In the original letter to Kip, the group of 65 stated these convictions.

• The Father, Son and Holy Spirit
• Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life, our Lord and Savior.
• The Bible is the Word of God and is the authority for our life.
• Jesus called all men to become his disciples, be baptized into his body and to be taught to obey.
• Every disciple is to be totally committed to God, His Kingdom and to Jesus as Lord and Savior
• Every disciple is called to participate in the Great Commission of Jesus
• Every disciple is called to obey the one another passages of Scripture.
• Every disciple is called to maintain the Spirit of unity in the bond of peace.
• Every disciple is called to follow the Greatest Commandment: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and your neighbor as yourself.

The new letter from a group of 85 states these core convctions: (emphasis at the end is mine)

Our Convictions: As we go in different directions, we want to again affirm our beliefs:

• The one true God has revealed himself to us as the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit.
• Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life, our Lord and Savior.
• The Bible is the Word of God and is the authority for our life.
• Jesus called all men and women to become his disciples, be baptized into his body and be taught to obey him.
• The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus is of first importance and the foundation of our faith.
• Every disciple is to be totally committed to God, His Kingdom and to Jesus as Lord and Savior.
• Every disciple is called to participate in the Great Commission of Jesus.
• Every disciple is called to obey the one another passages of Scripture.
• Every disciple is called to maintain the Spirit of unity in the bond of peace.
• Every disciple is called to follow the Greatest Commandment: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and your neighbor as yourself.
• Every disciple is committed to become more like Christ in his or her character.
• We believe in churches working together, respecting, helping and needing each other to build up the body of Christ.
• We also believe that God’s intent is for disciples to marry disciples and for married disciples to remain married to each other till death.

As I promised, I wrote to the unity group. Instead of a set of by-laws, constitution, and statement of practices, I wrote about a set of principles and a moral dilemma I have that directly affects unity. I say this because I do not want to be mistaken as someone that does not want unity. More than unity (or uniformity), I want change. When I do not see it, I will say something, secure in the knowledge that I can and will be wrong at times. (I might even be wrong all of the time.)

Not only are the additions disturbing, but as the group gets more members, the convictions appear to resemble the same ICoC core beliefs from years ago. (Keep in mind that both letters are about Kip’s behavior and not his theology.) Oddly enough, as more join the coalition of the willing against Kip, the statements of belief are becoming more specific, not less. Determining trends, however, is not my point – that gets into a slippery slope argument.

At the core, the formation of these core beliefs is something that I believe will not be helpful. It feels like another “believe this or else” ultimatum. Sound familiar? Kip had a similar one in 2003. It’s not that I do not share some of these convictions. I do share some of these convictions. I also believe that it is a very good thing for every person to establish what they believe and why. Some may choose to do this in a systematic theological way, others may choose a less formal way. Whatever method a person chooses, he or she does this in order to train themselves to distinguish good from evil. The point is that a statement from ‘on high’ circumvents this very necessary step of self-assessment. In our unity discussions, we wrestle and fight over where we disagree instead of affirm what we do agree. Trying to make a one-statement-fits-all set of beliefs only leads to controversy and arguments. Besides, it’s not any different than what Kip is trying to do. The only differences are that we think we are being nicer and we have slight variations of practice.

Again, I would prefer that each member church of our future organization be encouraged to form their own statement of beliefs. In light of our history, there will not be too many divergencies from a simple core. Which former ICoC congregation will say that baptism is not necessary for salvation? Will there be a congregation that denies the Trinity? No. In fact, I believe most would even include a statement in regards to the “one another” passages that we have forced to mean “receive discipling from one another either by appointed person or person of your choice”. (Making our own statements of belief does not mean that we will avoid the hermeneutical errors of the past, but it will begin the process.)

As a whole, the affirmation of beliefs have some convictions of practice and not doctrine. The biggest issue with them led to the title of this entry. This issue is the use of the word disciple in most of the statements.

Let’s start with this statement:

Jesus called all men and women to become his disciples, be baptized into his body and be taught to obey him.

So what is a disciple? A disciple is a person that is hears the call of Jesus, is baptized into the body of Jesus, and taught to obey Jesus, himself. What is his body? It is not stated here, but it is commonly taught that Jesus’ body is the church. (Every ICoC study series I have read, including the one in my church teach this.)Which church? The answer to that question shapes the rest of the set of beliefs.

In the Chicago study series, instead of addressing a universal church, it is broken down to an individual level. It says, “Christians should always accept individuals who have experienced biblical rebirth based upon the truth of their testimony as well as upon the fruit of their life.” In the St. Louis Study Series, the universal church is not addressed, but a member is admonished to “be a part of a church where the members are truly members of Jesus’ body; that is, they are true Christians.” The Phoenix series and the series by my own church don’t even address the issue. In LA, the issue is addressed by saying that the names of the saved are written in Heaven.

Read these studies and make your own conclusions. Based only on the texts of these study series, the answer to which church is the “local church”. Basically, when I become a disciple in one of the ICC congregations, the overwhelming majority will believe a disciple hears the call of Jesus, is baptized into the local church, and taught to obey Jesus by members of the local church. Their identity is tied to the local church. At best, there may be other Christians based on individual experience. In essence, there are no other denominations where you can be a disciple.

See where I’m going? We still have One True Denomination thinking to deal with. Our prescription thus far has been to be ambiguous. Ambiguity may help unity to some extent, but it certainly intereferes with repenting of our own arrogance. In letters calling for Kip to repent of his arrogance, we had better look to our own as well.

Based on how disciple is defined, the rest of the convictions have all kinds of potential meaning. However, thanks to our ambiguity, we can call ourselves united. For example:

Every disciple is to be totally committed to God, His Kingdom and to Jesus as Lord and Savior.

The Kingdom, in common vernacular and in a few of our study series, is also the local church. So, a disciple is comitted to God, his local church, and the Jesus.Not bad without context, but how many of us are still teaching Matt 6:33 as “be committed to the local church above all else to be righteous?” In a couple of series, the Kingdom is our family of churches. Apply Matt 6:33 in the traditional way, and we have what we’ve always had for the past 30 years.

One more:

We also believe that God’s intent is for disciples to marry disciples and for married disciples to remain married to each other till death.

Remember, who is a disciple? Someone in the local church. Who do we marry? Members of the local church. Again, though, being ambiguous leaves wriggle room for some. I know of folks that dated outside their local church (not just here), but the other person got baptized before marriage. I went to one of our churches recently where an acquaintance was happy that their fiancee was getting baptized. It seemed as if the wedding was now on track because both spouses were now members of the same local church.

What’s the point of all this? I do not believe that making a universal statement of beliefs is good for our fellowship. When we try to write them in order to include as many as we can, our method thus far seems to be ambiguity so that we can avoid controversy. This stops most in-depth thinking about why we believe what we believe. If we ask indvidual churches to write their own, at least they can grapple with these questions.

What do I believe? Fair question. Keep in mind it is what I believe, not necessarily my church:

• I believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit.
• I believe that the Gospel is the person of Jesus Christ, not a church, creed, or denomination.
• I believe that Jesus existed in the flesh, yet was divine: fully human and fully divine.
• I believe that Jesus is the only way to be reconciled with God through faith in his blood. Specifically, his blood is the atoning sacrifice for my sins and faith in his blood is what saves me.
• I believe that baptism is an expression of the faith in the power of Jesus’ blood to save that allows me to participate in the death, burial, and resurrection so that I may be raised to a new life. I do not believe that faith in his blood can be separated from baptism.
• I believe that those God calls are predestined to be conformed into the likeness of his Son.
• I believe that the greatest believer must be a slave to all other believers. It is wrong to lord authority over others, especially other Christians.
• I believe the greatest command of God is to love Him with all my heart, mind soul, and strength and to love my neighbor as myself.
• I believe that most people will do the right thing given opportunity, support, and love.

There’s more, but that’s the basics to me. It is my creed. The last statement is the only one I believe is not explictly biblical, but I live by it until shown that it is wrong.