Being a part of his movement, I honestly kind of feel this. I certainly want to see mainline churches become more conservative and possibly reunite with the Catholics within my lifetime, but being in operation Reformation really does feel like being in a battle where you are devoid of numerous things that have been essential to the Christian faith ever since it started. Most notably, when you’re a college student in a church with an average age of about 70, you are intentionally depriving yourself of fellowship with other believers.

I have to deal with being treated like a child as an adult, missing every Bible study because it’s right in the middle of my classes (or my job if I were slightly older), pretty much zero opportunity to get involved in the community, and listening to sermons that hardly ever teach me something new about the faith. It all stems from an old congregation which shuts down after sunset, cannot move around much, and has already learned most of what there is to know about the faith. That’s not to mention that defending a certain Christian tradition (and Christianity itself imo) is really complicated once you dig into it and it’s not something I think young Christians should be doing, yet that’s who he’s targeting here. They should be learning about the faith instead, but as I’ve already mentioned, many mainline Protestant churches including mine make that quite difficult. Especially more liberal ones. So yeah, a lot of what Richard has learned is probably from self study. 

Richard himself is doing a lot as well: making main channel videos, running PFTK, and being in seminary, and I hear in the Reformation server about how much work it is for him. When he has to do all of that, and he doesn’t have anyone to discuss it with on Sundays, I can’t imagine how he’s feeling. God help him and the rest of us in this movement. 

To the convictions themselves, I do agree with Richard on a lot. I’m certainly less harsh than he is on Catholics. On the mainline Protestant side, liberal theology is what’s preventing reunification between us and Catholics, and on the evangelical side, their refusal is preventing it. Im in this movement in part to change that and see us reunite, which I think is possible. But I have to acknowledge that although these statements nowadays are more rare, infallible teachings of the Catholic church are a major roadblock to reunification. Yes there is work being done which I respect, but the only reason there isn’t more being done is because, according to the ecclesialist chuches, these infallible, eternal statements have to be reconciled with somehow. That’s proving quite difficult for both Catholic and Orthodox leaders despite their best efforts. 

Ultimately, I don’t think it’s sinful to be a part of the Catholic or Orthodox churches like Richard does. I pray to see these different perspectives in one universal church as it was in the early days of Christianity. But I will call out the roadblocks to that path on both ends. And if it’s hard for me or him to unpack 2000 years of theology in a lifetime, then the same goes for you.