Nancy was surprised when she found out. It wasn’t what she had expected, either. Perhaps you’d be interested to learn that it wasn’t John Calvin who brought the Protestant Reformation to Geneva. In fact, he would even admit that he was a beneficiary of the work of others. Three men, lesser known to us today, were preaching the gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Geneva before Calvin ever set foot there. Antoine Froment, Pierre Viret, and Guillaume Farel were teaching in such a way that the hearts of the people were captivated by God’s Word. And it was Farel who urged Calvin to stay in Geneva, waylaying him on his journey to Strasbourg.
St. Peter’s Cathedral in the Old Town of Geneva is an amazing structure. There has been a gathering of God’s people on that hill since the 4th century AD, and that is reflected in the architectural design of the Cathedral. Curiously, the name never changed; it ceased qualifying as a “cathedral” in the 1530s. The people of Geneva, so moved by the teaching of Scripture, removed all the vestiges of Roman Catholicism, taking down statues and icons and stripping the building clean. And that happened before John Calvin arrived in 1536. The effect of the gospel was such that John Knox, the lone Scot on the Reformation Wall, having arrived in Geneva some 20 years after Calvin, would call that city “the most perfect school of Christ that ever was in the earth since the days of the apostles.”
But this isn’t a history lesson so much as a biblical and theological observation. As we read the history of this beautiful city, we have to ask, “How does a regular old city like Geneva, find itself so radically influenced by the gospel?” Because the reality is, it’s fine to know the history of these European cities, but we want our own regular old city to be radically influenced by the gospel.
The answer is the same for Athens as it was for Geneva – the Holy Spirit used the Word of God and prayer to advance the kingdom of Christ in the hearts and lives of his people. Sometimes, that happens quickly. Sometimes, it’s a long slow process. But that’s up to God and his wisdom and timing. Our calling as a church fellowship is to commit to teaching and preaching God’s Word and to praying for the Spirit to use that Word to change lives in and around Athens.
This is why Grace Covenant places such a high priority on the ordinary means of grace – Word, sacraments, and prayer – because these are the tools that God has given to the Church to accomplish its mission of reaching the lost and equipping them to serve. Pray with me that the Holy Spirit will give our church and our city such a hunger for God’s word, just like he did in Geneva almost 500 years ago.