I hope that this confession is helpful. I think it does call some current practices of the church into question. This confession is a good point to begin discussion on what we really believe the church is. So here we go into the main body of the confession.
After the circumstance is stated the confession moves into the body. Article I begins with the call of God the Father, demonstrating that the church exists because God calls the church into existence. It is not a loose affiliation of people, but a distinct relationship of God with God's creation. This article suggests the church is not gathered only to meet needs. The church is not an interest group where people of like minds gather to share their hobbies and interests. Rather the church is brought together by God, not humanity, to live in covenant with the God who called the church into existence. To be sure, we find commonality with in the church, but it is not the "gathering" principle.
OUR CONFESSION
I. Father: Sovereign of the Church
"'I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give to your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall bless themselves; because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.'" (Genesis 26:4-5)
"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were no people but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy." (I Peter 2:9-10)
We believe that both the Old Testament and the New Testament reveal God initiating a covenantal relationship with a people -- first with Israel, continuing with the Church. God's relationship with the Church is based not on the merits of the people, but on the steadfast love and missional purpose of Almighty God through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit.
We reject the assumption that the church exists primarily to satisfy the perceived needs of needs-driven individuals. This assumption misunderstands the church to be merely a social organization, in competition with many other such organizations, rather than a people called by Almighty God to covenant.
After the circumstance is stated the confession moves into the body. Article I begins with the call of God the Father, demonstrating that the church exists because God calls the church into existence. It is not a loose affiliation of people, but a distinct relationship of God with God's creation. This article suggests the church is not gathered only to meet needs. The church is not an interest group where people of like minds gather to share their hobbies and interests. Rather the church is brought together by God, not humanity, to live in covenant with the God who called the church into existence. To be sure, we find commonality with in the church, but it is not the "gathering" principle.
OUR CONFESSION
I. Father: Sovereign of the Church
"'I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give to your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall bless themselves; because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.'" (Genesis 26:4-5)
"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were no people but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy." (I Peter 2:9-10)
We believe that both the Old Testament and the New Testament reveal God initiating a covenantal relationship with a people -- first with Israel, continuing with the Church. God's relationship with the Church is based not on the merits of the people, but on the steadfast love and missional purpose of Almighty God through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit.
We reject the assumption that the church exists primarily to satisfy the perceived needs of needs-driven individuals. This assumption misunderstands the church to be merely a social organization, in competition with many other such organizations, rather than a people called by Almighty God to covenant.
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