If we you would like to know what we believe is really central in the Christian message, read the following summary wrote by Brother Wenger.

We believe in one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We believe that Jesus Christ was God in the flesh, that He died for our sins, and that by His death He broke the enslaving power of the demonic forces of evil, and liberated us from the slavery of sin. We believe that the risen and ascended Christ sent the Holy Spirit upon His waiting people on the day of Pentecost. We believe that the Holy Spirit still accompanies the reading and proclamation of the Word of God, convicting men of sin and wooing them to repentance and faith. We believe in the separation of church and state, that the only authorities in the church are the Word of God and the Spirit of God. We believe it to be the privilege and the commission of the members of Christ's church to witness to all men that Christ died for them, and that God desires the salvation of all. Those who repent and are ready for the commitments of Christian faith and discipleship are to be baptized with water, thus sealing their vows of discipleship to Christ.

We believe that infants and children stand in no need of any ceremony, for they are by the word of Christ already in His kingdom. We believe it is the nature and the obligation of Christ's disciples to willingly take up their individual crosses - to be ready to bear, even unto death, whatever it may cost them to follow Christ faithfully. This means a readiness to accept unjust suffering in meekness and love. And it involves a renunciation of force and violence in human relations.

We believe that when one is received into the Christian church he is committing himself to give counsel and to receive counsel from the brotherhood, and that the brotherhood must accept responsibility to keep a loving eye on each member, so as to help each one, through encouragement, warning, and intercessory prayer, to live a life of holiness, love, and obedience. That is, the church is a disciplined body, not under magistrates and state officials, but under the authority of the Word and the Spirit of God.

We believe that the Christian life is one of careful obedience to the New Testament, both in its spirit and in its letter, and for this reason no oaths should be sworn. We believe that the Spirit of God seeks to bring each Christian to, and to maintain in him, a spirit of brokenness and 4penitence, ready to accept correction and instruction from the brethren, and filled with the peace and joy of the Holy Spirit.

We believe that all the blessings of the Christian life are appropriated by personal faith. We believe that the ordinances (sacraments) of the church are joyful group celebrations of the blessings of being in Christ. We believe that the style of life of Christians should be a witness, and a rebuke, to those who live in secularism, in carnality, in violence and bloodshed, in materialism, and in any other form of that revolt against God which the Bible designates as sin and disobedience.

We believe that the Christian church should, in humility and love, give a clear witness against all forms of personal sin and of social injustice. We believe that although the Christian life is a continual warfare against the demonic forces in society and in human nature, yet even in its suffering it is one of deep inner peace, and it issues in real joy.

We believe that the earmark of the Christian is caring love, both for those already in the church, and for those who have not yet found the Savior and His way of the cross. We look forward in hope to the return of our Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Judge.

__________________________________

From The Christian Faith by J. C. Wenger, pages 79-82. Copyright 1971 by Herald Press, Scottdale, Pa. 15683. Renewed 1997. Copyright now owned by Leland M. Haines, Northville, MI 48167-2053.

You are welcome to make copies of the above article if you so without change. Please show the bibleteachings.org/message.html source of article.

We welcome your comments and suggestions.

Send comments to the Webmaster.

This page is presented by:

Biblical Viewpoints Publications
63100 County Road 111
Goshen, IN 46526
Phone: 574-875-8007

To the Home Page of this article.