Core Affirmations

Evangelical and Catholic

We are a community of believers that seeks continually to be formed by the life-transforming gospel of Jesus Christ. We believe that all human life is in need of the healing and saving grace that is available to all through the ministry of Christ on behalf of the whole world. We joyfully affirm the centrality of the Christian scriptures as the faithful and authoritative guide for Christian faith and life. As disciples of Jesus, we believe that we are called to live like Jesus in both personal and corporate holiness. With gratitude, we seek to participate in God’s mission in the world by offering the welcome of God’s grace to others.

We are a community of believers that seeks intentionally to listen to ways God has led people of faith throughout history. We affirm the authenticity of those Christian teachings that have been “believed everywhere, always, and by all people” (Vincent of Lérins). We desire to learn from the heritage of the past, and we rejoice in the privilege of embracing and re-presenting historic Christian faith in our day. This commitment is perhaps most recognizable in our gatherings for worship where Word and Sacrament take a central place, and our life together is shaped by the rhythms of the church year.

Communal and Diverse

We are a community of believers that aspires to take seriously the implications of humanity’s creation in the image of God. As image bearers of the Triune God, and as those who are being renewed in God’s image through the restoring work of Christ, we believe that the church must be distinctively communal. We seek to be a community of radical love that embraces others in the name of Jesus. As Spirit-directed members of the Body of Christ, we commit ourselves to consensus as the normal process of decision making in the community. We affirm that both women and men are called to roles of service and leadership in the church and home.

While we celebrate our essential oneness in Christ, we are a community which in no way requires a blurring of the distinctiveness or differences each brings to the whole body. We believe it is only through genuine diversity that we can truly experience the unity we have in Jesus Christ. We embrace all people regardless of racial, ethnic, gender, or socio-economic differences in a community that seeks to live as a sign of God’s new creation. We celebrate life together as an intergenerational community where children, youth, and adults learn from each other as joint participants in the life of faith. We affirm the beautiful and varied array of ministries provided by God on behalf of the church and world through all of God’s people.

Missional and Prophetic

We are a community of believers committed to tangible love as the central expression of Christian faithfulness. We believe that Jesus came as a loving servant and calls his followers to love the world in his name. As those who believe in the gospel’s power to transform both individuals and societies, we seek to involve ourselves in holistic ministries of evangelism and social transformation, locally and globally. Believing that Christians are called to be faithful stewards of all of God’s gifts, we seek to commit ourselves to a biblical vision of the care of creation, the love of all people, and the responsibilities of material possessions.

We are a community called to live our lives in a way that prophetically addresses the needs of our world today. We continually seek to discern how the good news of the gospel can offer grace and healing to the various issues that society presses upon us. Among others, these include issues of racial tension, domestic violence, and lives broken by addiction and poverty. We believe we are called to offer Christ’s hope to a society dying from its addiction to power, wealth, and the pursuit of individual freedom. We believe that this healing must be pursued both in one-on-one relationships, and in ways that address the deeper, root causes of human brokenness.