To have or not to have... (continued #2)

a doctinal statement.

The below is my suggested solution to this issue.

I certainly appreciate the time everyone has taken to respond and input their thoughts on this subject. I have posted the most recent comments on the Joshua Tree blog. I know we are all very busy. Believe me, I do not consider this subject so important as to become a wedge between members of the Body of Christ. But I do feel that it is important to the Body of Christ that we are able to consider questions like this. To me, the answer is not as important as the journey to get to it. This discussion was not planned (by me) but I think we have had a very good exchange of thoughts and ideas that brings Glory to God.

If there is one very huge lesson to be learned here, its that we need to understand and respect the fact that we are a diverse group of fellowships that God has brought together. This was stated very well by Ed earlier. Our Lord has gifted all of us in ways that are for His good purpose. He has made sure that we are all different and that we all have different paths to take in our journeys. He has brought our paths together through the working of the Holy Spirit. We are all called to reach the unsaved and make disciples. We are all called to serve and to teach. But all of us are not going to have the same passion for evangelism and church planting. And all of us are not going to have the same passion for teaching and serving. In addition to that, all of us are not going to hold to all the same doctrines. But we will all hold to some common doctrines. This is where our unity will keep us working toward spreading the Good News throughout this region, no matter what God has called each of us to.

With all that being said, I would like to offer a rather simple solution. I didn't plan such a virtual discussion, but God brought it about and I think He has given me the following idea that I hope can be agreed upon by everyone.

On the About Us page of the website, I would place the following statement preceding the content about house church:

"In addition to the historic doctrines of the Christian faith, described in the Nicene Creed , house churches in the Phoenix area generally hold to the following New Testament church practices. Please contact the individual house churches for details of their specific doctrinal distinctions and practices."

Thats it. The link pointed to by the words "Nicene Creed" is the text of the creed as found on http://www.ccel.org , Christian Classics Ethereal Library. I believe that the Nicene Creed outlines very clearly the essential historical doctrines of the Christian faith. At the same time, I hope that each house church takes the time to articulate their own statement of faith.

I would rather not continue the discussion over this but simply to find out if this statement meets with the approval of the house churches represented on the website. I think God would rather we move on to the next issue before us. He has yet to reveal that to us but I'm sure He will in His good time.