Okay, we've taken care of Article I. We have a name and a purpose.
Article II identifies our fundamental beliefs. The emphasis here is on fundamental. What beliefs do we include that someone must hold to be a member? I'm going to propose seven basic subject areas.
Section 1: God
Section 2: Bible
Section 3: Christ
Section 4: Humankind
Section 5: Sin
Section 6: Salvation
Section 7: Christ's Return
So, if you are a real systematic theology fan, we have Theology, Bibliology, Christology, Anthropology, Hamartiology, Soteriology, and Eschatology. Did I leave something out that is necessary? For example, many churches also include a section on Ecclesiology (the church). Do we necessarily have to say something about that here? Obviously, having this organization and creating a constitution for it means we believe in having a church, but is there something that has to be said about it that we must insist that everyone in the church believe?
We will also go into each of these seven sections and note specifically what must be believed about each in order to be joined in fellowship. But first, any missing major categories? Anything we should exclude? Maybe someone has a question about Christ's Return. Is there something in that that we must insist everyone believe?
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About Section 7: I think we must insist that everyone believe that Christ is returning. Beyond that, we can have a healthy debate as we learn more about the 2nd Advent.
ReplyDeleteOverall, the seven sections cover the non-negotiables of Christian faith. I am satisfied with the outline.