Origins and Beliefs
The Rev. Dr. Thomas A. Baima, S. T.l.
Catholic Priest, past Director of the Office for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the Archdiocese of Chicago, Professor and Trustee of the Council for a Parliament of the Worlds Religions.

NOTE: Because the range of communities within Christianity is so wide, members of several distinct traditions have provided essays on specific topics. In the essay below, Father Baima introduces the origins and basic beliefs of Christianity and its approaches to interfaith relations.

The origin of Christianity begins in the heart of God. The Divine nature is Love. Love is not something that comes from God. Love is God and God is Love. If a Christian were to name the Divine in English, the best term would be simply "God-Love."

Within God-Love, before time, came an urge to create. This urge was not for pleasure, since God-Love is beyond such things. Rather it was, as Archbishop Joseph Raya says, for the multiplication of love. God created for this reason alone, that love might grow. Divine love by its very nature shares itself.

Made in the image and likeness of God-Love, humanity had the essential quality or condition that makes loving possible, free will. Some humans chose to reject the offer of close relationship with God-Love. This rejection, which we will call sin, entered human experience and remains a permanent part of it. Sin is separation or a false autonomy, false because it is not possible to be or exist independently of God. This false autonomy is the basis of human rejection of God-Love.

The separation between humanity and God-Love required divine action to overcome it. As a permanent part of human nature nothing we could do of our own power could heal the separation. A new offer of relationship by God-Love was required.

So God-Love selected one of the nations of the earth to be a sign and instrument of this divine action. That nation was the Hebrew people. Through a process of self-disclosure, God-Love guided Israel out of slavery into an experience of rescue. God-Love guided Israel through the naming of sin in the Ten Commandments and the calling to virtue through the commandments to pray, celebrate sacred ritual, and act with compassion.

The guiding and forming of Israel created a sign and instrument that could extend and express God-Love. Throughout almost 2,000 years of faithfulness and struggle, this one people, guided by prophets, priests, and kings, was the light of God-Love among the nations.

Then God-Love chose to graft onto this one people all the nations. In a small village in the northern part of Palestine, a young woman became pregnant even though she was a virgin. Though no man had ever touched Mary, Life grew within her. Nine months later "a child was born, a son given, upon whom dominion rested. And the prophet had called him 'wonder-counselor, God-hero, Father forever, and Prince of Peace.'" Mary named him Jesus -- "God saves."

It is here that Christianity, which began eternally in the heart of God, is made visible in the person and event of Jesus. We who are his disciples have come to see the fullness of revelation from God-Love, of God-Love in him. For this reason we call him Lord, Son of God, Savior. And it is in the teaching of Jesus that we learned something new about the inner life of the one God. Within the Godhead there exist relationships of love-as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is personal, not merely as a way to relate to us, but in the very divine being. We would not know this about God had not the Son taken flesh in Jesus of Nazareth and revealed it to us.

In addition to this revelation of the inner life of God, the Lord Jesus taught a way of life that made it possible for God-Love to be experienced as a reality in the world. After his earthly ministry the Lord returned to his Father. He empowered and designated a few of the disciples to carry the teaching on. Thus it has come to us, handed on by living witnesses.

These living witnesses or apostles went out from Jerusalem and founded local assemblies of faith. Like Israel of old, these assemblies were the sign and instrument of the Lord Jesus in that place. It was by the example of love that others became attracted to Christianity. It was through prayer and life within the assemblies that the living witnesses were able to go forth and preach. And it was through incorporation into these assemblies that an individual came to know the Lord Jesus, receive formation in the Teaching, be sanctified in prayer, and be guided in the Christian life.

Within these assemblies believers entered into worship of God - as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Through the singing of psalms, hymns, and inspired songs, through the breaking of bread and the prayers, they met the Lord Jesus who sanctified their inner life. Through devotion to the teaching of the apostles, they came to know the revelation of God which Jesus had disclosed in himself.

The primary elements of the teaching are

There is one God who is almighty, whom Jesus called Father. This one God is the Creator of heaven and earth. Jesus is the divine and human, only Son of this Father, and as we call God Lord, we call Jesus Lord, for the Father is in him and he is in the Father. The miracle of Jesus' virgin birth attests to this. Jesus suffered at the hands of the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate, giving his life in the process. He died and was buried as we all shall be. But he did not remain in the tomb, for God raised him up out of death. His suffering and death broke the chains of sin for all who died before his coming, again making God-Love available to them. He rose from the dead, making life with God now and forever our blessed hope. He ascended, returning into the presence of God-Love from which he came. He sent the Holy Spirit to create the assembly of believers and to be its constant guide in faith, hope, and love. He will return to bring time to an end, to judge the living and the dead, and to complete creation with the inauguration of the eternal kingdom of, with, and in God-Love.

These assemblies of faith, formed and guided by the Spirit, also taught a way of conduct based not on law, but virtue. The Lord Jesus taught that all sin in life could be overcome and rooted out of human experience by the avoidance of negative behavior and the substitution of a corresponding virtue. These virtues are seen as active gifts of the Holy Spirit to the believer. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control are the spiritual means to a Christian life.

This simple foundation of doctrine and virtue has been reflected on over the centuries in the development of our understanding. Through prayer, holy women and men have penetrated to the depths of these mysteries guided by the Holy Spirit of God-Love. The assemblies look to four sources for insights to develop the living faith carried in the mind of the whole people of Christ. These are the sources of theological reflection: Scripture, the Oral Tradition, Reason, and Experience.

1. Scripture includes the Hebrew Scriptures interpreted through the New Testament.
2. Oral Tradition is the preaching, teaching, and ritual which guide the assembly in prayer life, work, and worship.
3. Reason is the application of disciplined thought to understand more fully the mystery.
4. Experience focuses on the changes within us which doctrine makes.

Faith is handed on through life in the assembly, sometimes through preaching and sometimes through sacred rites. Baptism and Eucharist are the signs and means of entrance into and nourishment of the assembly's life. Confession of sins and anointing with oil heal the spiritual and physical life of the body, while marriage and ordination create, lead, and guide the family and the assembly.

In Christianity today, almost 2,000 years after the ascension of the Lord Jesus, divisions exist. John Wesley, one of the great reformers in England, spoke of a fully balanced Christianity having the four components mentioned above -- Scripture, Oral Tradition, Reason, and Experience -- as the bases of religious knowledge. We could consider the divisions within Christianity to be a function of favoring one or more of these components over the others. Political, economic, and other human considerations aside, the division in the Church has resulted from the development of different theological schools that emphasize the different components. For example, the Orthodox are known for their emphasis on Tradition and Experience; the Catholics on Tradition and Reason; the Protestants on Scripture and Reason; and Pentecostals on Scripture and Experience. These differences in emphasis have led to differences in the formulation of doctrine, the number and status of the sacred rites or sacraments, and the authority of the ordered ministries. These emphases have brought each Christian community a deeper insight into faith but also have limited their fellowship with the rest of Christianity.

Interfaith Relations

Christians also differ in their relation to non-Christians. These relations are characterized by three positions:

1. The "exclusive position" holds that a saving relationship with the Lord Jesus is the only way to salvation. In this perspective, those who lack this will suffer forever, excluded from God-Love.
2. The "pluralist position" sees Christianity as merely one path to God among other religions that also offer the possibility of salvation. This view sees salvation as universal and knowledge of God as relative to culture and tradition.
3. Between them is the "inclusive position." While holding to the belief that the fullness of revelation came in the person of Jesus and that he is the ordinary way to right relationship with God, here it is believed that God-Love can work beyond this. Hence a Christian may esteem truth where he/she sees it, and we will know it is the truth when it agrees with Jesus and the teaching and example received from him. In this position, the revelation of God-Love is fully disclosed in Jesus.

-Copyright 1993 Thomas A. Baima. All rights reserved.

The Rev. Epke VanderBerg
Protestant Minister
Member of the Episcopal family and of the Grand Rapids Interfaith Dialogue Association

NOTE: We present here short portraits of main families and communities within Christianity, particularly those in the Middle East, Europe, and North America. The descriptions provide some primary characteristics and a method of categorizing Christianity into fifteen families. A major resource for this summary was the work of J. Gordon Melton in The Encyclopedia of American Religions (Triumph Books, 1989, New York). Readers are encouraged to explore Melton's detailed and fascinating work.

Looking back down the many branches of Christianity, we see a tree called Jesus the Christ. Beyond this trunk, Christianity is rooted in God's call to Abraham in the land of Ur. From the time of Jesus into the 2Oth century, the roots divided and multiplied, dipping into soils and water foreign to its beginning, affecting its color and character. Throughout its history, however, it never forgot its beginning, even though its memories of who Jesus was and what he taught waxed and waned through time and place.

Western Liturgical Family: The four oldest Christian families are the following: the Eastern Orthodox tradition, the non-Chalcedonian orthodox tradition, the Western Catholic tradition, and the Anglican tradition. A strong liturgical life characterizes these Christian families, along with true-creeds, sacraments, language, and culture, which find their expression in their liturgy. Most of these families observe seven sacraments: baptism, eucharist, holy orders, unction, marriage, confirmation, and penance. Two other characteristics mark these churches: allegiance to creeds, and belief in apostolic succession. Even though these churches evolved from one common beginning, they unfolded into separate entities with Christianity's spread into other cultures.

The Eastern Orthodox Family: Its authority was centered in the cities of Antioch, Alexandria, and Constantinople, and split from the Western Catholic tradition in A.D. 1054. The Western Catholic tradition, based in Rome and entrenched in Western Europe, exercised strong political and religious authority. The Anglican tradition in England broke with Rome in the 16th century when Henry VIII saw opportunity for an independent church that would give him his desired divorce and financial freedom for battle. "The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion" and "The Book of Common Prayer" established it as a separate liturgical tradition. In the immigration to North America and after the American Revolutionary War, the Anglican Church became known, in 1787, as the Protestant Episcopal Church in the U.S.

Eastern Liturgical Family: Political, cultural, and doctrinal differences separated the Eastern Orthodox churches from the Roman churches in 1054. Thereafter, and not having a Pope, this family was governed by Patriarchs who have equal authority and are in communion with each other. Even though the family does not demand celibacy of its priests (as long as they are married before their ordination), monks, who are celibate, are the only members who attain the office of Bishop. This family does not recognize the authority of the Bishop in Rome, nor that part of the Chalcedonian Creed that says that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son.

 

A number of groups fall into this family:

• Nestorians: This group, recognizing Christ's two natures, does not believe that Christ had two equal natures and that Mary bore only the human nature of Christ -- she did not bear God [Mary is not theotikos].

• Monophysites: This group believes that Christ is of one person (mono) and of one nature (physis); it rejects the two-nature position of the Nestorians.

• The Armenians: Established in Armenia as a bishopric in 260, this group customarily celebrates Holy Communion only on Sunday, using pure wine [without water] and unleavened bread. Infants are served immediately after baptism. Under persecution by the Turks in 1890, many moved to North America. Controversy soon followed: would the pro-Soviet dominance of Armenia govern or would the Armenian nationalists ?

• Syrian Churches: Under the leadership of Jacob Baradeus (followers were often called Jacobites), who was a monophysite, the Syrian churches spread throughout the Mediterranean region and beyond.

• Coptic Churches of Egypt and Ethiopia: Formerly one of the largest Christian groups in the world, this group diminished through persecution. Today, found mainly in Egypt, its numbers are increasing. The Ethiopian Church differs from the Coptic on several points:
  1. Accepts Apocrypha as Scripture
  2. Venerates the Sabbath along with Sunday
  3. Recognizes Old Testament figures as saints
  4. Observes many Old Testament regulations on food and purification.

• Lutheran Family: Martin Luther, in cooperation with German princes, brought about the first successful breach with the Roman Catholic Church. Even though October 31, 1517, is often thought to be the start of the Lutheran Church, a more persuasive argument may be made for the year 1530, in which the Augsburg Confession was published. This confession became the standard that congregations used to justify their independent existence and distinguished the churches that used written confessions as "confessing churches." Luther taught that salvation is by grace through faith, rather than works and faith, and that the Bible is the rule of faith and sole authority for doctrine. Luther, in distinction from other Reformation churches, placed greater emphasis on the sacramental liturgy and understood the eucharist as consubstantiation (Christ present but elements not changed) in distinction from the Roman Catholic tradition of transubstantiation (elements changed into Christ's essence). Luther's translation of the Bible into the German vernacular (1532-34) became the standard for the German language and sparked the use of the vernacular in the Lutheran liturgy. Through Luther, many new hymns came into use and changed the complexion of the liturgy.

• Reformed-Presbyterian Family: The force behind this family is John Calvin, who established the Reformed church in Geneva, Switzerland, in the 1540s. The Reformed churches distinguish themselves from the other Christian families by their theology (Reformed) and the church government (Presbyterian). Calvin derived his Reformed theology from the major premise of God's sovereignty in creation and salvation. He taught that God predestined some to salvation and that atonement is limited to those whom God has elected. Today, a strict or lenient interpretation of predestination separates many Reformed churches. On the continent, the churches were known as Reformed; in the British Isles they came to be known as Presbyterian. The Reformed churches were one with other Protestant churches in adherence to the authority of the early Christian creeds and believing in the Trinity, salvation by grace through faith, and that the Bible is the sole authority for faith and doctrine (in opposition to the Roman Catholics' position of salvation by faith and works, and of authority in the Bible and tradition). These churches did not concern themselves with apostolic succession, but with the pure preaching of the Gospel (predominantly a teaching function) and in the pure administration of the sacraments (baptism and Eucharist). In the eucharist, God, who is present, can be apprehended by faith; this is in opposition to the Lutherans and Roman Catholics who maintain God's special presence in the elements.

• Pietist-Methodist Family: Three groups of churches fall under this category: the Moravian Church, the Swedish Evangelical churches, and the Methodist (Wesleyan) churches. As a movement of pietism, these churches reacted to Protestantism as practiced in the late 17th century. They reacted to the rigidity and systematic doctrine of the scholastic Lutheran and Calvinist theologians. Not wishing to leave their established churches, they wanted a shift from scholasticism to spiritual experience. They advocated a Bible-centered faith, the experience of the Christian life, and giving free expression of faith in hymns, testimony, and evangelical zeal. Through the early work of Philip Jacob Spener and August Hermann Francke, and using home studies, their work rejuvenated the Moravian Church in 1727, influenced John Wesley, and helped establish the Swedish Evangelical Church. In their work they were open to traditional practices and beliefs and sought life within the forms of the traditional churches. Methodists are characterized by their dissent from the Calvinist teachings on predestination and irresistible grace. In 1784, at a Christmas conference, the Methodists in America formed the Methodist Episcopal Church. Its history in North America reflects the history of other denominations, including their relationships to Old World governments, ecclesiastical affiliations, and changing North American political patterns.

• Holiness Family: Through the influence of John Wesley's teaching of perfection, the holiness movement uses Matthew 5:48 as its theme: "Be ye perfect as my father is perfect." It is distinct from modern Wesleyism and other Protestant churches by how it understands the framework of holiness and perfection. These believers have traditionally separated themselves from Christians who did not strive high enough for perfection. Wesley, however, seeing the practical problems with perfection or sinlessness, then stressed love as the primary theme for Christians, while the holiness movement continued to stress sinlessness. Holiness, or the sanctification experience, is the end work of a process that starts with accepting Christ as one's personal savior (being "born again"). Having accepted Christ, one then grows in grace with the help of the Holy Spirit. The second work of grace comes when the Holy Spirit cleanses the heart of sin and provides the power for living the Christian life. Living the life of holiness results in banning certain forms of behavior as inappropriate for the Christian. This tendency resulted in the adoption of a strict set of codes of behavior. However, groups of churches, depending upon their understanding of holiness-whether it comes instantaneously or later-established their own independent churches.

• Pentecostal Family: Today's Pentecostal family is usually traced back to the work of Rev. Charles Parham and his experience at Bethel Bible College in 1901. However, the movement has also had a long history replete with the experiences usually associated with it. What makes this family distinct from other Protestant churches is not their doctrinal differences; it is their form of religious experience and their practice of speaking in tongues -- called glossolalia. Tongue speaking is a sign of baptism by the Holy Spirit, a baptism that often is accompanied by other forms of spiritual gifts such as healing, prophecy, wisdom, and discernment of spirits. Pentecostals seek the experience, interpret events from within it, and work to have others share in it. Those who do not manifest the experience are thought often to be less than "full of the Spirit." Pentecostal worship services appear to be more spontaneous than the traditional churches; however, Pentecostal services repeat a pattern of seeking the experience and showing the desire to talk about it. Because it is shaped by cultural forces, Pentecostalism appears in different forms, emphasizes different gifts, yet collects similar minds into its community. Neo-Pentecostalism, however, is a recent phenomenon, and has occurred predominantly in established churches that have found room for this movement.

• European Free-Church Family: While Luther and Calvin advocated a fairly close relationship with the state, 16th-century radical reformers from within the Roman Catholic Church advocated a complete break with the state church. Their doctrines resembled many of the Protestant doctrines, but their ecclesiology differed. They thought the visible Church to be a free association of adults who had been baptized as believers (as opposed to being baptized as infants) and who avoided worldly ways. The Free-Church family is thought to have started on December 25, 1521, when one of the leaders celebrated the first Protestant communion service, a service format that is followed by much of Protestantism. From this group evolved the Mennonites, the Amish, the Brethren, the Quakers, and the Free Church of Brethren. Because many of them shunned allegiance to the government, they suffered persecution. Suffering persecution, many of them moved to North America and established congregations there. Many members of these groups, particularly Quakers and Mennonites, are pacifists in their response to war; at the same time, they are highly active in their work to prevent war and in their relief efforts worldwide.

• Baptist Family: As a free association of adult believers, Baptists make up the second largest religious family on the American landscape. Though they may also be related to the continental free- church family, American Baptists seem more related to British Puritanism. In general, they teach that the creeds have a secondary place to Scripture, that baptism is by immersion and administered only to believing and confessing adults, that the Lord's supper (not understood as a sacrament, but as an ordinance) is a memorial, that salvation is a gift of God's grace, and that people must exercise their free will to receive salvation. Even though they are a free association, they have organized themselves into various groupings, depending upon emphases of creed and the necessity for control, and at times by differences in theological perspectives due to the American phenomenon of regionalism (e.g., Southern and Northern Baptist conventions).

• Independent Fundamentalist Family: Following the lead of Englishman John Nelson Darby (1800-1882), Independent Fundamental families distinguish themselves from Baptists by their belief in dispensationalism. The Fundamentalists believe the Bible is a history of God's actions with people in different periods. Because of apparent Biblical contradictions, they resolve those differences by assigning Biblical passages to different dispensations. Human failure to meet God's commands causes God's economy to establish new paths. The present dispensation thus leads to the final dispensation in which Christ is recognized as the supreme universal authority. This dispensational framework has resulted in much speculation about prophecy of the Last Times. Another distinguishing feature of this family is the belief that the Church is only a unity of the Spirit, and not of organization. The Fundamentalist family frequently uses the Scofield Reference Bible as a major source for doctrine.

• Adventist Family: The feature that distinguishes the Adventist family from other Christian groups is their belief in the expectation or imminent return of Christ when Christ will replace the old order of the world with an order of joy and goodness. When Christ comes again, he will establish a millennial (a thousand-year) reign in which unbelievers will have a second chance to accept Christ's Lordship. Even though a belief in the imminent return has long roots, it was heightened with the work of William Miller, a poor New York farmer. He believed that Biblical chronology could be deciphered, a belief that prompted him to predict Christ's return between March 21, 1843, and March 21, 1844. The 50,000 people who followed these teachings, and who experienced the non-return, retrenched. Rather than seeing a literal return of Christ that failed, one group advocated a spiritualized return -- following the teachings of Charles Taze Russell -- in which the event is understood as a "heavenly or internal event." The Adventist Family shares many of the Baptist teachings, from which much of the family has its genesis. Some of the more distinctive teachings of the family (but not all) are the following:
  1. The imminent return of Christ
  2. Denial of a person's immortality
  3. Old Testament laws are effective, including the observance of the Sabbath (Saturday)
  4. Rejection of the belief in a Hell
  5. Christ's death counters the death penalty of Adam passed to his children by inheritance
  6. That the Church is the suffering body of Christ and offers a spiritual sacrifice of atonement to God
  7. That God's name is Yahweh.

  Some of the more well-known families that have evolved from the millennial expectation are the Seventh Day Adventists, Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints, the Jehovah's Witnesses, British Israel Movement, and the WorldWide Church of God.

• Jehovah's Witnesses, who trace their roots to Charles Taze Russell, mentioned above, prefer to separate themselves from the Christendom that was founded nearly 300 years after Jesus' death, believing that its beliefs deviate greatly from what Jesus taught. For instance, they do not accept Christendom's belief in the doctrine of the Trinity, which teaches that Jesus "is" God, though he is identified as God's Son. They do not use the cross as a symbol; yet Jesus was the promised Messiah and did provide the legal means of rescuing mankind from the consequences of Adam's sin, thus fulfilling the requirements for the new covenant which would bring faithful people into the promised earthly Paradise. Today, Jehovah's Witnesses form a large international organization, well known for its door-to-door evangelistic methods and its belief that many who are now living will survive when God's Kingdom brings an end to all present governments. Watch Tower, the denominational publishing company, provides Bible study and educational materials.

• The Liberal Family: Because yesterday's liberal may be today's conservative, the word "liberal" can be somewhat ambiguous. Most often, however, members of this family are identified as being against the mainstream theistic position of the dominant culture in Western society. The Liberal family, depending upon orientation, finds itself somewhere among the three positions of unitarianism, universalism, and atheism. Unitarianists think that God is One, that the Trinity does not exist; the universalists think that all will be saved, that Hell does not exist; the atheists reject the idea of a transcendental God. Liberalism's American origins developed in reaction to New England's Calvinism. However, the genesis of Liberalism is most often thought to rest in the work of Michael Servetus, martyred by John Calvin in Geneva. Liberals have championed human rights, the need for education, and the high worth of every person. By removing God from cosmic calculations, Liberals find life's answers in two other sources: human intuition -- as in the position of Transcendentalists and human reason -- as in the Rationalist position. Early 15th-century liberals advocated that people could improve the world through reason. Nineteenth-century liberalism, seeing the results of scientific thought, expanded the above with evolution, science, and materialism, seen as necessary for uncovering the essential (monotheistic) laws of the universe.

• Latter-Day Saints Family: Joseph Smith, in the fervor of revivalist movements sweeping New York in the early 19th century, received at the hands of an angel in 1827, gold plates written in what he described as a reformed Egyptian language. By means of two crystal-like stones, the "Urim" and "Thummim," this translation has been become known as the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon claims to be the history of two tribes, the Jeredites and the Israelites. The Jeredites moved to North America after the Tower of Babel; the Israelites moved to North America after the destruction of Jerusalem in the 6th century B.C. Joseph Smith published a number of other works including the Book of Moses, the Book of Abraham, and the Book of Commandments (now called the "Doctrine and Covenants"). The early history of Mormonism includes persecution, schisms, and violence, culminating in the murder of Joseph Smith in Carthage, Illinois, June 27, 1844. In the ensuing power struggle, Brigham Young moved his group to Salt Lake City, Utah, where he established the dominant branch of Mormonism. Another branch, which resides in Independence, Missouri, claiming Joseph Smith III as successor to his father, is known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Several major Mormon beliefs are the following:
  1. Affirmation of a trinitheism (not Christian Trinity) of the Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit
  2. Denial of original sin and the necessity of obedience to certain articles of faith for salvation
  3. A specific church hierarchy
  4. The Word of God consists of the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and The Pearl of Great Price
  5. Revelation is open and added to the "Doctrine and Covenants" when received
  6. The future Kingdom of Zion will be established in North America -- either in Independence, Missouri, or Salt Lake City, Utah.

• Communal Family: Citing references to the early Christian Church, the Communal Family desires to share all its worldly possessions with other members of the group. Communalism made a serious start in the 4th century with the development of monasticism, a movement that thought the Western Catholic tradition brought everyone into the church rather than seeing the church as the body of true believers. Monasticism thought the principle of equality could be achieved through poverty and renunciation of the world. Francis of Assisi, thinking that monasticism did not represent true poverty (monastic orders had become very wealthy), advocated poverty of use as a method of reform. The Roman Catholic Church did not accept his vision, but saw it as a threat. The Taborites and the Munsterites, shortly after the Reformation, set up several communities, but, for a variety of reasons, failed. After 1860, visionaries and reformists began the most active era in the building of communities. In North America, the most famous and successful of these is the Hutterite community. Having a similar background to Russian Mennonites, today these people have established and maintain well over three hundred communities.

• Christian Science-Metaphysical Family: Concerned with the role of the Mind in the healing process, the Christian Science and the New Thought movement drew on the metaphysical traditions of the 19th century that suggested the presence of spiritual powers operating on the mind and body. Swedenborg, a prolific writer, suggested the priority of the spiritual world over the material and that the material becomes real in its correspondence to the spiritual. The Christian Bible, he also taught, must be interpreted spiritually. In the late 1800s, Mary Baker Eddy {the founder of Christian Science) and Emma Curtis Hopkins (the founder of New Thought) built on the methodology of Swedenborg. Disease, they taught, is the result of disharmony between mind and matter. New Thought, however, is distinct from Christian Science. New Thought governs itself through ordained ministers (most of whom are women), developed a decentralized movement, emphasized prosperity (poverty is as unreal as disease), and emphasized the universal position that all religions have value. Christian Science is itself a major religion founded on American soil over one hundred years ago. Its primary text, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, has sold over 8 million copies worldwide.

• Unity School of Christianity: This is another religious organization with metaphysical inclinations. Founded more than one hundred years ago and based on the teachings of Jesus Christ, Unity offers a practical approach to Christianity that helps people lead happier, healthier, more productive lives and find deeper spiritual meaning for their lives. Unity serves millions of people worldwide through its 24-hour prayer, publishing, and education ministries. Through its publishing ministry, Unity produces a variety of inspirational resources for personal study and growth; Unity is a metaphysical journal and Daily Word is a devotional publication. Unity's educational ministry is designed to train and prepare Unity ministers and teachers for pastoral service and to foster personal spiritual growth.

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Dr. Dieter T. Hessel

NOTE: This essay, addressing the critical issues and wisdom, is written by a Presbyterian minister and ethicist; Dr. Hessel has directed the ecumenical Program on Ecology, Justice and Faith, and is editor of After Nature's Revolt (Fortress Press, 1992).1

The Primary Challenges and Issues Facing Humanity

Among perennial challenges are the quest for meaningful human existence and the struggle for social justice and peace. Greater scientific and technological power over nature tempts humans to ignore creaturely limits and to make themselves the center of value. Human efforts to achieve inordinate security and comfort actually oppress and destroy other life, offending the Source of existence and warping right relationships in earth community. Today, the rich/poor gap has become harsher. More than a billion people lack enough to eat, while another billion misuse resources and overconsume. Militarization brings mass death to the "meek" even as it allows the militarily powerful to retain unjust advantage over the earth's resources for a wealthy few.

Pressing new issues face humanity, including the degradation of the environment on a global scale and the negative impact of exploding human population growth on social systems and other species. The world's religions and governments have also been surprised by a new public health crisis worsened by AIDS, and by the breakdown of public and private morality, as well as by the failures of common educational systems, in commodified societies. Meanwhile, counterrevolutionary forms of cultural/religious fundamentalism foster crusading intolerance of other faiths or ethnic groups and threaten minority rights. Mature religion and politics, to the contrary, will foster multicultural appreciation, religious tolerance, civil liberties, gender equality, and racial justice.

How Christians Respond to These Issues

First, rethink and reinterpret faith for these times. Pertinent Christian faith expresses reverence for the Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer of the cosmos, and corresponding respect for all of the creatures whom God loves and enjoys. Such faith guides compassionate and courageous human living. The norm for spirited humanity is set by Jesus of Nazareth, "pioneer of faith" and "Son of God," whom Christians perceive as Reconciler of the world and Sovereign of life. His prophetic and healing public ministry inaugurates the Kingdom of God. Everyone is invited to enter this commonwealth, a community of shalom and sharing intended to encompass all known races, cultures, species, places. The church's role is to be the ecumenical social body of the crucified-risen Christ, celebrative of God's design, concerned for the well-being of all. Christian worship through word and sacrament and social witness in each locale visibly signify God's reign already operative but not yet fulfilled in history.

Second, embody an ethic of covenant faithfulness. A Christian ethics that is: a) based on the biblical story of God's love for creation and covenant with human creatures (humus = "from earth"), and b) responsive to the needs of the time will foster and embody these values:

1. Love for human beings everywhere who are equally "created in the image of God," and respect for basic human rights
2. Care for the well-being of near and distant neighbors, both human and other kind, on this home planet
3. Justice to the oppressed as well as generosity toward the deprived
4. Prophetic denunciation of sin toward neighbor and nature, and idolatry or corruption in personal life and public affairs
5. Frugality of lifestyle -- neither strictness nor laxity -- so that there may be sustainable sufficiency for all
6. Nonviolent action to resist exploitation, and cooperative habits of coping with social conflict
7. Renewal of community life and cultivation of civil processes for the common good.

Third, examine ambiguities of religious life. Christianity in the late modern era has partially embodied but often contradicted its faith affirmations and moral imperatives. Transformative faith leading toward biophilic harmony has been obscured by domineering or distorting tendencies. Christians have proclaimed "the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit," while acquiescing to racist, sexist, classist, naturist, and ecclesiastical practices of domination. The church's emphasis on human rights worldwide has fostered liberation of the oppressed, but is in fragmentary ways captive to individualism, ethnocentrism, and popular moralism.

On every continent, Christian communions have been co-opted by the forces of destructive nationalism, and even now the ecumenical church remains shamefully divided over issues of gender justice and reproductive rights, added to ancient divisions over faith and order. Moreover, most local congregations lack racial and class heterogeneity, or constructive relations with other faith communities and popular movements for social change.

Nations with Christian majorities have relied on military force much more than on peacemaking initiatives and cooperative development. Western economic ethics has favored democratic capitalism over policies and practices of social solidarity and ecological integrity. Newly awakened ecumenical concern for "integrity of creation" is still very anthropocentric and has just begun to explore intrinsic values in nature, or sacred dimensions of the evolutionary story.

Priestly celebrations of grace within nature will see earth, water, and wind as sacramental, along with bread, wine, and spirit. Prophetic responses to these times will seek "eco-justice" -- social and economic equity coupled with ecological integrity and cooperative peacemaking for the sake of earth and people.

Ethical Guidance in Christianity

Christians characteristically ask not "What is the good?" but "What purposes and patterns of conduct are in keeping with being faithful people of God?" Since Pentecost, Christian communities have understood themselves to be people of "the Way" (Acts 4:32-35; 18:24-26). The Christian Way is viewed as consistent with the expectations of the Noachic and Sinai covenants. A Christian ethical spirituality -- "Live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ" -- is expressed in the communion meal and baptism, as well as in public preaching and social practice. The individualistic, bureaucratic, and technocratic acids of modernity have corroded commitment to this way; intentional Christian communities, though often ignored by mainline churches, have been primary bearers of the tradition.

People of the Way have vision, values, and virtues that are consistent with the basic themes, though not legal details, of the Hebrew covenant story. Today, Christians and Jews alike are rediscovering wisdom dimensions of covenant ethics, keyed to the rest-and-play Sabbath purpose of creation's seventh day. For example, Exodus 23, Leviticus 19 and 25, plus Deuteronomy 15 summarize covenant laws that contain the implicit ecological and social wisdom of herding tribes and primitive agrarians living close to the land. Faithful people give animals frequent "time off' and let the land lie fallow at least once every seven years. Neither neighbors nor nature are to be exploited. Earth-keeping humans are responsible for making sure that people, animals, and the land have their times of rest, peace, and restoration (Ex. 20:8-11; 23:10-12). It is a grand jubilee tradition (Lev. 25 and 26, Luke 4: 16-22) with much contemporary relevance.

Covenant teaching fosters an ethic of environmental care coupled with social justice. Moral responsibility toward land and beasts must be matched by justice toward the poor. An appropriate response to poverty, therefore, involves more than alms-giving; it entails debt relief, gleaning opportunities, and equitable redistribution of land, as well as care for "strangers, widows, and orphans."

Yet, despite deep appreciation of nature and reverential descriptions in the Psalms, in Job, in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, and despite Isaiah's hopeful vision of shalom, which includes a restored creation, scripture is punctuated with sad stories of land coveting and defilement. Some striking biblical examples of eco-injustice are the tale of Naboth's vineyard (1 Kings 21), Solomon's order to cut down the beloved cedars of Lebanon to aggrandize Jerusalem (1 Kings 5:6-11; Ps. 104:16), and the people's lament at becoming powerless tenant farmers after the return from exile (Neh. 5:3-5). Wherever human beings are unfaithful to the eco-social requirements of God's covenant, their idolatrous behavior has devastating consequences (Jer. 9:4-11); the land mourns, even the birds die (Hos. 4:3 ). Even so, there is hope for renewal of the covenant; God continually acts with justice and mercy to redeem creation.

Covenant ethics is concerned with tight relationships within the whole web of created interdependency. It views Jesus Christ as the normative clue to faithful and fitting life. "Faithful" means loyal to the cause of God who makes covenant with creation after the flood, through the exodus, and at the incarnation. "Fitting" means practical human action consistent with the kingdom vision and covenant values. Responsible action "fits in" with everything that is going on and that is needed to solve problems.2

The cross, the central symbol in the new covenant story, signifies God grappling with human sin, accepting and overcoming life's persistent suffering and perpetual perishing, and ultimately creation's comprehensive renewal, including harmonious human living with myriad species of animals and plants (as envisioned by the prophet Hosea 2:18-22). That is not all it means, but Christians can perceive Jesus' crucifixion-resurrection as the deed that reconciles human beings to God, each other, and the world of creation. This can be understood as at-one-ment with nature and society, attunement to what God is doing with us and all other creatures. The gracious, enabling work of Christ brings responsive communities of faith into right relation with God, other people, and the larger ecological-social environment with its biodiversity.

But "developed" and "developing" societies alike have yet to face the limits nature places on polluting economic growth and material consumption, and to adopt an ethic and practice of eco-justice that would keep the earth, achieve justice, build community. This ethic comes into sharp focus in terms of four norms: ecologically sustainable or environmentally fitting enterprise; socially just participation in obtaining sustenance and managing community life; suffciency as an equitable standard of organized sharing that requires basic consumption floors and ceilings, and solidarity with other people and creatures--companions, victims, and allies-in earth community. Observance of each ethical norm reinforces the others, serving the common eco-social good by joining what is socially just with what is ecologically right.

Enriching Theological Traditions

The covenant theology tradition, going back to Augustine, and behind him to both testaments, has prominence in the preceding portrait of Christianity. But there are several other important Christian approaches, rooted in tradition, which can be viewed as having complementary rather than competing effects on Christian witness in the contemporary world.

One of these is the wisdom tradition of Job, the Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the New Testament gospel and epistles of John. Practical folk wisdom among Christians carries on the tradition, which is also folded into Biblical covenant faith and ethics, as we have seen. Suffice it to add here that from the wisdom perspective, Jesus is understood to be the incarnate Word of God, logos of life and reason -- from the beginning to the end. The prologue to the book of John views the logos as involved immanently in the whole of God's creation, enlivening all living things while enlightening all that have such capacity.

Another approach is offered by mature evangelical Christianity (as distinct from crusading fundamentalism). It recognizes that to start and stay on a path of sustainable sufficiency for all requires spiritual conversion -- change of heart and repentance -- moving toward sanctification that must be reinforced in a faithful, nurturing community. Saving grace is the joyous message so characteristic of 19th-century Protestant hymnody. The crucial result of Christ's redemptive work is to restore human "mutability" -- our ability to respond to God's call and to grow and change toward maturity. This is not possible by human willing alone. The gracious, saving work of Christ is necessary for the flourishing of responsible human activity.

Another Christian approach is the sacramental tradition, fostered by Catholic mystics, and supported in Anglican and Orthodox liturgy. It "ecstatically experiences the divine bodying forth in the cosmos, and beckons us into communion" (as Rosemary Radford Ruether writes in Gaia & God). "We must start thinking of reality as the connecting links of a dance in which each part is equally vital to the whole, rather than [using] the linear competitive model in which the above prospers by defeating and suppressing what is below." The resulting ethical spirituality knows the value and transcience of selves in relation to the great Self, the living interdependence of all things, and the joy of personal communion within the matrix of life -- a sacred community.

Passionist Fr. Thomas Berry, a contemporary interpreter of the sacramental tradition, recently discussed the question, "What are the conditions for entering into a Viable Future?"

First condition: Recognize that the universe is a communion of subjects, not a collection of objects. (A theology of stewardship misses the point that communion -- deep rapport -- is the primary experience. ) Earth community is the sacred society where we have complementary manifestations of the divine.

Second condition: Appreciate that the earth is primary; humans are derivative. So earth-healing comes first. All professions, business, education, and religion must focus on the well-being of the whole community.

Third condition: Come to grips with the fact that in the future nothing much will happen that humans are not involved in, given our numbers and power. This requires human subjectivity in contact with the subjectivity of the world." All human activities must be judged primarily by the extent to which they generate and foster a mutually enhancing human/earth relationship."

Adequate theological and ethical responses to the environmental challenge will encompass (in a wholistic way) both created reality and human subjectivity. William French of Loyola University, Chicago, emphasizes the "need to move beyond dualistic thinking that suggests we must choose between focusing on subjectivity or creation, freedom or natural necessity, historical consciousness or ecological sensitivity" (in Journal of Religion, 1992). Just as subject-centered theology need not turn against creation, critical creation-centered theology need and should not reject the importance of human subjectivity or constructive historical projects.

Adequate theology and ethics will pay close attention to the "view from below" even as it also learns to listen to nature. The feminist or egalitarian insight is catching hold that

Domination of women has provided a key link, both socially and symbolically, to domination of earth; hence the tendency in patriarchal cultures to link women with earth, matter, and nature, while identifying males with sky, intellect, and transcendent spirit. ...The work of eco-justice and the work of spirituality are interrelated, the outer and inner aspects of one process of conversion and transformation. ..[involving] a reordering to bring about just and loving interrelationships between men and women, between races and nations, between groups presently stratified into social classes, manifest in great disparities of access to the means of life

Poor and indigenous communities of people who are most affected by economic exploitation and environmental destruction have important things to teach us about living in harmony with nature and caring for place. Such communities have priority justice claims on religious, educational, business, and political organizations.

Finally, in response to modern physics, biology, and ecology, we should note the maturing of a more philosophical and interdisciplinary style of Christian process thought, as fostered by John Cobb. His thought in The Liberation of Life (1981, with biologist Charles Birch) asserts the need for an organic or ecological view of God and reality that does not construe God as a substance isolated from the world. God is inherently related to the world, in-dwelling all eco-social systems, which by their nature are intrinsically interconnected communities. Rev. Carol Johnston, a student of Cobb, notes that

When relations are conceived as inherent, then the person is both influenced by relations with others and influences them. In this context, justice is a matter of the quality of relationships ... characterized by freedom, participation, and solidarity. Recognition of inherent relatedness establishes the need to take marginalized people and externalized ecosystems into account ... All entities have a right to be respected appropriate to their degree of intrinsic value and to their importance to the possibility of value in others.4

To cultivate a renewed spirituality that undergirds an ethic of care for earth community is the special obligation of religious leaders, clergy and lay, in these times. Otherwise, many more people will suffer from environmental degradation and social injustice, while numerous special places and wondrous other kind will not be saved; sooner or later they also will fall to the utilitarian logic of the developers.

Authentic spirituality features awe, respect, humane pace, justice, and generosity, not intensively efficient use of all being, as goes the instrumental logic of modern life and business. Authentic spitituality loves the suffering ones, aspires toward harmony with the wilderness, shows deep respect for the dignity of animals, plants, mountains, and waters. Such religion celebrates spirit in creation, inculcates an ethic of genuine care for vulnerable people, creatures, ecosystems, as it appropriates the wisdom of nature and of long-standing communities.

In this web of life, religious people will praise and participate in the "economy of God" on this planetary home, foster loving deeds of eco-justice, build communities that model sufficiency, join with others to envision and move toward reverential, sustainable development (and foster corporate responsibility consistent with this goal). They will also explore urban and rural dimensions of ecology, encourage appropriate technologies at home and abroad, participate in community organizations that are working for environmental and economic justice, while they express integrity in both individual and institutional lifestyle, consistent with a spitituality of creation- justice-peace.

NOTES

1 Dieter Hessel also served the national staff of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) for twenty-five years as coordinator of social education and of social policy development. Among his titles is The Church's Public Role: Retrospect and Prospect; Wm.B. Eerdmans, 1993.
2 See Charles McCoy, "Creation and Covenant: A Comprehensive Vision for Environmental Ethics," in Covenant for a New Creation, Carol S. Robb and Carl J. Casebolt, eds.; Orbis Books, 1991.
3 Ruether, Gaia & God, Harper Collins, 1992.
4 "Economics, Eco-Justice, and the Doctrine of God," in Dieter T. Hessel, ed., After Nature's Revolt; Fortress Press, 1992. Also see Herman Daly and John B. Cobb, Jr., For the Common Good; Redirecting the Economy toward Community, the Environment, and a Sustainable Future; Beacon Press, rev. edition 1993.

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Dr. David D. Daniels
Associate Professor of Church History, McCormick Theological
Seminary; Chicago, Illinois

African American Christianity is a religious community within global Christianity, located in the United States of America among the descendents of the African slaves who were violently transported to the Americas beginning in the 1500s. While it has always believed the common creeds of the Christian Church, the African American Christian community also recognizes that religion must be embodied in social structures and practices, and it demands correspondence between these social embodiments of faith in God with personal confessions and lives of faith.

The African American Church emerged in colonial British North America during the revolutionary fervor of the late 18th century. At that time, African Americans discerned the need for assuming responsibility for their religious lives within the Christian faith rather than totally entrusting their religious existence to their oppressors, the slaveholders of European national origins. The other major issue which promoted the emergence of African American Christianity was the institutional racism which shaped most American congregations. In these congregations, parishioners were segregated by race, and African Americans were denied the right to official religious leadership, including the office of minister.

Historically, the African American Church has struggled to create social space where a just system could be erected that affirms the human dignity of African Americans and their relationships with others. Currently, African American Christianity is an interdenominational movement with members in communions ranging from Roman Catholicism to Baptist and Pentecostal.

African American churches confess faith in God the Creator, ascenting God's creation of all races from a common humanity. African Americans opened their congregations to all Christians regardless of race, and campaigned to end discrimination against persons because of race. During the late 19th and early lOth centuries, the African American Church buttressed its faith in God the Creator by confessing the essence of relationships as "The Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man." The Civil Rights Movement of the 195Os and 196Os, led by the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., communicated the strength of African American Christian faith and demonstrated its resolve to embody its faith within social structures. The congregations spearheaded a national inter-religious campaign which struggled to reshape American society; its goal was to dismantle the system of legalized segregation which denied God as the creator of all races and the image of God in all humanity.

African American Christians, as other Christians, confess faith in the providence of God. During the eras of slavery and segregation, African Americans remained confident that God was acting in history to overthrow slavery and segregation. They held in creative tension a firm belief in both personal and social salvation. The African American Church is shaped by God's revelation in Jesus Christ. Jesus is worshipped in song, prayer, and life as the revelation of God's solidarity with the poor and oppressed through the historical Jesus' identification with the poor, the outcast, women, and the oppressed of the 1st century C.E.

The African American Church identifies racial injustice as the social impact of sin. The impact of slavery and segregation as forms of racism is evident in the structuring and legalizing of an inferior or less-than-human status of African Americans, beneath their God-given status and creation as human beings. The African American Church weds God's goodness to the African American practice of Christian love, along with strong demands for justice; these are seen as keys to the social embodiment of faith in God the Creator and glimpses of the justice of God in society.

Racism, specifically slavery and segregation, is named as the curse of the earth, a violation of God's model of human interaction, a model which reflects God's justice and love which is to be reflected in human relationships. Racism is problematic because it reduces persons who are its victims to objects of labor. It arrogantly uncreates what God created -- the humanity of its victims -- thus blaspheming God. Racism violates creation by treating people as less than human. The issue goes beyond the denial of inalienable human rights, inhumane labor, restriction of freedoms or cruel treatment. At its core is the attempt to destroy the image of God in persons, annihilating the personhood of its victims. Ultimately, racism mars both the oppressed and the oppressor through its confusion of human authority with the prerogatives and authority of the Creator. Racism also undermines the bonds of human community and corrupts the religions and governments that sanction it.

Interreligious Dimensions

In addition to the interreligious dimension of the Civil Rights movement, African American Christianity has indirectly created religious communities with Judaism and Islam through African Americans who adopted Jewish and Islamic beliefs and practices.

From African American Christianity there emerged in the 189Os a new movement which was led by converts to Judaism. While these converts borrowed heavily from Judaism, their core remained African American Christianity. Even the early names of their organizations within African American Judaism reflected Christian forms: Church of God and Saints of Christ; Church of the Living God. Other names, reflecting themes of identity were Ethiopian Hebrews and the Moorish Zionist Temple. During the late 2Oth century, dialogues with the world Jewish communities led African American Judaism to incorporate more aspects of Global Judaism.

In the 191Os there emerged a new movement within Islam led by converts from African American Christianity. Like African American Judaism, it relied on African American Christianity for its form, but borrowed heavily from Islam. This religious community is represented by such organizations as the Moorish Science Temple, the Nation of Islam, and the American Muslim Mission.

The African American Church has provided an historic witness to the justice and sovereignty of God within the world community, identifying with many movements committed to the liberation of peoples from oppression. It has historically had dialogue with movements such as the Hindu-inspired decolonization campaign in India led by Gandhi and the Islam-inspired Palestinian liberation movement. Each endeavor worships God by bringing correspondence between the embodiment of faith in social structures and humane relationships, with personal confession and lives of faith.

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The Right Rev. Steve Charleston

NOTE: In North America, as in many countries, there has been a considerable range of interaction between Christians of many denominations and indigenous peoples from a variety of tribal communities. Some indigenous people are reclaiming parts of their heritage and combining them with the Christian message. This description explains several elements which may be utilized in cross-cultural worship. One of the goals here is to appreciate the gifts, rituals, and meanings found in the traditions of "the other" -- as the Native American believers themselves experience those meanings.

The Circle: For Native American people, and for their theology, the Circle is the symbol that expresses their unique identity as a people. It expresses the sense of wholeness, harmony, unity, and mutual interdependence that is at the heart of Native American civilization. The Circle is a powerful metaphor for the special insights and gifts that Indian and Eskimo people bring into the Christian faith as part of their ancient cultural heritage.

The Drum: In Indian country, the term drum means more than just the physical instrument itself. It implies also the singers who are seen as an organic part of the music; they are also the instrument of the Drum. The Drum, a perfect representation of the Circle, embodies the heartbeat of the body of Christ.

The Four Sacred Directions: Within the Circle, the points of the spiritual compass indicate the four sacred directions of God's creation. These directions represent the eternal balance of the harmony and goodness of the world. They can be illustrated by different colors, depending on the tribal tradition.

Our Mother, the Earth: Here is a very precious part of Native American theology; it is one that must be accorded great respect. Speaking of the Earth is not done casually in Native worship; rather, the living Earth shows the nurturing, sustaining power of God in all its warmth and beauty.

Cedar, Sage, Sweet Grass, and Tobacco; Many tribes have a form of incense to purify the place of prayer and worship. Any of these four can be used individually or collectively as incense during a service. Native Hymns: A great many traditional Christian hymns have been translated into Native languages. One hymn, "Many and Great, O God, are Thy Works," is actually a Dakota hymn, translated into English, and a part of some hymnals.

-excerpted from the service booklet for " A Celebration of Native American Survival," by the Right Rev. Steve Charleston, a Native American

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Chicago Declaration II
In 1973 a group of evangelical Christians gathered in Chicago to offer a declaration of social concern. In November of 1993, evangelicals sharing the same concerns and convictions gathered again in Chicago to reconsider what they should do in the midst of a worsening social and moral crisis.

We Give Thanks!

We give thanks for the Christian communities that are living out the sacrificial and compassionate demonstration of the reconciling love of God. Their faithfulness encourages us to follow Christ more closely in the power of the Holy Spirit. While we acknowledge our weaknesses and confess our failures, we take heart from the love of God at work in their lives and communities.

We Weep and Dream

We weep for those who do not know and confess Jesus Christ, the hope of the world. We dream of a missionary church that, by its witness and love, draws people into a living relationship with our Lord. We weep over the persistence of racism, the broken relationships, and the barriers that divide races and ethnic groups. We dream of churches that demonstrate the reconciling Gospel of Christ, uniting believers from every nation, tribe, and tongue.

We weep over the growing disparity between the rich and the poor, the scandal of hunger, and the growing number of people who live in oppressive conditions, insecurity, and danger. We dream of churches that work for education, economic empowerment, and justice, both at the personal and structural levels, and that address the causes and the symptoms of poverty.

We weep over escalating violence, abuse, disregard for the sanctity of human life, and addiction to weapons -- in both nations and neighborhoods -- that destroy lives and breed fear. We dream of faith communities that model loving ways of resolving conflict, and seek to be peacemakers rather than passive spectators, calling the nations to justice and righteousness.

We weep over the brokenness expressed in relationships between generations, between men and women, in families, in distorted sexualities, and in cruel judgmentalism. We dream of faith communities that honor and protect both our elders and our children, foster a genuine partnership and mutual submission between men and women, nourish healthy families, affirm celibate singleness, work for healing and compassion for all, and for the keeping of marriage covenants.

We weep over the spiritual emptiness and alienation of modem secular society. We dream of a redemptive church that restores personal identity, provides loving community, offers purpose in life, and brings transcendent values and moral conscience to the public square.

We weep over our exploitive practices and consumerist lifestyles that destroy God's good creation. We dream of a church that leads in caring for creation and calls Christians to serve as faithful partners of God in renewing and sustaining God's handiwork. In all of these, we have fallen so far short of God's glory and awesome holiness, yet we rejoice that in the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and in the power of the Holy Spirit, we are called by God to the obedience than comes from faith.

We Commit

Because of the hope we have in the Gospel, we dare to commit ourselves to the kingdom of God and oppose the demonic spiritual forces that seek to undermine the reign of God in this world. Because of our faith we dare to risk and seek the future that God has promised, and we give ourselves to works of love.

We recommit ourselves to grow in the knowledge and the love of God, drinking from the well of worship and praise, word and sacrament. We commit ourselves to sacrificial and loving engagement with God, with all other Christians, and with a needy world.

We commit ourselves to share the good news of Jesus Christ, by living and announcing the Gospel of the kingdom, so that all may come to know, love, and serve God.

We repent of our complacency, our reliance on technique, and our complicity with the evils of the status quo. We repudiate the idolatries of nation and economic system, and zealously dedicate ourselves to Christ and his kingdom's values. We turn away from obsession with power, possessions, self-fulfillment, security, and safety, and willingly risk discomfort and conflict as we live our dreams.

In 1973, we called evangelicals to social engagement: this call still stands. We are thankful that more social engagement is emerging, yet tragically it has frequently divided us along ideological lines. Too often recent evangelical political engagement has been uncivil and polarizing, has demonized opponents, and has lacked careful analysis and biblical integrity. Faithfulness to the full authority of the Scriptures transcends traditional categories of left and right.

The Gospel is not divided -- it embraces both the call to conversion and the summons to justice. Obedience to Jesus' teaching and example demands congregations that integrate prayer, worship, evangelism, and social transformation.

We Pray

In the face of such complex and unremitting problems, we claim the promise of God to give wisdom to those who ask. Therefore we ask: Oh God, Giver and Sustainer of life, Holy Redeemer and Lord, comforting and empowering Spirit, teach us your ways, show us your will, give us your presence, and pour out your power. Amen. Come Lord Jesus.