Every person has a theology, a way of understanding God (Theos) with rational thought and word (Logos). It isn’t a matter of what, but which. Which theology, which understanding, which worldview do you live out your life? Is your theology “God-centered” or “man-centered?”

Martin Luther gives us great context to this question: “What we’re trying to do first is come to a sound understanding of God, because our lives will never be reformed and brought into conformity to Christ until we first have a clear understanding of the original model of true humanity that is found in Christ. And that’s a matter of theology.” Reformation is re-forming, re-making, and re-organizing our lives to be more like Christ.

The Greek word Evangelos means a messenger who brings good news. This label "evangelical," originates in Germany in the 16th century, where the Protestants there identified themselves as evangelicals over against the Roman Catholics. And so, in the 16th Germany, "evangelical" meant someone who accepted the authority of the Bible to understand the gospel.

A confessional framework begins with the understanding that the Christian faith is founded upon the objective and declarative realities of Jesus and his work in the place of sinners, and those realities are to be confessed, they are to be believed and trusted in.