Hello, everyone!

One of the discussions that I'd like to start with the church board is about the possibility of our congregation becoming an affiliate of "The Centre for Progressive Christianity". I've been an individual affiliate since 2002.

What do you think of the Centre's statement:

"By calling ourselves progressive, we mean we are Christians who...
A1. Have found an approach to God through the life and teachings of Jesus.
A2. Recognize the faithfulness of other people who have other names for the way to God's realm, and acknowledge that their ways are true for them, as our ways are true for us.
A3. Understand the sharing of bread and wine in Jesus's name to be a representation of an ancient vision of God's feast for all peoples.
A4. Invite all people to participate in our community and worship life without insisting that they become like us in order to be acceptable (including but not limited to): believers and agnostics, conventional Christians and questioning skeptics, women and men, those of all sexual orientations and gender identities, those of all races and cultures, those of all classes and abilities, those who hope for a better world and those who have lost hope; without imposing on them the necessity of becoming like us.
A5. Know that the way we behave toward one another and toward other people is the fullest expression of what we believe.
A6. Find more grace in the search for understanding than we do in dogmatic certainty - more value in questioning than in absolutes.
A7. Form ourselves into communities dedicated to equipping one another for the work we feel called to do: striving for peace and justice among all people, protecting and restoring the integrity of all God's creation, and bringing hope to those Jesus called the least of his sisters and brothers.
A8. Recognize that being followers of Jesus is costly, and entails selfless love, conscientious resistance to evil, and renunciation of privilege."

I'm coming to think that St. Andrew's Haney United Church could feel quite comfortable with these statements. What do you think?

Blessings and peace - Richard


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"... faith, hope and love remain - these three... and the greatest of these? Love." (1 Cor. 13)

What's involved in becoming a member and other than the statement of belief (which makes sense to me) what are we as a community expected to do or participate in?


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Shalom,

Lesley

Lesley Frame wrote:

What's involved in becoming a member and other than the statement of belief (which makes sense to me) what are we as a community expected to do or participate in?

Hi, Lesley -

Thanks for starting us off!

We could simply adopt this statement as part of the place we work out of, and let people know about the Center for Progressive Christianity - both the Canadian and US versions.

If the congregation decided to become an 'affiliate' there would be a cost of around $60US - but it isn't necessary.

The most important thing would be to do some exploration and study of the eight points.

Richard


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"... faith, hope and love remain - these three... and the greatest of these? Love." (1 Cor. 13)

I think spending some time in the study of those 8 points would be a great place to start and maybe even encourage for example a round table discussion or the Board visioning time could be well spent here, 1 point per meeting for example... maybe even good kick off to the coffee house idea you had? hmmm ideas to ponder


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Shalom,

Lesley

Oooo - yeah - that's a *great* idea, Lesley!

I'll do some thinking about that... maybe we'll start at this upcoming meeting.

Richard


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"... faith, hope and love remain - these three... and the greatest of these? Love." (1 Cor. 13)

I thought I'd start us off on this chat...

"By calling ourselves progressive, we mean we are Christians who...
A1. Have found an approach to God through the life and teachings of Jesus. "

Here are a couple of questions I'd toss out:

What does this statement mean to you?

What do you hear it saying about what it means for us to be "Christian"?

Do you think that such a statement could encompass the diversity in our congregation - from people who would say, "Jesus Christ, my personal Lord and Saviour", to the people who would say, "Jesus? Nice guy! Interesting stuff he talked about.", through to the people who would say, "Jesus? Well... I'm not even sure he was a person who really lived." (Because we have all these voices in our congregation!)


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"... faith, hope and love remain - these three... and the greatest of these? Love." (1 Cor. 13)