The Ekklesia Project Principles

Principles

Our principles are simple and straightforward:

1. We believe that the triune God is the origin and the ultimate goal of all things; and that, through Jesus Christ, we are called to give our allegiance to God and to make the Church our true dwelling place. We believe that the claims of Christ have priority over those of the state, the market, race, class, gender, and other functional idolatries. "You shall have no other Gods before me" (Ex. 20:3).

2. We believe that communal worship is the heart of the Christian life. We seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit to bring our everyday practices into greater conformity with our worship, such that our entire lives may be lived to glorify God. Similarly, we pledge to give and receive counsel about how we might better embody the Gospel in its individual and communal expressions. "Praise the Lord; praise the name of the Lord; give praise, O servants of the Lord" (Psalm 135: 1).

3. We believe that the church undercuts its own vocation when it compromises with the institutions, allegiances and assumptions that undergird the "culture of death" in our world. We remind all Christians that, in rejecting the sword and other lethal means to advance His goals, Jesus set an example for all of us who seek to follow Him. While accepting rather than imposing death may still be foolish and scandalous in the eyes of non-Christians (cf. 1 Cor. 1:23), it remains central to what it means to follow a crucified and risen Messiah. We believe that the process of renewing the church in our day requires Christians to rethink all those values and practices that presume a smooth fit between killing and discipleship – no matter how disturbing or divisive this reappraisal may be (cf. Matt. 10:34-8). Jesus said, "I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly" (John 10:10).

4. We do not accept the ultimacy of divisions imposed on the Body of Christ -- whether they be national borders, denominational divides, cultural and social stereotypes, or class divisions. We seek to restore the bonds of ecclesial unity and solidarity that are always under threat from the powers and principalities of the present age. "For I am sure that neither death, nor life, . . . nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8:38-39).