A DECLARATION OF FAITH (1977)

CHAPTER EIGHT -- THE CHRISTIAN MISSION

1    (1) God sends the church into the world.
2          God has not taken his people out of the world,
3              but has sent them into the world
4              to worship God there and serve all humankind.
5          We worship God in the world
6              by standing before the Lord in behalf of all people.
7          Our cries for help and our songs of praise
8              are never for ourselves alone.
9          Worship is no retreat from the world;
10            it is part of our mission.

11        We serve humankind
12            by discerning what God is doing in the world
13            and joining God in that work.
14        We risk disagreement and error
15            when we try to say what God is doing here and now.
16        But we find guidance in God's deeds in the past
17            and in God's promises for the future,
18            as they are witnessed to in Scripture.
19        We affirm that the Lord is at work,
20            especially in events and movements
21            that free people by the gospel
22            and advance justice, compassion and peace.

23    (2) God sends us to proclaim the gospel.
24        God sent his Son
25            to proclaim release to those who are bound,
26            to announce that God's promised kingdom is at hand,
27            to urge everyone to repent and believe the good news.
28        The Lord is moving toward the time
29            when the glorious liberty of the children of God
30            will be manifest throughout the whole creation.

31        We testify God is at work here and now
32            when people obey Christ's commission
33            to witness to him and make disciples of all nations,
34            when they spread the good news by their words
35            and embody it in their lives.

36        We believe that God sends us
37            to tell all nations
38            that Christ calls everyone to repentance, faith and obedience.
39        We are to proclaim by word and deed
40            that Christ gave himself to set people free
41            from sin and self-hatred,
42            from ignorance and disease,
43            from all forms of oppression,
44            and even from death.

45        We are to offer them in Christ's name
46            fullness of life now and forever.
47        We must not distort the gospel
48            by weakening its promises or demands,
49            by identifying it with oppressive structures,
50            by pointing to ourselves instead of Christ.
51        We must not restrict our proclamation
52            to persons just like ourselves.
53        We invite people everywhere
54            to believe in Christ and become his followers.
55        We urge them to join us in telling others the good news
56            and in struggling for justice, compassion, and peace.

57    (3) God sends us to strive for justice.
58        God has reached out to those who suffer injustice
59            and defended the excluded, the poor, and the hungry.
60        The Lord is moving toward the time
61            when justice will roll down like waters
62            and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

63       We are persuaded God is at work here and now
64            when people deal fairly with each other
65            and labor to change customs and structures
66            that enslave and oppress human beings.

67       We believe God sends us to work with others
68            to correct the growing disparity
69            between rich and poor nations,
70            to achieve fair legislation justly administered and enforced,
71            to make the operation of courts and penal institutions
72            more just and humane.
73        We are charged to root out prejudice and racism
74            from our hearts and institutions.
75        We are commissioned to stand with women and men
76            of all ages, races, and classes
77            as they struggle for dignity and respect
78            and the chance to exercise power for the common good.
79        We must not countenance in the church and its institutions
80            the inequities we seek to correct in the world.
81        We must be willing to make such amends as we can
82            for centuries of injustice which the church condoned.

83    (4) God sends us to exercise compassion.
84        In his concern for justice in the social order
85        God has never forgotten the needs of individuals.
86        In the end the Lord will judge all persons
87            by the simple, unremembered acts of kindness
88            they did or failed to do
89            for the least of their sisters and brothers.

90       We acknowledge God is at work here and now
91            when people show personal concern for each other
92            and work to make helping agencies,
93            including the church itself,
94            more compassionate.

95          We believe God sends us
96              to risk our own peace and comfort
97              in compassion for our neighbors.
98          We are to give to them and receive from them,
99              accepting everyone we meet as a person;
100            to be sensitive to those who suffer in body or mind;
101            to help and accept help
102            in ways that affirm dignity and responsibility.
103        We must not limit our compassion to those we judge deserving,
104            for we ourselves do not deserve the compassion of God.

105    (5) God sends us to work for peace.
106        God has brought out of the horrors of warfare
107            the judgment and deliverance of nations.
108        Yet the Lord has condemned the atrocities of war
109            and warned his people not to trust in military might.
110        The Prince of Peace does not bring in his rule by force.
111        The Lord is moving toward the time
112            when nations will not learn war any more.

113       We affirm God is at work here and now
114            when people are ashamed of the inhumanity of war,
115            perceive the threat of annihilation
116            that hangs over the human race,
117            and seek other ways of settling international disputes.

118        We believe God sends us
119            to minister to people on all sides of wars:
120            the victims,
121            the participants,
122            and those who in conscience refuse to participate.
123        In is our duty to attack the causes and roots of war,
124            to unmask idolatry
125            that places national security above all else,
126            to urge all nations to devote to making peace
127            the resources, intelligence, and energy
128            that have gone to making war.


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