How to Be a (Better) Protestant in Five Easy Steps

Last updated on: April 3, 2015 at 4:28 pm by K. Mulhern

How to Be a (Better) Protestant in Five Easy Steps 2015-04-03T16:28:39-06:00 K. Mulhern

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Reformation Day doesn’t make me giddy, but it does afford me the opportunity to think again about this business of being Protestant. “I yam what I yam,” Popeye said. And so it is with me. By the grace of God.

Most non-Catholic, non-Orthodox Christians really don’t identify as Protestants. They’re Baptists and Presbyterians, Reformed and Anglican and Methodist and Vineyard and Pentecostal. And if they’re not any of those, they’re non-denominational. Or they’re nothing because they don’t bother with church. But technicalities aside, if you’re a Christian, and you’re neither Catholic nor Orthodox, you’re Protestant.

Perhaps we need a refresher course on what this means and how to be one. (Or, at least, a better one.)

1) Know your history. To be a Protestant is to be in relationship with the Catholic Church. This may sound counter-intuitive, but it’s not. The very term “protestant” is an expression of dissent, and tacitly implies the object of dissent. We are Protestants only because there is a Catholic Church. For too many years the relationship has been adversarial, like siblings who won’t sit at the same Thanksgiving meal, but thankfully we’re now on speaking terms (at least most of us) and can acknowledge our common parentage. To be a (better) Protestant you need to be catholic.

2) Embrace diversity. As Protestants, we’re all about doing faith our own way. There are approximately 40,000 different ways to be Protestant. Sometimes it’s not pretty, and we are all more than ready to lament the other 39,999 ways. But that’s the Protestant picture. Sometimes we try to manage this by closing the ranks around those who agree with our way; we make “our way” (our theologies, our practices, our traditions, our music, our doctrines) central, which only serves to edge the Jesus story out to the periphery. “Yes, of course we believe in the gospel, but we know you really belong with us if you immerse rather than sprinkle … if you believe that grace is irresistible … if you use a prayer book … if you teach the rapture …” To be a (better) Protestant you need to humbly accept the Christian crazies who like to do it differently.

3) Recognize the tradition. We have memories that are two thousand years old, and yet we act like everything that has happened since Jesus (or at least before Billy Graham if you’re older than 50; before Brian McLaren if you’re under 50) is relatively irrelevant and usually screwed up. As though we’re getting it right. We, who have so much more biblical, historical, psychological, theological, linguistic, sociological, cultural, and technological knowledge, surely understand better how to interpret the scriptures, how to parse doctrine, how to run a church, how to disciple. Obviously. Look how much better we’re doing it all… Nooo, to be a (better) Protestant you need the ancient ways so that you don’t go off the skids.

4) Pray for unity. Unity has always been a hope and a prayer, not a reality. (Go back to #1 and #2 to review.) To pray for it, as Jesus did, is to move in rhythm with his will and his plans. It looks quite impossible, but if we only pray for the possible, we have quite pathetic imaginations. We pray for unity, not needing to know the hows and whys or whens of it coming to pass, but in confidence that it is coming and welcoming signs of it and efforts toward it. This is not something we need to recover from our past, but something we can eagerly anticipate in our future. To be a (better) Protestant you need to yearn for all the flighty experiences of Christian faith to roost together, under the shelter of the one Gospel of Jesus Christ.

5) Settle in with a family. The worst part about being a Protestant is that you don’t have to belong anywhere. Our Catholic brothers and sisters belong in whatever Catholic Church they walk into. We, on the other hand, can tend to be perpetual visitors, always lookie-loos. There’s some great grace in being stuck with people. A prickly grace, sometimes, but grace nonetheless. Our lust for perfection (as though we’d recognize it when we see it) drives us from one church to another … and ultimately, if we indulge it long enough, leaves us at home, where we can be perfect all by ourselves. To be a (better) Protestant, you need to give up your ecclesial wanderlust and reconcile yourself to a group of occasionally irritating, imperfect, and inefficient people, as they must do when you join them.

So, Happy Reformation Day!

Previous Post

September 15, 2014

The Lovely, Lovely Thing (Friends of God 6)

Next Post

March 18, 2015 Jesus Loves Us Down to Our Toes: A Maundy Thursday Reflection

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Advent Ascetical Theology Book Reviews Children and Parenting Easter Epiphany Friends of God Lent Life in the Spirit Ludolph Pascalian Spirituality: a series Politics Prayers Six Neo-Christian Myths Spiritual Formation Tales from My Father Trinitarian Spirituality: a series Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 July 2024 June 2024 December 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 January 2023 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 April 2022 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 October 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 November 2016 June 2016 April 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 March 2015 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 October 2011 August 2011 July 2011 February 2011 October 2010 September 2010 July 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 November 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

In Philemon, what does Paul ask Philemon to receive back?

Select your answer to see how you score.

His property Onesimus (as a brother) A financial gift Paul himself