Our Core Values
Every individual, every organization and every Church has its "core values". Our core values are our most foundational beliefs; and they guide and shape, not only who we are, but also what we do. After a time of reflection with the Church, the Elders believe that the following are the core values of The Church of the Apostles. Some of these statements will also be repeated in our tract entitled "What We Believe".
1. The sole Lordship of Jesus Christ over all the earth is the central belief of Christianity; and salvation for all humankind can be gained only through faith in Jesus Christ. Only Jesus Christ is The Way, and The Truth and The Life, and there is no way to the Father but by Him. Jesus Christ is both Savior and God.
2. The authority of the Bible, the Holy Scriptures, as God's infallible Word for the world, God's all-sufficient standard and guide for all of human life.
3. The statements of the essential beliefs of the historic Church as stated in the Apostles' and the Nicene Creeds of the Church.
4. The Great Commission of The Lord Jesus Christ as stated in the Gospel of Matthew 28:18-20. Every Christian is called to "go and make disciples of all nations…baptizing… and teaching them to obey all that God has commanded".
5. The call of the Old Testament Prophets, reaffirmed by Jesus and the writers of the New Testament, that the Church is called to go into the world to do justice and love mercy.
6. The living out and the teaching of a Christian faith that is both evangelical and reform, "evangelical" in the sense of our urgency to preach the Good News, or Gospel, to all people, and "reform" in that we hold the highest view of the sovereignty and the authority of God in the course of human events, especially in the salvation process.
7. The giving of the empowering Holy Spirit to the Church, the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the Church, and the call upon the Church to equip the saints for the work of the ministry by identifying their gifts, and then leading them to their place in ministry.
8. The life-long process called sanctification, the cosmic struggle between God and evil, and the call from God to God's people to grow in holiness and true godliness.
9. Sunday morning worship of Almighty God as the central event of our week, worship that presents a balance of both Word and sacrament in Anglican and liturgical style.
10. The priority of faithful and expectant prayer in all aspects of the Christian life.
11. The command from God to educate the Church in The Christian Faith and the Holy Scriptures, and the necessity for on-going and systematic Christian education for all ages and at all times.
12. Biblical and Traditional Ethics: Theology is what we believe. Ethics are how we apply our belief in our lives. This Church believes in and teaches "principalist ethics" - God's fixed and unchanging standards for truth and conduct across time and cultures. Therefore, we reject the value of "situation ethics", relativism (all truth is relative. A rejection of absolute truth and the absolute claims of Jesus), and political correctness as unbiblical, ungodly and unholy standards. We stand by the Prophet Isaiah who wrote, "Woe to those who call good evil, and evil good." We stand with Jeremiah who said, "Ask for the ancient paths. Ask where the good way is, and walk it."
