Rev. Dr. Eric Elnes

Open and Affirming Statement: 

The World: Our Life with Others 

1. We seek to express in actions the love God has shown for us. 

2. We have no desire to claim now, or in the future, that we know the totality of God's truth. We wish to be faithful to that which God reveals to us without conclusions one way or another about what God may be asking of or reveal to others. 

3. We respect and affirm all other groups that profess and try to act in the light of the Christian Faith, and we will cooperate with them whenever that seems in accord with God's guidance for us. 

4. We further respect and affirm the convictions of those who sincerely believe in other religious faiths and who conscientiously search for and/or experience some portion of God's truth. We will seek friendly dialogue, for mutual understanding and enrichment. We will share that which is true in our experience, and ask others to do the same for us as we seek to grow in love for all people, as God through Jesus asked us to do. 

5. We seek to minister to, witness to, and convert all persons who are hungry for, or open to the revelation, love, and salvation of God in Christ. We do not seek members already active in other churches. 

6. Recognizing that "no one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor. 12:3), we are an open and affirming church. In the spirit of Christian love, we gladly welcome into our midst any person who seeks Christian fellowship regardless of race, age, gender, or sexual orientation. 

7. We recognize the inherent rights of free people before God, and the granted rights and privileges of our citizenship entail a responsibility for us as long as we live here. We will endeavor to relate our lives as Christians to our lives as citizens of our community, our country and our world.