Understanding the Beliefs of the United Church
The United Church emphasizes fulfilling God's purposes and being guided by the Holy Spirit in its mission. Through official documents like the Twenty Articles of Faith and A New Creed, it expresses its core beliefs in areas such as creation, the Bible, Jesus, and Christian life. The church sees itself as an instrument of God's mission and recognizes the importance of the Spirit's empowerment in living out its vision.
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Presentation Transcript
What Does the United Church Actually Believe? Welcome! Peace be with you.
What Does the United Church Actually Believe? Creation (May 9) Bible (May 16) Jesus (May 30) Church & Christian Life (June 6)
What Does the United Church Actually Believe? The Four Subordinate Standards (faith statements) = the official teaching of the United Church
What Does the United Church Actually Believe? Twenty Articles of Faith (1925) Statement of Faith (1940) A New Creed (1968) A Song of Faith (2006)
What Does the United Church Actually Believe? Church & Christian Life: 18 THESES
What Does the United Church Actually Believe? Thesis 1. The Church is an instrument of God s mission. The Church exists to fulfill God s purposes. Our local mission is secondary to God s purposes. 2006 Song: We sing of a church with purpose instrument of the loving Spirit of Christ We sing of God s mission.
What Does the United Church Actually Believe? Thesis 2. The Church is called into mission and supported in mission by the power of the Holy Spirit. 1940 Statement : We believe that by the same Spirit the Church is continually guided and empowered 2006 Song: The church has not always lived up to its vision. It requires the Spirit to reorient it.
What Does the United Church Actually Believe? Thesis 3. The Church is a people before it is an organization (or a building). 2006 Song: We sing of God s good news lived out, a church with purpose: faith nurtured and hearts comforted, gifts shared for the good of all, resistance to the forces that exploit and marginalize, fierce love in the face of violence, human dignity defended, members of a community held and inspired by God, corrected and comforted
What Does the United Church Actually Believe? Thesis 4. The mission that God gives us has six dimensions: diakonia (service); leitourgia (worship); didache (teaching); koinonia (community); kerygma (proclamation); marturia (public testimony).
What Does the United Church Actually Believe? Thesis 5. diakonia (service) 1940 Statement : the Church is called to the loving service of [hu]mankind 1968 Creed: We are called to be the Church: to love and serve others
What Does the United Church Actually Believe? Thesis 6. leitourgia (worship) 1925 Articles: the Church on earth should exist [among other things] for the public worship of God, for the administration of the sacraments 1940 Statement : the Church is called to the worship of God, Creator and Redeemer 1968 Creed: We are called to be the Church: to celebrate God s presence
What Does the United Church Actually Believe? Thesis 7. didache (teaching)
What Does the United Church Actually Believe? Thesis 8. koinonia (community) 1925 Articles: we receive it as the will of Christ that His Church on earth should exist as a visible and sacred brotherhood 1940 Statement : the Church is called to the care and nurture of the flock
What Does the United Church Actually Believe? Thesis 9. kerygma (proclamation) 1940 Statement : the Church is called to the proclamation of the everlasting Gospel with its offer of salvation 1968 Creed: We are called to be the Church: to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen, our judge and our hope
What Does the United Church Actually Believe? Thesis 10. marturia (public testimony) 1925 Articles: We believe that it is our duty, as disciples and servants of Christ, to further the extension of His Kingdom 2006 Song: We sing of a church seeking to continue the story of Jesus by embodying Christ s presence in the world.
What Does the United Church Actually Believe? Thesis 11. Perhaps a seventh purpose? katallage (reconciliation) 2006 Song: God reconciles, and calls us to repent the part we have played in damaging our world, ourselves, and each other. God transforms, and calls us to protect the vulnerable, to pray for deliverance from evil, to work with God for the healing of the world, that all might have abundant life.
What Does the United Church Actually Believe? Thesis 4 (revisited). The mission God gives us has six (seven?) dimensions: diakonia (service); leitourgia (worship); didache (teaching); koinonia (community); kerygma (proclamation); marturia (public testimony); katallage (reconciliation).
What Does the United Church Actually Believe? Thesis 12. The Church is saints and sinners together (usually in the same person?), living within the grace of God. 1925 Articles: although the visible Church may contain unworthy members and is liable to err, yet believers ought not lightly to separate themselves from its communion, but are to live in fellowship
What Does the United Church Actually Believe? Thesis 13. The Christian life takes its cue from the model of the person of Jesus Christ. Christoform: his Way becomes our way. 1940 Statement: We believe that by the teaching and example of Jesus the Holy Spirit shows [us] the way and the end of the Christian life, what it means to love God with all the heart and soul and mind and strength, and to love their neighbour as themselves.
What Does the United Church Actually Believe? Thesis 14. The Way of Jesus: teaching, healing, liberating
What Does the United Church Actually Believe? Thesis 15. Universal (shared) vocation of human beings #1: Prayer 1925 Articles: We believe that we are encouraged to draw near to God and on our own behalf and that of others to pour out our hearts humbly yet freely
What Does the United Church Actually Believe? Thesis 16. Universal (shared) vocation of human beings #2: Obedience 1940 Statement: We believe that in denying themselves and in following Christ [people] are enabled by the Spirit of God more and more to die unto sin and live unto righteousness 2006 Song: We are called together by Christ as a community of broken but hopeful believers, loving what he loved, living what he taught, striving to be faithful servants of God in our time and place.
What Does the United Church Actually Believe? Thesis 17. Universal (shared) vocation of human beings #3: Service 1925 Articles: We believe that God requires of every man to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God 1940 Statement: We believe that [Christians] are called to live as those who are of the Kingdom of God, and to seek His righteousness both in individual and social life, serving their fellow-men in love for Christ s sake, and striving and waiting in prayer for an ordered common life where the will of God for the well-being and peace of men shall be done over all the earth.
What Does the United Church Actually Believe? Thesis 18. Particular vocations: the Spirit gives gifts to each person. The area(s) of our giftedness is the key area of our personal purpose & ministry. 2006 Song: We are each given particular gifts of the Spirit. For the sake of the world, God calls all followers of Jesus to Christian ministry To embody God s love in the world, the work of the church requires the ministry and discipleship of all believers.
What Does the United Church Actually Believe? Thank you for joining in this study.
