Principles of Community Life

As an inclusive church we aspire towards the following principles to govern our life as a community in Christ worshipping God through the enabling of the Holy Spirit:

•  We believe that God desires to affirm the worth and dignity of every human being regardless of religion, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, economic status or physical or mental ability. All people on earth have an equal claim to life, liberty and justice. Therefore any ministry of outreach must affirm human dignity with authentic respect for human freedom (see Footnote 1).

•  We believe in the need for a dynamic interaction of four key pillars: the authority of Scripture, of tradition, of reason and of experience in forming ethical and moral decisions. The ultimate arbiter in religion is the personal choices and decisions made by the individual and community as a priesthood of believers based on these pillars.

•  While as Christians we firmly believe that God's decisive revelation of the Godself was in and through Jesus Christ, we strongly value the contributions to a life of faith, of religious ideas apart from our own. We recognize that in the interrelated context of our contemporary lives, inter-religious cooperation is no longer an option but a necessity (see Footnote 2).

•  We believe all individuals should be encouraged to responsibly develop their own personal and community spirituality, theology and morality, and to present openly their religious opinions without fear of censure or reprisal.

•  We believe that the fallen-ness of humanity is ever able to corrupt and destroy any human activity especially, the spiritual endeavor. For this reason the value of every human belief and practice, whether of an individual or a community, should be constantly evaluated against its contribution to the preservation and growth of wholesome selfhood, community, justice, peace and love.

•  We believe that self-reflexivity is a critical discipline of individual and corporate spirituality and ethics. This requires that we engage in constant critical study and reflection which considers also the perspective of others who might differ or even disagree with us.

•  We believe in the never-ending search for truth and deeper intimacy with God as the objective of our quest to grow spiritually as individuals and as a community.

•  We believe in the unity of experience. There is no fundamental conflict between faith and knowledge, the sacred and the secular, spirit and matter, reason and revelation since they all have their source in the same reality.

•  We believe in social holiness, which is seen through an ethical and compassionate faith dedicated to the lives of others. Good works are the natural products of a good faith, the evidence of an inner grace that finds completion in social and community involvement.

•  We believe in the need for justice, equity and compassion in the way humans order their relationships. The governing principle in human relationships is the principle of love, which always seeks the welfare of others and never seeks to hurt or destroy.

•  We believe in the importance of a religious community in which the life of Christ is made visible through a network of mutual support, respect and bonding between members of the community.

•  We believe in the necessity of corporate accountability. Records are open to scrutiny, elections are open to members, and ideas are open to criticism-so that people might govern themselves.

May God Almighty, who is merciful, compassionate and just assist us in the living out of these principles.

Footnotes:

1. The Attitude of the Church toward Followers of Other Religions: Reflections and Orientations on Dialogue and Mission , Secretariat for Non-Christians, (May 10, 1984), the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue.

2. Final Declaration Of The Participants In The Symposium On Spiritual Resources Of The Religions For Peace (Rome, 16-18 January 2003), The Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.