HOW TO START
A REFORMATION SOCIETY

You can start a Reformation Society. It is not as daunting and difficult a task as you may first think. Our prayer is that Reformation Societies would be started in many hundreds of homes, churches, schools and colleges throughout Africa. It is our earnest prayer that through these multiplied Reformation societies there would be a Revival of interest in the doctrines and Devotions of the Reformers, who God used to transform lives and change history.

How the Reformation Society in Cape Town Developed

It was after my 11-nation, five-week ministry trip to Europe in 2005 that the Lord laid it upon my heart to launch a Reformation Society in Cape Town. From the beginning we realised that this pilot project would be not only for our own benefit, but to develop resources, strategies and insights which would bless and benefit others throughout South Africa, Africa, and even further afield.

We launched our Thursday night Reformation Society meetings January 2006. Having visited the great Reformation centres in Europe: The Schlosskirche (Castle Church) where Luther nailed the 95 Theses 31 October 1517; The Stadkirche where Luther preached at least three times a week, Lutherhaus which was the original university of Wittenburg and Melanchthonhaus in Germany. And in Zurich I visited Grossmünster (The Great Cathedral) where Ulrich Zwingli launched the Swiss Reformation 1 January 1519; Zwinglihaus, and his place of birth in Wildhaus. The great Reformation Monument in Geneva, Calvin’s Auditoir and Academy and St Pierre (St Peter’s) where Calvin preached daily in Geneva; The Martyrs Memorial in Oxford, and many other Reformation sites in Europe. I accumulated over a thousand photographs, and a library of books on, or from, the Reformers. From these resources I developed lectures and PowerPoint presentations on each of the key Reformers, doctrines and events which God so wonderfully used to transform the Church and to change the world.

The Greatest Century of Reformation

When I was invited to minister at a Minister’s Conference near Zurich, and at the Geneva Bible Institute, in May 2006, I determined to complete the book project: The Greatest Century of Reformation in time to launch it in Switzerland. Initially I had planned to take the whole year to produce this book, but the opportunity of officially launching The Greatest Century of Reformation book in Switzerland was just too good an opportunity to miss. And so, The Greatest Century of Reformation book encompasses the lectures and research of the first four months of the Reformation Society meetings in Cape Town 2006. Anyone wanting to start a Reformation Society in their home, church, school or college, will find The Greatest Century of Reformation an invaluable textbook and resource. It includes sixteen chapters and fifteen appendixes. The 220 pages and 180 pictures present the incredible stories of the courageous Reformers and the momentous events which God used to bring about the greatest Revival of Faith and freedom in history.

We Need to Learn From the Doctrines and Devotions of the Reformers

The Reformation was one of the most momentous turning points in world history. It was led by men of strong Faith, deep convictions, great intelligence, high moral standards and tremendous courage.

The energies that were released by the rediscovery of the Bible in the common tongue led to the most extraordinary Spiritual Revival in history. The Reformation freed the Christians of Northern Europe from the decadence of renaissance paganism and led to the greatest birth of freedom and scientific discoveries in history. The Reformers of the 16 th century won for us the principles of religious freedom, liberty of conscience, the rule of law, separation of powers, and constitutionally limited republics. There is such an abundance of inspiring material, gripping stories, colourful characters, life transforming doctrines, incredible courage and tremendous examples of God’s miraculous answers to prayer that you will not lack for great material to inform, inspire and involve your people in Reformation.

Reformation Resources on Line

You will also find our www.ReformationSA.org website a very helpful resource for lecture notes, recommended films, books, available audio CDs, PowerPoints, MP3s, data CDs, and even for Reformation exams.

What Do You Want to Accomplish?

Firstly you need to determine your purpose and goals. You may want to view the constitution of the Reformation Society on the www.ReformationSA.org as you determine to set your own aims.

Meet the Reformers

Should you want to teach The Greatest Century of Reformation to your students or congregation, you can download lecture notes from www.ReformationSA.org, or copy the relevant chapter from The Greatest Century of Reformation book. You don’t have to follow the chronological approach that we did in our Thursday night meetings. However it does make sense to begin with the pre-Reformers: The Waldensians, Professor John Wycliffe, Jan Hus of Bohemia, and Savanarola of Florence. Then Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, William Tyndale, William Farel, John Calvin, John Knox, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, Heinrich Bullinger, Pierre Viret, Philipp Melanchthon and Martin Bucer.

Understand the Events

We also have overviews: How the Reformation Changed the Church, How the Reformation Changed the World, and a geo-political overview of the 16 th century Reformation: A Century of Repression, Revolt and Reformation. We also did an overview of the popes of Rome and some of their abuses and heresies which provoked the Reformation.

Study the Doctrines

Sometimes we focused on specific doctrines and devotions, such as Luther’s Practical Programme to Revive Your Prayer Life; and The Five Points of Calvinism. We also looked at what the Reformers taught concerning Islam.

PowerPoints and Films

In addition to the lecture notes, PowerPoints were prepared for each of these, and a Resource List of suitable available films which can supplement the lectures and presentations.

Inform, Inspire and Involve

The Greatest Century of Reformation also includes A Chronology of the Reformation, Key Dates, Events and People of the Reformation, a Reformation Key Contacts List, Resources for Reformation, The Power of Printing, a list of Roman Catholic Heresies, and articles dealing with Libel Against Luther, Did the Reformers Persecute the Anabaptists?, and other practical resources that can help you inform, inspire and involve your people in Reformation today.

Other Textbooks

In addition to The Greatest Century of Reformation, we have now published other textbooks that can help Reformation Societies or Reformation curriculums in schools: The Power of Prayer Handbook, Reforming Our Families and Biblical Principles for Africa.

Audio Visual Resources

There are also many more audio-CDs, MP3s, data CDs with PowerPoints and some DVDs available from Christian Liberty Books (P.O. Box 358, Howard Place, 7450, South Africa, Email: admin@christianlibertybooks.co.za; Website: www.christianlibertybooks.co.za;

Tel & Fax: (021) 689-7478).

Where You Need to Start

So, much of the research has been done, the resources are available, and for you to start a Reformation Society in your area, you need to chose a time and a place, and invite others to join you. You do not need many people to begin. Our mission began with a prayer fellowship of three soldiers in a military base. The important thing is dedication and commitment.

Chose Your Venue

Where is the best place to meet? Your home? One of the rooms or a side hall in your local church? In a classroom at school? Determine your venue.

Determine the Most Suitable Day and Time

Next discuss with the first willing participants which time would best suit them. Then plan your first meeting. If there are just a few of you, you may want to just start by ordering the Reformation CDs and gathering together with The Greatest Century of Reformation books as your textbooks. Listening to one of the lectures each week and following the discussion questions for each chapter at the back of The Greatest Century of Reformation book would make an interesting time of study.

Incorporate the Material into your Church Mid Week Study Group

Should you manage to have this as part of the church mid-week study group, or a school class, it would be advantageous to obtain a video projector so as to be able to show the PowerPoint for each chapter, and to be able to screen Reformation DVDs to your group.

A Suggested Programme

Of course, you must chose what will best work with your situation. However, what we have done in Cape Town is set aside Thursday evenings for Reformation Society meetings. We begin with tea and fellowship from 7pm on. At 7:30 pm we sing a Hymn, open with prayer, and give a report back on outreaches, activities, projects, new materials available, upcoming events, and other items for prayer.

We then have the main presentation for the evening, which may focus on a Reformer, a doctrinal issue, or a great event. This will normally be accompanied with a PowerPoint presentation for visual illustrations. This presentation will be followed by a time of questions and answers, and open discussion. Sometimes a supplementary film on the same subject will be screened and then we will close in a time of open prayer. We try not to let these meetings go longer than 9:30pm.

Some Great Film Study Series

Sometimes we have worked through a series of DVD documentaries such as Francis Schaefer’s How Shall We Then Live ten-part series; Christian History’s four-part Overview of Church History; The Amazing Grace - History and Theology of Calvinism eight-part series; or The Way of the Master eight-part evangelistic training course. In that case the open discussion and open prayer time comes after the film.

Test Your Knowledge of the Reformation

When you have gone through The Greatest Century of Reformation chapters, or CDs, you may want to request the Reformation exam paper to test your knowledge. We also have other multiple choice exam papers that you can obtain from us, including the Bible Exam and Muslim Evangelism exam.

14 Step Check List to Establishing a Reformation Society

To assist you in a step-by-step process for launching a Reformation Society in your area here is a recommended check list:

1. Join The Reformation Society (Reformation Society, P.O. Box 74, Newlands, 7725, Cape

Town, South Africa, Tel: (021) 689 4480, Fax: (021) 685 5884, Email: info@ReformationSA.org , Website: www.ReformationSA.org )

Website: www.christianlibertybooks.co.za

Please keep in touch, let us know how we can assist practically and pray for you.

May the Lord abundantly bless and strengthen you as you seek to be informed, inspired and involved in the doctrines and devotions of the Reformers who changed the world forever. And may God be pleased to bless our studies and endeavours with Spiritual Revival in our lives, in our churches and in our communities.

Yours for Reformation and Revival

Dr Peter Hammond

Chairman

Sola Scriptura! Sola Gratia! Sola Fide! Solus Christus! Soli Deo Gloria