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As A Stone-Campbell Movement - We
Have A Dream
1
We value and have learned that the
roles played by the Enlightenment and American/Canadian Restoration Movement
have shaped the theological perspectives of our respective heritages. This
awareness now influences our attitude and helps us to enjoy our freedom in
Christ coming from our histories.
2
We value the Word of God as God's
absolute truth, and every man and women has the right to their interpretation
of the scriptures .
3
We value and appreciate the value of
historic Christian creeds, but we are unwilling to make any of these creeds a
test of Christian unity.
4
We value and believe that [no] human
authority [has] power to impose new commands, man-made doctrines, human rules,
a form of legalism, or ordinances upon the church, which our Lord Jesus Christ
has not enjoined.
5
We value and celebrate our common
conviction that Christ is the authority for life and belief. Christ is revealed
through the Bible, as interpreted by the work of the Spirit in the context of
the community of faith.
6
We value and desire to discover the
essence of New Testament Christianity through the unconditional love of God.
7
We value and strive to maintain a
teachable heart. We believe this is the key to successful, ongoing growth in
life and ministry: to stay open to instruction, correction and improvement from
the scriptures.
8
We value and recognize the church as
the Universal Body of Christ. Each local congregation is called to be a
manifestation of this one body. We recognize the importance both of freedom in
the Spirit and mutual responsibility among Christ's disciples. We are
Christians that don't need labels to define who we are or what we do, but we
see nothing wrong for those who do.
9
We value and agree that water baptism
is commanded by the Lord Jesus to be practiced by all of His followers. This
baptism is to be by immersion or the sprinkling of water. Baptism is symbolic
of the atoning death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. By its nature as well
as by biblical teaching, baptism is commanded by Christ to his disciples as an
outward confession of a person's faith in Christ. We believe in spiritual
regeneration, holding that forgiveness of all sins is wholly a matter of God's
grace.
10
We value and rejoice in the Lord's
Supper and reaffirm the new covenant of God's love poured out through Christ,
receiving His forgiveness, wellness and wholeness in exchange for our
sinfulness, sicknesses, and diseases.
11
We value the pursuit of truth and
moral integrity, stressing traditional family values.
12
We value and encourage our brothers
and sisters in the Evangelical Christian Church and in the church of Jesus
Christ to give careful attention to these affirmations and to continue
discussion of other issues concerning which there is a range of opinion among
us. These include: doctrinal beliefs, feet washing as an ordinance; women in
ministry; the most desirable frequency of participating in the Lord's supper;
and the meanings and processes of the "holiness" of Christian
believers. All Christians are free to decide scripture among each other.
13
We value and believe in resting in
the complete finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross according to the grace
of God. Scripture assures the church that God is no longer angry with us and
will no longer punish us for past, present, and future sins because Christ has
already taken our condemnation, our sickness, and punishment in His body on the
cross.
14
We value and provide university-level
instruction in higher education for Christian faith and practice.
15
We value a global network of
leadership from every discipline who are committed to the highest standards of
excellence in leadership training, personal development, mutual accountability,
fraternal support; focusing on innovative and practical applications of
leadership philosophy based on time-tested precepts, principles and values.
16
We value ourselves as a
Christ-centered, biblically correct and focused on serving the Church while
maintaining the true values of the Restoration Movement - restoring the whole
church to the New Testament pattern.
We value liberty in faith apart from control that comes from
organize religion that causes conflict in the body of Christ.
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