I realised today that the are some foundational principles that I am working on, that shape my thinking about church, but that many people may not be aware of these, or even agree with them. I love that phrase at the beginning of the US Declaration of independence 'We hold these truths to be self-evident' and I thought it would be interesting to express our declaration. This is just for starters, leave me comments and I will add more as we think of them.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are created equal, that we do not judge on the basis of education, wealth, appearance, gender or race.
That the church exists primarily not for the sake of its members, but rather for its non-members.
That we are part of church not for what we receive, but for what we can give.
That every member of the church is important as part of the body of Christ, and shapes who we are by their character and abilities.
