Tennessee Valley Reformation Hymn Festival

Please join us in celebrating the Reformation alongside Lookout Mountain Presbyterian on Sunday, October 27 at 6:00pm in the Sanctuary!

Childcare is available upon request; please email our Nursery Coordinator Mary Campbell Harris by October 20.

What is the Reformation?

Reformation Day celebrates October 31, 1517, when theology professor at Wittenberg University in Germany Martin Luther posted his Ninety-five Theses, or Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences, on the doors of Castle Church, hoping to spark academic debate. The Theses was Luther's argument that repentance of one's sins could only be issued by Christ, not by sacraments or confessions, as the Catholic Church practices. Luther was particularly critical of the clergy's abuse of their power at the time by selling "plenary indulgences" to the public and members of their congregation, which were supposed to reduce the time one (or a loved one, either alive or already dead) spent in purgatory. 

Unbeknownst to Luther, his radical beliefs would spark the Protestant Reformation, and begin the formation of the Protestant Church, which we now see in various forms such as Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist, and Anglican, among others. Luther's beliefs mirror our own core beliefs as Protestant Christians and Presbyterians: faith and repentance through Jesus Christ is the only way to eternal life.

"For our sake He made Him to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV).

We celebrate Reformation Sunday on the last Sunday in October, and Reformation Day on October 31.

You can learn more about the Reformation HERE.