Martin Percy, in his fascinating book Shaping the Church: the Promise of Implicit Theology, brings to light the value of implicit theology.  Percy writes:

There is of course no doubt that ecclesial communities look to formal theological propositions, creeds, articles of faith and the like to order their inner life, establish their identity and maintain their distinctiveness in the world.  Yet is also true that moods and manners, informal beliefs and learned (and therefore valued) behaviour, apparently innocuous and innocent practices and patterns of polity, together with aesthetics and applied theological thinking, constitute the shape of the church no less.  (Percy, 175)

In other words, a church may have a statement of beliefs filed away in the church office (or viewable on the church website) but there is a day-to-day theology that is lived out by the church staff and the people of the church. 

For example, at the church that I grew up in, our pastor would give a 3-5 minute altar call at the end of every service, without exception.  The sermon could have been about tithing, but we knew that at some point he would make the transition.  It would go something like:

“Now tithing is one way that we can worship God and partner with Him in his work but is not the primary way.  While the giving of your money to God’s work is a good thing, God is more concerned that you give your LIFE to Him. As the choir comes up, I want to ask you to bow your heads and close your eyes…”

Now, if the pastor presents the gospel and gives and altar call at the end of every service, what does this say about his theology?  He may affirm the same doctrinal statement as a pastor who rarely talks about salvation in his messages.  Yet, it is obvious that the theological culture of these churches is different.  Both may explicitly affirm the urgency of salvation through Christ alone, but one is certainly more passionate about it.

I was struck by Percy’s comments that the traditional 3 continents of Christianity (Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant) are being uprooted by new classifications (Liberal or Conservative, Traditional or Contemporary). 

There is some truth to this.  A few decades ago, a conservative Baptist might have refused to have anything to do with the Catholic priest in his town.  Yet, they now find themselves carpooling together to a National Pro-Life event.  

Similarly, you might visit a visit a non-denominational church service, an Assembly of God service, and a Charismatic Catholic service and encounter that all three are singing the exact same songs in worship.

What might the following say about the “implicit theology” of these churches?

• 50% of the offerings taken every Sunday goes to mission work.
• The church and staff are made up of a variety of ethnic backgrounds.
• There are three services on Sunday, each with a different musical style.
• The Bread and the Cup are presented at every service.
• The church gives the pastor a new Mercedes every year.
• The church meets in homes and has no plans to purchase a building.
• Before the service, people enter the sanctuary quietly and sit in silence.
• The majority of adults and youth who are members of the church have been on some sort of a mission trip.
• Before the service, people enter with coffee in hand, laughing and catching up with friends.
• Church members purchase “church clothes” that are only worn on Sundays.
• The choir loft is on the balcony, in the rear of the sanctuary.
• At the front and center of the sanctuary is an altar with a large Bible placed upon it and a podium behind it.
• At the front and center of the sanctuary is an altar with the bread and the cup, the podium is to the side.
• Every fourth Sunday morning, instead of a service, the people gather to sing a few songs, then take to the streets to do community service and to pray for neighbors.
• The church building is designed like a theater with video projectors showing the words of the songs on screens.
• The church building has stained glass, chandeliers, hard pews, and hymnals.
• The church has separate programs for preschool, children, youth, college, singles, etc.
• There is no nursery.  All ages worship together without exception.

As you can see in the above examples, the implicit theology of the church may not be written down, but it is important and powerful.

Percy, who is both a pastor and a professor at Oxford University, makes the argument that theology is more than just something learned in seminaries, it is brought to life in the pews.  He states:

So religious belief is not simply some kind or arcane metaphysics; it is, rather, performed—much as one might perform a play…Simply reading the scriptures as a text is about as effective as reading a play as a text.  To understand the life of the drama and the intention of the author, the play needs to be witnessed as a performance.  Christian faith is, first and foremost, the performance of God’s drama.  And such performances occur each week, locally.  (Percy, 4)

Whether intentional or accidental, church leaders are teaching theology every Sunday.

Percy, Martyn. Shaping the church: the promise of implicit theology. Farnham: Ashgate, 2010.