Made up of 67 denominations, the World Reformed Fellowship was founded to “encourage understanding and cooperation among evangelical Presbyterian and Reformed denominations and institutions, and to link those institutions having ministry resources with those possessing vision but few resources. The fellowship promotes Reformed thinking, a Reformed world and life view, fosters evangelism and strategies on missions, church planting and theological education, and promotes international communication for the further advancement of the Gospel.”
Since 2005, Samuel T. Logan Jr. has been International Director of WRF. A minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, Dr. Logan served at Westminster Theological Seminary from 1979–2007, and is now President Emeritus. He was also Visiting Fellow at Christ’s College, Cambridge in 1988–89, and special counsel to the president at Biblical Seminary in Hatfield, Pennsylvania, from 2007–2013. Dr. Logan has also written and edited a number of very helpful books.
As a happy member of the World Reformed Fellowship, I can’t imagine a better spokesman for the propagation of Christian unity and mission in the global church. The fourth General Assembly of the World Reformed Fellowship will be held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, from March 23 through March 27, 2015. In anticipation of this important event, I thought our readers might benefit from learning more about WRF’s history, missions, and vision. Dr. Logan was kind enough to grant us the proceeding interview:
Messer: What is a “fellowship” in relation to a “council” or a “denomination?”
Logan: We see the primary work of a fellowship to be networking. We do not exist to make official theological judgments and we certainly do not have any kind of ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Our “vision statement” is this – The WRF exists to promote cooperation among our members so that the strengths of some become the strengths of all in the service of Jesus Christ. I have also attached to this document a copy of a brief summary of our recent activities which will indicate the kinds of things we do. Councils tend to have much more authority and to make more rules than fellowships and councils do often make formal pronouncements about issues facing their members. It is the case, however, that sometimes the lines between fellowships and councils get blurred and some organizations that use one of those names may function somewhat like those using the other name. Another common word in these situations is the word, “alliance.”  Â
Messer: As a historian, how unique is such a worldwide fellowship (both in the Reformed world and in Protestantism generally)?
Logan: In my judgment, “fellowships” are very common, both in the evangelical Reformed world and in Protestantism generally. As an undergraduate, I was active in the work of “The Princeton Evangelical Fellowship” and that organization continues to function (and to thrive) today. Other examples of this reality are “Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship,” “The Fellowship of Christian Athletes,” and “The Fellowship of Presbyterians.” In all these cases, the organization exists not primarily to exercise discipline over its members but primarily to encourage and support its members. Usually, as is true in our case, there are very specific guidelines which define membership eligibility and it certainly can happen that applicants are denied membership or previously approved members are removed from membership on the basis of those guidelines. But the primary role of a fellowship is to encourage and support its members. In earlier days, I think the same kinds of organizations existed but did not formalize their relationships in exactly the same way that we do today. I think of the period of the Great Awakening in American history. Those who supported the work of the Awakening, whether they were Anglican or Presbyterian or Congregationalist, tended to work together to achieve their revivalist goals. In those days, they were called either “New Lights” or “New Siders” but they just as easily have been called something like “The Fellowship of the Friends of Revival.”
Messer: Why should local churches be intentionally connected with the Body of Christ internationally?
Logan: To me, the mandate is clear – EVERY church should be finding ways of giving expression to their commitment to the global Body of Christ. There are hundreds (perhaps thousands) of ways to do this but I think that somehow every local church should see itself connected to the world-wide church and should make that connection clear to “the watching world.” In the conservative Reformed tradition (my own tradition), the primary document we use to interpret Scripture is the Westminster Confession of Faith. That document discusses the church in Chapter Twenty-Five and it is of some interest to me that that chapter spends twice as much time talking about the universal VISIBLE church as it does talking about the universal INVISIBLE church (see paragraphs 1., 2., and 3.). Every member of every local church which claims to follow the Westminster Confession should be able, without a moment’s hesitation, to explain exactly how that local body “lives out” what that confession says about the universal VISIBLE church. The WRF, especially in our book, Reformed Means Missional, sees itself as providing some specific opportunities for its members to “live out” paragraphs 2. and 3. of the Westminster Confession.
Messer: Reformed theologians have historically given a lot of thought to how “Christ and culture” relate. However, the discussions have often remained on a theoretical level; speaking of “Christ” rather than Christians, and “culture” rather than cultures. At General Assembly, such issues will be addressed as human trafficking, sexual abuse, and gay rights. With such diversity in cultures represented, do you find there is a uniquely “Reformed” way in which to engage cultures, practically? In other words, when it comes to local cultural-engagement, will the WRF member in Egypt have any commonality with the WRF member in Ireland?
Logan: This is an excellent question, one which many of us (starting with ME) do not ask often enough. There are common themes among all of the genuinely Reformed traditions and what we try to do is to identify those themes which are common to all of us, make those themes clear, and then let people from different cultures explain to the rest of us specifically how those themes apply to the issues in the culture from which they come. Let me give two examples of how this has worked in the past (and how we hope it will work in Brazil in March).
At our last General Assembly in Edinburgh in the Spring of 2010, one of the topics we addressed (and that is also addressed in our book) was the topic of how we should minister faithfully in cultures which are struggling with issues relating to homosexuality. Of course, that topic has many different specific manifestations so we chose to focus on how church leaders should respond when they are pressed to recognize gay marriage and the ordination of practicing homosexuals. Knowing the different cultures that would be present, we set up a roundtable discussion led by three of our members – one was the Anglican Archbishop of Uganda, another was the head of an evangelical movement within the Church of Scotland, and the third was the Senior Pastor of one of the largest PCUSA congregations in the USA. Each of them was solidly Reformed in terms of their understanding of what Scripture says the church must be. But their responses were very different and those differences were themselves a great benefit to the many who participated in that session. One of the things that became clear is that cultures, and therefore appropriate biblical responses to those cultures, can often differ WITHIN THE SAME NATION. Therefore, hearing about various options in the attempt to remain faithful to an evangelical Reformed understanding of Scripture will sometimes require one specific action and, on other occasions, it will require a different specific action. This teaches us both to be thoughtful in how we respond and to be charitable when others who share our theology choose to respond in different ways.
A second example – a number of years ago, a number of our members asked us to consider creating a Statement of Faith for the global church. Our first reaction was, “What’s wrong with the confessions we already have?” And the response was, “Nothing, but almost all of the evangelical Reformed confessions that we already have were written by white Europeans over 300 years ago. Can you provide something that is faithful to all those earlier confessions and to the Scriptures which inform those confessions but that also takes account of the issues facing us and the issues facing the global church in the 21st century?” It seemed a good point and we did what was requested. It took us nearly ten years and MANY meetings and LOTS of input from all over the world but we now have a Statement of Faith which, we think, meets the criteria set before us by our members. None of the classic Reformed traditions addresses directly some of the latest scientific discoveries and the kinds of actions which those discoveries make possible.  None of the classic Reformed confessions addresses directly matters related to witchcraft and the kind of widespread belief in a spirit-world which is common in some parts of Africa. And the classic Reformed traditions do not provide any significant amount of guidance for those Reformed church leaders who are facing dramatic claims about the present activities of the Holy Spirit. Our Statement of Faith at least makes a beginning in dealing with these (and many other) kinds of issues.
So we see the divergence of cultures, sometimes within the same nation, to be, in fact, one of the primary reasons for the existence of the WRF. Our members from different cultures help one another to see what is the essence of the Gospel and what is cultural accretion to the Gospel. This is what we believe and hope and pray will happen again in Sao Paulo in March.
Messer: Aside from General Assembly, in what ways does WRF facilitate conversation between member-congregations?
Logan: Again, lots of examples could be provided but I’ll mention just a couple.
1. A PCA congregation in Texas sensed a leading of the Lord to become involved in ministry to individuals affected with AIDS and to do so in an international way. They contacted the WRF and asked for suggestions. We mentioned work being done by WRF members in South Africa both with AIDS orphans and with ministerial candidates who sought to bring the Gospel to communities specifically ravaged by AIDS.   We facilitated communication between the Texas congregation and our members on South Africa who are involved in the works mentioned above. This resulted in a visit by the Session of the Texas congregation to our members in South Africa.
2. A WRF member in North Carolina wrote with this request:
If you were to recommend a useful, practical resource to teach a survey/summary of Bible Doctrines (from an evangelical Reformed perspective preferred), suitable for Middle/High School in a home school setting, what would be your pick(s)…and why?
We sent the request above to our members and got sixteen very specific suggestions from all over the world.
3. Just last week, I was contacted by the missions coordinator of a church to ask about the work that we are doing in that field. We met for breakfast on January 19 and explored this subject at some length. As a result, this coordinator has invited the WRF Board member who has the most knowledge about our work in the area of Muslim evangelism to attend one of that church’s meetings in May to describe what we are doing and how that might be of assistance to others who may be doing or may want to begin “Ministry in the Context of Islam.” Our Board member has agreed to participate in that meeting.
Messer: Looking ahead 20 years, in what ways do you hope WRF will grow and expand?
Logan: The first way in which I hope and believe this will happen will be in the increasing involvement in the WRF of evangelical and Reformed Christians outside the USA. From its founding in 2000 until probably around 2010, the WRF has been led and supported largely by churches, organizations, and individuals in the United States. Over the past several years, this has begun to change so that, at the present time, we have members in 74 countries and our Board members come from 12 different countries. In March of this year, I will turn over my responsibilities as International Director to an outstanding church leader from South Africa and this is much more than just a symbolic change. Our largest supporting denomination is now the Presbyterian Church of Brazil and our largest supporting single congregation is Yullin Presbyterian Church in South Korea. Our last several Board meetings have been held in places like Sydney, Australia; Jakarta, Indonesia; Edinburgh, Scotland; and Seoul, South Korea. Our General Assembly this year is being held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and we have already reserved hotel space in Wittenberg, Germany, for a major meeting there in late October of 2017, at which we will join (and perhaps lead) the world in celebrating the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation.
The second way in which I hope and believe that growth and expansion will happen will be in the increasing degree to which the WRF is seen as THE global networking body of evangelical Reformed Christians. Several of the items mentioned in the accompanying description of some of our recent activities will indicate how this is already beginning to happen. In addition, when we are invited to participate actively in events like the GAFCON event in Jerusalem and to give input into the content of the movie, “The Bible,” we are blessed by the privilege of speaking on behalf of the global evangelical and Reformed community.Â
Messer: How can our readers get more involved in the work of WRF?
Logan:
1. Join the WRF;Â membership is FREE and one can join online here – http://wrfnet.org/about/join
2. Participate in our conferences when they are of interest and convenient
3. Contribute items to our website
4. If one sees a project which we are undertaken and you have ideas about how best to accomplish the goals of that project, make suggestions. Share your wisdom with us; we need it!Â
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