March 01, 1999
REGARDING THE MODERATOR OF THE UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA'S COMMENTS TO THE OTTAWA CITIZEN AND CBC RADIO
We, the member congregations of the National Alliance of Covenanting Congregations within The United Church of Canada, hereby reject the comments of the Moderator of our denomination as standing outside Biblical and Historic Christianity. Comments such as "I don't believe Jesus was God." "He (Jesus) made no claims for himself about being God." are out of sync with either the Biblical record or the official statement of faith of our denomination. Within the Christian faith, the incarnation (God coming down to earth in human flesh) is central and bedrock to all we believe and do. Our love for others flows out of God's love for us and is revealed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. The one hundred and fourteen congregations that form the NACC within the United Church stand on those fundamentals of the Historic Christian Faith as outlined in The Articles of Faith of the United Church of Canada. The Articles were written early in the 1900's and formed the theological and spiritual basis of the new United Church. It was these statements of faith - based upon the Bible and spelling out the core ingredients of the Historic Christian Faith that allowed the Methodists, Presbyterians and Congregationalists to come together and form the United Church in 1925. Today we are pleased to say that there are many within the United Church that do not subscribe to our Moderator's beliefs. Though he is the Moderator of our church, his theological views are strictly his own and in no way are representative of the denomination he leads.
Rev. Dave Snihur
Chairperson of the National Alliance of Covenanting Congregations with The United Church of Canada
Posted at March 1, 1999 01:21 PM