The Apostles' Creed

A Dramatic Reading

Declaring what we believe in the words of a creed is an important part of many worship services. It helps us express our theology and ties us to believers around the world and across the ages. When we recite something often enough, though, the words simply roll off our tongues and we don’t think about what we’re saying.

So when we were given the opportunity to plan part of a worship service, we decided to try to express the Apostles’ Creed in a new way. We wanted the people in our church to hear it with fresh ears in a way that would help all of us think about what we were saying.

Because we wanted to use the members of our youth group to present the creed, we wrote a dramatic reading for eight people. You could easily reduce the number of readers by reassigning lines.

We wanted to add words of explanation to the creed, but rather than making them up we decided to draw them from reliable sources—after all, we’re still in high school and we wanted to get it right. So most of the words that are not directly from the Apostles’ Creed are adapted from the Belgic Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism.

Reader 4: I believe

Reader 1: I believe

Reader 5: I believe

Reader 6: I believe in God

Reader 7: the Father Almighty

Reader 2: Almighty

Reader 8: Creator

Reader 3: Maker

Reader 4: of all things

Reader 7: visible and invisible.

Reader 1: I believe in God the Father Almighty

Reader 8: Creator of heaven and earth.

Reader 6: I believe

Reader 5: in Jesus Christ

Reader 3: his Son

Reader 5: his only Son

Reader 8: our Lord

Reader 6: who was conceived by the Holy Spirit

Reader 7: and was born of the virgin Mary.

Reader 2: He came into the world

Reader 1: from heaven

Reader 6: he lived with us

Reader 4: he taught us

Reader 2: he suffered under Pontius Pilate.

Reader 3: He was crucified

Reader 5: crucified

All: died

Reader 7: for us.

Reader 8: He descended into hell

Reader 1: so that we don’t have to.

Reader 4: The third day

All: he rose

Readers 1, 4, 5, 2, say “he rose” overlapping each-other, until finally

Reader 6: he rose from the dead.

Reader 3: and ascended into heaven

Reader 7: and is seated with God

Reader 2: the Father Almighty.

Reader 5: From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

Reader 1: I believe

Reader 4: in the Holy Spirit

Reader 3: living among us

Reader 8: and in us.

Readers 1, 6: I believe

Reader 7: in the holy catholic church,

Reader 2: the church

Reader 6: universal.

Readers 1, 6, 8: I believe

Reader 3: in the communion of saints.

Reader 4: All of us

Reader 5: share in Christ

Reader 2: as members of the body.

Readers 1, 4, 6, 8: I believe

Reader 7: in the forgiveness of sins.

Reader 5: Grace

Reader 8: God’s grace

Reader 3: God’s grace for us.

Readers 1, 2, 4, 6, 8: I believe

Reader 6: in the resurrection of the body.

Reader 2: My body will be raised from the dead

Reader 7: just as Christ was raised.

All: I believe

Reader 8: in the life everlasting.

Reader 3: I will have

Reader 4: what no eye has seen

Reader 5: no ear has heard

Reader 6: no human heart has ever imagined.

Reader 7: I will praise God eternally.

All: I believe!

Reader 5: Amen.

Lynnae Keeley is a member of Fourteenth St. Christian Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan, and student at Holland Christian High School.

Sarah Hofman is member of Fourteenth St. Christian Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan, and student at Holland Christian High School.


Reformed Worship 91 © March 2009, Calvin Institute of Christian Worship. Used by permission.