As a part of the Preparation for Ministry process I wrote this one page statement of faith. It had to be edited for the Pastor Information Form on the Church Leadership Connection for length, here is a (very slightly) longer version (last written June 2019):
- Beyond all logical proof or apologetics, God IS.
- God is not a what, but a person with will and emotion, joy and disappointment, likes and dislikes. God's joy is to be in relationship. God's disappointment comes from being in relationship with fallen creatures.
- God is three persons in the trinity and models within God's-self perfect relationship for the benefit of those who would be in relationship with God. With the trinity, things seem to blur: God the Father vs. God the creator, God the Son vs. God the savior, God the Spirit vs. God the sustainer. I think God is the creator and Christ is a creator and the Holy Spirit creates in us today. So the trinity is not divided by role, but God is one. Nor do I think God is divided by time. I think the Son and the Spirit were there with God at the beginning participating in creation. I think God in all persons of the Trinity accomplished salvation in the time of Jesus and that is a completed, past tense act, and God in all persons of the Trinity is present in the present tense continuing to accomplish salvation. Nevertheless, in the Trinity are three distinct persons already implied by the names and roles and times that separate them and their work.
- I believe that God chooses to reveal God’s self to God’s creatures. The perfect revelation of God is the incarnation of Jesus Christ. God also chooses to reveal God’s self through scripture. The whole and perfect truth about God is not in the literal reading of scripture, but neither is it in the socio-historical reading or narrative reading or any other human methodology for reading scripture. The whole truth about God is revealed to humans through the written words of scripture only by the guidance of the living Word which is the truth behind all scripture. In the act of reading or hearing the words of scripture guided by God’s own Spirit humans can encounter this living Word which is God’s own self.
- I believe that salvation is “by grace through faith,” and that “the free gift of God is eternal life.” I also believe that these concepts have missed the point in their contemporary usage. I believe that I have eternal life and in contrast to a promised future reward that that life has already started. I believe salvation is not a cause for exclusion nor a sociological marker to identify people “like us,” but salvation is freedom from sin to be able to live in the Spirit. I believe that living in the Spirit yields its fruits: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, and that because we have been saved, we are able to enjoy these fruits with all the people God loves in the beloved community here and now. This is not an ethic—it is not a way of living that we are capable of choosing--but the fruit, or consequence of living in the Spirit, and that is possible only because we are saved. That is our salvation—to be able to live in the Spirit free from rebellion against God, and therefor in loving community with each other. This is the beloved community and is the church’s calling to the exhibition of the kingdom of God in the world.
- I believe God instructs God’s people to enact God’s claim on our lives through the sacraments. In Baptism we enact God’s cleansing us and marking us to be God’s own. In Communion, we enact God’s claim on our lives with each other in Christ. These are not mere remembrances, but God is really present in the elements cleansing us, claiming us, and nourishing us and giving us life in community together with God.
- I believe God called me with the words "You did not choose me, I chose you." I believe Christ loves me and embraces me and challenges me to serve those whom Christ loves. I believe the holy spirit empowers me and the church to be the body of Christ in the world, to be the physical presence and actor to represent Christ to all who need the gospel and Christ's love. This is to the purpose of bringing all into relationship with God and in a perfect relationship with each other in order to bring glory to God.
- I believe that God’s justice is not human justice. I believe that God called us all into existence in the act of creation and that we are called to restored relationship in the end when we will all call back to God, singing together in perfect harmony, “Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever!” I do not believe that this will be an inversion of power, but a restoration to right relationship with each other and all to right relationship to God.
