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| Monday, February 06, 2012 |
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Community of the Savior is built around three core affirmations. We are:
1. 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.
| 2. 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. | 3. 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 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 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. |
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