Today is Reformation Day. A little over five hundred years ago, a former monk turned professor named Martin Luther nailed a list of ninety-five points of contention with the Catholic Church on the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany. The date was October 31, 1517, which was the day before the feast for All Saints; this feast is also called All Hallows, and therefore October 31 became known as Hallow’s Eve, which is where the modern title Halloween originates. This document that Luther created, known today as the Ninety-Five Theses, was not meant to flip Christianity on its head, but instead, it was simply designed to be an invitation to academic debate. Luther’s intellectual challenge struck a chord with many of the lay people around him, and conversely, inspired much anger from those who he challenged. Debates quickly turned into trials, with Luther being accused of heresy. Over time, more and more people joined Luther in rejecting the authority of the current Catholic Church and formed their own churches. The life of this German professor was the spark that lit the flame that became the Protestant Reformation.
If you are a Christian and do not go to a Catholic or Orthodox church, Reformation Day should matter to you. The Reformation set off the chain reaction that led to most American churches; in fact, there wouldn’t be a United States of America if it weren’t for the Reformation! It is only because of the Reformation that the Church of England was formed, and therefore that Puritans who disagreed with the Church of England fled to the Americas in order to form their own communities. Standing in this long line of reform, Warner University owes its existence to the Reformation. The Church of God based out of Anderson, IN–the movement which Warner aligns itself with–comes from the Wesleyan tradition, which itself was another product of the Protestant Reformation. Luther’s invitation to debate centuries ago changed the trajectory of the western world. Reformation Day should matter to you!
The common misconception about the Reformation was that it was a rejection of all things that came before, in particular the Catholic Church. However, one will notice that the Lutheran church, founded by the same man who wrote the Ninety-Five Theses, is one of the most Catholic-looking Protestant denominations there is. Though Martin Luther had plenty of problems with 16th century Catholicism (at least ninety-five problems), there was much more that he wanted to preserve. A reformation is not a revolution; it does not eliminate the prior things, it revitalizes them. It is not about the death of the old, but the life of the new.
Many people in the community of Warner University have been discussing the season of change we appear to be in. There is good reason to think this. The beginning of the 2024-2025 school year saw a lot of changes. While we search for our fourth president, it can be very easy to worry about all of the changes we are experiencing. Perhaps it is time to switch the language we use. When people talk about change, it is normally associated with a sense of anxiety. People do not like change because of the unknowns associated with it. Change is so worrying because it calls us to pay attention to the death of the old, but reformation makes the old new. Instead of saying that Warner is going through a change, we should be saying that Warner is going through a reformation. Just as God used the Protestant Reformation to breathe new life into his church, so too I believe that God is using this transitional period at Warner to breathe new life into us. On this Reformation Day, let’s stop worrying about change and start looking forward to reformation. Let us be excited about how God is making Warner new!
“Look! I’m doing a new thing; now it is sprouting up. Can’t you see it?” Isaiah 43:19a
“The one who is sitting on the throne said, ‘Look! I am making all things new.’” Revelation 21:5a
