Simplify the following text for a Grade 9 native English-speaking person.
Original: They had to explain their faith before a panel of three clergymen , including issues which were then debated within the Church , as the universal priesthood , the gospel in the vulgar tongue , and the issue of self-imposed poverty .
Simplified: They had to explain what they believed in front of a panel of three clergymen , including issues which were then debated within the Church .