together the Rafiki Bible Study years later.   

There is one book I would like to recommend to you that has just now come out.  It’s Recovering Our Sanity by Michael Horton.  It speaks to the current fears we face with the way to overcome them.  You will love it!