COVENANT LIFE CHURCH

Recommended Books

2005-11-22T21:15:00.000-08:00

Drawing His People is now available. Read the review and purchase it through Christian Book Review. This book is written by Covenant Life Church pastor (yours truly). It's a unique book in that it brings to light how God draws His people through ceremony, doctrine, culture, and time itself. It refutes the pragmatic "evangelism" of today and gives scriptural and historical examples of a gospel that makes sense and is joyous to live.

Christ of the Covenants is a book that calls us to the entirety of the Bible. Robertson shows us how God works in "covenants" and "promises," which helps us to see how the Old Testament flows and builds into the New Testament. It also refutes the newer theological systems of Christianity by contrasting them to a 'Covenant Theology.'

Concise Theology is a classic read and is sure to be a help for nearly anyone. It is a fabulous introduction to Christian theology with easy-to-read, short chapters of vital theological subjects. Combine this book with Christ of the Covenants, and you will surely be on the path of Scriptural enlightenment.

This book by the late Karl Barth is on my reading list. Rev. Kevin Johnson recommended it to me. I'll be sure to comment on it when I'm done reading it.

Drama or Reverence?

2006-02-04T21:28:00.000-08:00

When do we put the Brakes on?

Gauging whether a worship service is God-centered or not, in our day, is a bit tricky, but not at all impossible.

Where do we draw the line? Do we allow modernity to guide us or do we take a stand somewhere within the history of the Church? Is it more godly to use a piano than a guitar? What about the more modern tools such as mixing equipment and special effects? Who's to say that we can't use these things?

What does true worship involve? Does it involve bringing contemporary culture and drama into the Lord's Day ceremony? If it does, then what are you doing worshiping with that old-fashioned acoustic guitar and those plain white lights? Aren't you aware that the American culture likes multi-colored lighting, electric guitars, movie clips, skits, and dancers?

To be consistant in practice and belief, a contemporary church must adhere to the very latest culture. But there is a time to embrace the ever-changing entertainment trends and there is a time for submission to the unchangeable holiness of God.

Learning from the Liberal Culture

There is a reason why Hollywood uses classical music for their movies: it speaks to the human spirit. If you notice, in even the sci-fi movies such as Star Wars, the classical instruments are used to anticipate and cultivate certain feelings within us. In fact, many of our modern instruments and pop-culture beats come from various drug, satanic, and voodoo cultures (see Hell's Bells Video). Certainly these types of instruments can create some kind of spiritual efficacy, but many times they lead to (aggressive) addreniline than they do "wholeness." This is why we use the classical instrumetns in most movies that are not geared toward the teenage pop-culture.

So if Hollywood can figure this out, why can't we?

Competing with Trends?

At Covenant Life Church, we do not attempt to compete with the latest trends of "worship." We are positive that this is what's called syncretism: the infusion of two completely different systems of belief that are not homogeneous. What does post-modernism (pluralism) have to do with Christianity (2 Corinthians 6:15; 1 Kings 18:21)?

Is there a point in time when instruments became evil? No, but there was a point in time where technology began to advance so rapidly that science began to usurp theology and man began to create instruments for the sake of mere entertainment and even satanic worship. Does this mean that, say for instance, the electric guitar is evil in itself? No, but what was the electric guitar originally created for? Certainly not the Church. And so how easy is it to create chords of harmony, reverence and general humility out of these types of instruments? It's not easy, and in fact it is almost impossible to do without abandoning the entire gender of the instrument.

Many will say that it is not the way you worship but it is the "heart" that matters. We agree...sort of. The heart matters, but the heart does not manifest into licentiousness. We cannot simply do whatever the liberal culture does, and then write our actions off because no one can seemingly "prove" where our heart is. The proof is in our actions (Luke 6:43) of constantly conforming the Church's worship to the culture of liberalism rather than the culture of Christ.The Church of Acts did not bring the culture of the world into their worship, so what or who gives us the authority to do so?

Apostolic Worship

Paul the Apostle was "all things to all people" when he went out to evangelize, but he never took this philosophy into the worship assembly. Rome was heavily into theatre, but the church of Rome didn't bring theatre into the worship (they did, though, in the medieval ages, which is one apect that sparked the Reformation).

At Covenant Life Church, we attempt to worship much like the First Century church worshiped. Do you have a problem with this? Do you think this is old-fashioned? Well, the church is old and it is to be fashioned after the apostles, not modernity.

Our worship service may not be hip and cool to some, but is is certainly within the parameters of the Scriptures and the doctrines of the apostles and their successors.

At Covenant Life Church, you will experience an Apostolic and Reformed type of singing and liturgy but you will also hear preaching and teaching that is heavily influenced by over two-thousand years of rich theology.

At Covenant Life Church, you will also take part in The Lord's Supper every week just as the First Century Church did; and trust us, it doesn't become mundane. It is actually very refreshing!

Covenant Life Church seeks to become interdependent with one another. We want to create a community of believers, rather than a superficial and trendy "worship" group. Our spirit longs for true fellowship and intimate relationships, and we aim to incorporate this kind of life by starting our week with a reverent worship service. This is one reason we call our church "Covenant Life," because God has given us a Covenant to live under, and true fellowship and worshp is vital to this Covenant.

A Reformed Church of Yuma, Arizona Staff Worship...

2006-03-05T19:44:00.000-08:00

A Reformed Church of Yuma, Arizona

Staff
Worship
Doctrine
A Call to Unity
Books
Directions

Thank you for visiting Covenant Life's web page. It is my pleasure to introduce to you this new and exciting church plant in Yuma, Arizona. We are a group of people who are passionate about creating a church that is rooted in the Scriptures as well as the general history of the church. Here are some of our distinctives:

As a Reformed church we aim to dig deep into the Scriptures while still remaining humble through ancient symbolic tradition and sacrament. The Reformed church was the movement at the end of the Middle Ages that sought to "reform" the Roman Catholic Church. Every Christian church is a result of this movement but only the Reformed church continues to hold to the essential doctrines and practices that the great reformers taught. These doctrines and practices amount to a consistent theology that enables us to grasp the entirety of the Bible, as well as the entirety of the church throughout history. It's teaching and practice that makes sense and thus glorifies God!

Singing is a wonderful ceremony that Covenant Life partakes in. Singing glorifies and satisfies God (Psalm 147:1), blesses our hearts (Ephesians 5:19), and is obviously a form of teaching and evangelism. We sing the Psalms since it is the very Word of God and it is also the hymnal that the early church used. They also sang hymns that were eventually canonized as Scripture (parts of the New Testament), though we have yet to sing those. We are growing in the area of singing but we are not ashamed to give God "the fruit of our lips" (Hebrews 13:5). We would love for you to grow with us in this area!

The Lord's Supper is celebrated at Covenant Life Church every week. We are very fortunate to partake of the weekly communion, just as the early church did (Acts 2:46). When we partake in communion we actually abide in Christ's grace (John 6:56). Paul the Apostle says that it is a "blessing" and that when we partake, we partake in the unity of Christ (1 Corinthians 1o:16).

Baptism is part of the process of becoming "born again" (John 3:4,5). Upon becoming baptized within the context of becoming born again, you will begin to receive the spiritual blessings of
Christ, including humility, wisdom, patience and a host of other fruits of the Spirit. We are ready for your commitment to Christ. Come, and be baptized through Him!

Family and friendship is very important to Covenant Life Church. God does not only call us to celebrate in the Sunday ceremony, but He also calls us to be a covenant community! He calls us to be interdependent with one another. This bond creates much joy and security in Christ as we grow with one another, sharing our blessings and burdens with each other.

We also aim to evangelize "outsiders" into this community of believers, fulfilling the Great Commission of Christ while receiving the wonderful benefit of friendship!

These are just a few, brief distinctives of Covenant Life Church. As you are probably aware, the riches of Christ's Word and His Church go much deeper than what we can fit on this page. We would like to share the riches of Christ and His body of believers with you. We can assure you that your questions will be answered properly and, if you hang around long enough, you will become certain of God's grace and how He is giving it through the Reformed church.

Hope to see you soon!

Worshiping @: 10:45 am, Sunday
*Please call for directions
928-503-9235

Covenant Theology

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Appendix A:
Revelation

Self-fulfilled Prophecy

Tribulation will always occur, but not exactly like it did in the prophetic destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. Many in the church today actually believe that some of the church will be going through the same tribulation that the early church went through in her time. To believe this tribulation theology is to pour apathy onto your soul, because your whole outlook on life becomes negative and even depressing. You tend to hope for the evil in the world to prevail so that your mind is convinced that Christ is returning to give you escape. Meanwhile, in this state of preoccupation, the liberals and secularists corrupt our churches and societies, giving us a whole new tribulation. It seems that we can actually take some advice from modern psychology; they call this “self-fulfilled prophecy:” reacting in such a way to certain persons or ideologies that ironically brings forth the very same kind of trouble that first concerned you.

Timing the Tribulation

To clear this misconception of prophecy in Scripture, we must find out to whom John was speaking in the book of Revelation. This can be done by understanding the correct date of the book. If the dispensationalists can claim that the book of Revelation was written after A.D. 70 (when Jerusalem was destroyed as Christ and John said it would be) then they can begin to claim their interpretation of the prophecies (their interpretation requires huge assumptions, even aside from dating). But when was the prophetic book of Revelation actually written? Was it before A.D. 70 during the reign of emperor Nero Caesar, or around A.D. 95 during the reign of emperor Domitian?

If we were to find that the book was written prior to A.D. 70, then the traditional Reformed view of Revelation would be nearly indisputable. Discovering that Revelation was written before A.D. 70 would prove that the judgment of the Jews and the tribulation of the saints that is described in Revelation have already occurred. Granted, a very similar tribulation could occur in the future, but the fact that many of these prophecies are in the past (occurred during the tribulation of A.D.70) changes our whole outlook on eschatology and redemption. Here are five different subjects on which to focus when coming to recognize the correct timing of the book of Revelation.

I. The Judgment of the Jews

Revelation has two applications to those being addressed at that time. The first was to warn the first century church of the persecution ahead of them during Emperor Nero Caesar’s reign of A.D. 64-68. The second application was the future destruction of Jerusalem and of the temple (Matthew 24 and Revelation 11). It is universally known that the Jewish temple and the holy city of Jerusalem were both destroyed in A.D. 70. In Matthew 24:2, Jesus Himself prophesied of this event while speaking to the Jews saying, “not one stone shall be left here upon another that shall not be thrown down.”

When studying each book of the Bible, we must always take into consideration the author’s theme. Revelation 1:7 says, “Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. Even so. Amen.” The Old Testament frequently uses clouds as indicators of divine judgment (Psalm 18:7-15, 104:3; Isaiah 19:1; Joel 2:1,2; Zephaniah 1:14, 15), and of Christ’s second coming at the end of the world (Acts 1:11; 1 Thessalonians 4:13).

In reference to Revelation 1:7, we can observe that Christ did use a cloud to cast judgment on “those who pierced Him.” It is also quite obvious that this verse is referring to the Jews, for they were the ones who had pierced Him. They were those who sought His death (John 11:53; Matthew 26:4; 27:1), who paid to have Him captured (Matthew 26:14-15, 47), and who initially convicted Him (Matthew 27:65-66). Jesus spoke to Pilate in John 19:11 saying, “he who delivered Me up to you has the greater sin” (referring to the Jews).

In Revelation 11:1-2, John spoke of the temple as if it were still standing, and of Jerusalem as if it had not yet been “trampled.” Much of eschatological prophecy revolves around the temple and Jerusalem. If both were still intact when Revelation was written, then we can safely assume with much of the other compelling evidence that John was speaking of the future destruction of the temple and of Jerusalem, which did in fact happen in A.D. 70. Furthermore, at the time when John wrote the book of Revelation the Christian church was heavily interacting with the Jews, and we recognize from history that this was not the case in the post-temple era beyond A.D. 70. Certainly this would indicate a pre-A.D. 70 dating for the book of Revelation.

II. John the Apostle’s Banishment

Dating the book of Revelation relies heavily upon the date on which John was banished to the island of Patmos and the date of the tribulation in which John states that he was (Revelation 1:9). Tertullian (160-220 A.D.) declared that John was banished after being tortured in oil. This oil torture in Rome was most likely by Nero, given that he was well known to torture Christians with both oil and fire. Tertullian, the first major theologian to write in Latin, lived in Carthage and wrote a number of works, one of which is Exclusion of Heretics. This piece of literature refers to John, Peter, and Paul suffering martyrdom at the same time in Rome and to John later having been banished to an island. The death of Peter and Paul is believed to be from the persecution of Nero, thus John would likewise fit into this same time frame. In an additional chapter from Exclusion of Heretics (Apology), Tertullian speaks of the emperor Domitian (the emperor following Nero), but he does not refer to the persecution of John or his banishment within the text.

The Syriac history of John, the Son of Zebedee refers to John being exiled by Nero. Also, in both Syriac versions of Revelations a statement is given that John was banished by Nero. This piece of evidence along with many others point to the fact that John was banished under the reign of Nero, which would also support an early pre-A.D. 70 dating for the book of Revelation.

III. The Irenaeus Account

Irenaeus is considered to be one of the most important witnesses of the late date theory of A.D. 95 for the reason that he speaks of the Apocalypse, as “that was seen no very long time since.” There is dispute over to what “that was seen” refers. Is it the Apocalypse, or is it speaking of John who saw the Apocalypse? The actual text reads:

“We will not, however, incur the risk of pronouncing positively as to the name of Antichrist; for if it were necessary that his name should be distinctly revealed in this present time, it would have been announced by him who beheld the apocalyptic vision. For that was seen no very long time since, but almost in our day, towards the end of Domitian’s reign.”

Irenaeus was an early church father who claimed to have known Polycarp, who in turn may have known the Apostle John. Irenaeus’ grammar has been heavily disputed amongst scholars, and has been in error within some of his other writings. In Irenaeus’s Against Heresies, he spoke of Jesus living well into the age of 40. Evidently, Irenaeus was a bit confused about gospel history, or perhaps may have had difficulty in memory.

IV. The Tyrant

Titus Flavius Clement (A.D. 150-215) states in Quis Salvus Dives, “When after the death of the tyrant he (John) removed from the island of Patmos to Ephesus, etc.” The key phrase here is “after the death of the tyrant.” Nero best fits the description of the tyrant. Apollonius of Tyrana (b.4 B.C.) wrote that Nero was commonly called a tyrant. He was by far the worst emperor of all ancient times, raping young men and setting Rome on fire as he was suspected of doing. He killed many innocent people (including his own mother), and hated Christians and Jews alike. He provoked the Jewish War and was responsible for the destruction of Jerusalem.

A most astonishing discovery was that Nero could be identified in Revelation by way of numerical value. In ancient times each letter of the alphabet had a numerical value, forming a cryptogrammic riddle. In Revelation 13, we find that the number 666 signifies the beast. It seems to be much more than a coincidence that Nero’s name translates into this same number.
Revelation 13 says “the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life.” Nero was killed by the sword, but whether or not he came to life after that remains a mystery. Many spoke of seeing Nero after his death, but those claims were later found to be hoaxes. It is possible that John was referring to an actual concept of the beast, implying that the reign of emperors itself is the beast. But much like other theories of Revelation, it is difficult to confirm. Nonetheless, Nero is the closest counterpart of anyone in history.

V. Internal Evidence

Rome is symbolized in Revelation by its seven mountains. Revelation 17:9-10 speaks of the seven heads. These seven heads would no doubt be Rome as it has always been universally recognized by its seven hills. Verses 9 and 10 also stand for seven kings, “Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet to come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while.” If we were to trace through the Roman emperors starting with Julius Caesar as the first, we would end at the sixth king referred to in verse 9 as the “one is,” thus indicating that Revelation was written during the reign of the sixth emperor, who also happens to be Nero (A.D. 68-69).

Internal evidence has persuaded many to an early dating of Revelation. The choppy Greek writing indicates a younger John who had not yet mastered the language. The existence of only seven churches in Asia Minor (Revelation 1) would signify a date before the greater expansion of Christianity into that region. And the existence of the temple, as well as the reign of the sixth emperor, all specify a date in the A.D. 60s for the book of Revelation.

Many compelling factors combined conclude that Revelation was written before A.D. 70. The evidence of Nero as an antichrist is one of the strongest, followed by the presence of the Jews within the Christian church, the archeological evidence of the Jewish war in that same time period, and the external evidence from credible historians and church forefathers. These all point to a pre-A.D. 70 dating of the book of Revelation.

Realizing the Victory

After recognizing that it was the Jews being mentioned in the prophetic writings of Christ and John, we can now understand that there is much to which we can look forward. And as we recognize that we are now indeed reigning with Christ (Mark 1:14-15; Matthew 12:28; Luke 4:16-21; Hebrews 12:28), which the Apostle John taught as the thousand year reign (the numerical value “thousand years” is to be interpreted as much of Revelation is and also Psalm 50:10 - non-literally), we come to the conclusion that the consummation of the Great Commission (Psalm 72; Romans 1:4-5; Jeremiah 31:34) will become a reality while we live and reign in the church age.

But doesn’t Revelation 20:7-8 say that Satan will be released from his prison to deceive the world? Yes, it does, and we shall witness this. This is known as the apostasy, when the harvest about which Christ speaks in Matthew 13:30 takes place. It is difficult to say what this apostasy will look like, but my guess is that it will be subtle and elongated much like the church and society has looked since the initiation of liberal theology in the late 1800s. I’m not suggesting that Satan has already been released and we are now in the last apostasy, but it wouldn’t be the most far-fetched argument. The church is growing in numbers, but it is also growing in spiritual lawlessness. This is what Christ said would happen in Matthew 13, that the wheat and the tares would grow together in the kingdom until the final harvest, when there will be gospel victory. Knowing this, we should be building the church (which is the capital of the kingdom) by evangelizing both the unbelievers and the apostate believers who have not been a part of the true gospel.

Notes
1. All details found in this Appendix can be found in Ken Gentry, Before Jerusalem Fell (American Vision, 1998).

A CALL TO AN ANCIENT EVANGELICAL FUTURE Table of ...

2006-02-05T22:10:00.000-08:00

A CALL TO AN ANCIENT EVANGELICAL FUTURE

Table of Contents

Prologue
1. On the Primacy of the Biblical Narrative
2. On the Church, the Continuation of God's Narrative
3. On the Church's Theological Reflection on God's Narrative
4. On Church's Worship as Telling and Enacting God's Narrative
5. On Spiritual Formation in the Church as Embodiment of God's Narrative
6. On the Church's Embodied Life in the World
Epilogue
Sponsors

A CALL TO AN ANCIENT EVANGELICAL FUTURE
Revised 36 - 5.12.06

Prologue
In every age the Holy Spirit calls the Church to examine its faithfulness to God's revelation in Jesus Christ, authoritatively recorded in Scripture and handed down through the Church. Thus, while we affirm the global strength and vitality of worldwide Evangelicalism in our day, we believe the North American expression of Evangelicalism needs to be especially sensitive to the new external and internal challenges facing God's people.

These external challenges include the current cultural milieu and the resurgence of religious and political ideologies. The internal challenges include Evangelical accommodation to civil religion, rationalism, privatism and pragmatism. In light of these challenges, we call Evangelicals to strengthen their witness through a recovery of the faith articulated by the consensus of the ancient Church and its guardians in the traditions of Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, the Protestant Reformation and the Evangelical awakenings. Ancient Christians faced a world of paganism, Gnosticism and political domination. In the face of heresy and persecution, they understood history through Israel's story, culminating in the death and resurrection of Jesus and the coming of God's Kingdom.

Today, as in the ancient era, the Church is confronted by a host of master narratives that contradict and compete with the gospel. The pressing question is: who gets to narrate the world? The Call to an Ancient Evangelical Future challenges Evangelical Christians to restore the priority of the divinely inspired biblical story of God's acts in history. The narrative of God's Kingdom holds eternal implications for the mission of the Church, its theological reflection, its public ministries of worship and spirituality and its life in the world. By engaging these themes, we believe the Church will be strengthened to address the issues of our day.

1. On the Primacy of the Biblical Narrative
We call for a return to the priority of the divinely authorized canonical story of the Triune God. This story-Creation, Incarnation, and Re-creation-was effected by Christ's recapitulation of human history and summarized by the early Church in its Rules of Faith. The gospel-formed content of these Rules served as the key to the interpretation of Scripture and its critique of contemporary culture, and thus shaped the church's pastoral ministry. Today, we call Evangelicals to turn away from modern theological methods that reduce the gospel to mere
propositions, and from contemporary pastoral ministries so compatible with culture that they camouflage God's story or empty it of its cosmic and redemptive meaning. In a world of competing stories, we call Evangelicals to recover the truth of God's word as the story of the world, and to make it the centerpiece of Evangelical life.

2. On the Church, the Continuation of God's Narrative
We call Evangelicals to take seriously the visible character of the Church. We call for a commitment to its mission in the world in fidelity to God's mission (Missio Dei), and for an exploration of the ecumenical implications this has for the unity, holiness catholicity, and apostolicity of the Church. Thus, we call Evangelicals to turn away from an individualism that makes the Church a mere addendum to God's redemptive plan. Individualistic Evangelicalism has contributed to the current problems of churchless Christianity, redefinitions of the Church according to business models, separatist ecclesiologies and judgmental attitudes toward the Church. Therefore, we call Evangelicals to recover their place in the community of the Church catholic.

3. On the Church's Theological Reflection on God's Narrative
We call for the Church's reflection to remain anchored in the Scriptures in continuity with the theological interpretation learned from the early Fathers. Thus, we call Evangelicals to turn away from methods that separate theological reflection from the common traditions of the Church. These modern methods compartmentalize God's story by analyzing its separate parts, while ignoring God's entire redemptive work as recapitulated in Christ. Anti-historical attitudes also disregard the common biblical and theological legacy of the ancient Church.

Such disregard ignores the hermeneutical value of the Church's ecumenical creeds. This reduces God's story of the world to one of many competing theologies and impairs the unified witness of the Church to God's plan for the history of the world. Therefore, we call Evangelicals to unity in "the tradition that has been believed everywhere, always and by all," as well as to humility and charity in their various Protestant traditions.

4. On Church's Worship as Telling and Enacting God's Narrative
We call for public worship that sings, preaches and enacts God's story. We call for a renewed consideration of how God ministers to us in baptism, eucharist, confession, the laying
on of hands, marriage, healing and through the charisms of the Spirit, for these actions shape our lives and signify the meaning of the world. Thus, we call Evangelicals to turn away from forms of worship that focus on God as a mere object of the intellect, or that assert the self as the source of worship. Such worship has resulted in lecture-oriented, music-driven, performance-centered and program-controlled models that do not adequately proclaim God's cosmic redemption. Therefore, we call Evangelicals to recover the historic substance of
worship of Word and Table and to attend to the Christian year, which marks time according to God's saving acts.

5. On Spiritual Formation in the Church as Embodiment of God's Narrative
We call for a catechetical spiritual formation of the people of God that is based firmly on a Trinitarian biblical narrative. We are concerned when spirituality is separated from the story of God and baptism into the life of Christ and his Body. Spirituality, made independent from God's story, is often characterized by legalism, mere intellectual knowledge, an overly therapeutic culture, New Age Gnosticism, a dualistic rejection of this world and a narcissistic preoccupation with one's own experience. These false spiritualities are inadequate for the challenges we face in today's world. Therefore, we call Evangelicals to return to a historic
spirituality like that taught and practiced in the ancient catechumenate.

6. On the Church's Embodied Life in the World
We call for a cruciform holiness and commitment to God's mission in the world. This embodied holiness affirms life, biblical morality and appropriate self-denial. It calls us to be faithful stewards of the created order and bold prophets to our contemporary culture. Thus, we call Evangelicals to intensify their prophetic voice against forms of indifference to God's gift of life, economic and political injustice, ecological insensitivity and the failure to champion the poor and marginalized. Too often we have failed to stand prophetically against the culture's captivity to racism, consumerism, political correctness, civil religion, sexism, ethical relativism, violence and the culture of death. These failures have muted the voice of Christ to the world through his Church and detract from God's story of the world, which the Church is collectively to embody. Therefore, we call the Church to recover its counter-cultural mission to the world.

Epilogue
In sum, we call Evangelicals to recover the conviction that God's story shapes the mission of the Church to bear witness to God's Kingdom and to inform the spiritual foundations of civilization. We set forth this Call as an ongoing, open-ended conversation. We are aware that we have our blind spots and weaknesses. Therefore, we encourage Evangelicals to engage this Call within educational centers, denominations and local churches through publications and conferences.
We pray that we can move with intention to proclaim a loving, transcendent, triune God who has become involved in our history. In line with Scripture, creed and tradition, it is our deepest desire to embody God's purposes in the mission of the Church through our theological reflection, our worship, our spirituality and our life in the world, all the while proclaiming that Jesus is Lord over all creation.

© Northern Seminary 2006 Robert Webber and Phil Kenyon
Permission is granted to reproduce the Call in unaltered form with proper citation.
Sponsors
Northern Seminary (www.seminary.edu)
Baker Books (www.bakerbooks.com)
Institute for Worship Studies (www.iwsfla.org)
InterVarsity Press (www.ivpress.com)

This Call is issued in the spirit of sic et non; therefore those who affix their names to this Call need not agree with all its content. Rather, its consensus is that these are issues to be discussed in the tradition of semper reformanda as the church faces the new challenges of our time. Over a period of seven months, more than 300 persons have participated via e-mail to write the Call. These men and women represent a broad diversity of ethnicity and denominational affiliation. The four theologians who most consistently interacted with the development of the Call have been named as Theological Editors. The Board of Reference was given the special assignment of overall approval.