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Covenant of Partnership
Between South Sudanese Presbyterian Evangelical Church, the Synod of Blantyre, church of Central Africa Presbyterian and the Presbytery of Pittsburgh, Presbyterian Church (USA)
Vision Statement
We, representatives of the South Sudanese Presbyterian Evangelical Church, the Synod of Blantyre, Church of Central Africa Presbyterian and the Presbytery of Pittsburgh, Presbyterian Church (USA) believe in the Lordship of Jesus Christ and that the church is his body in the world called to carry out the commands of Jesus which include:
- To acknowledge the supremacy of scripture as God’s word and to interpret all faith documents and confessions in light of God’s word.
- To be God’s instrument of peace and reconciliation in a broken world.
- To recognize that God is sovereign and so can work through all people regardless of gender, age, national origin, cultural origin, or tribal origin, thus affirming that all people are created in God’s image.
- To acknowledge that we experience being the body in a multi-national, multi-cultural, multi-interpretive world that demonstrates our human brokenness and the need for a constant desire for reconciliation, nevertheless we stand in unity against threats to the faith acknowledging that no individual or denomination represents the full expression of the body of Christ and that we must approach the task given us beginning in confession and repentance.
- To proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ to the whole person, testifying to his saving love, and demonstrating his love through ministries of education, health, community development, individual empowerment and justice.
- To partner together in faith for service, bringing our different gifts, yet affirming the equality of each partner in the giving and receiving of support.
- To live in community as God exists in Trinity; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and in so doing will more likely live faithfully to the call of Christ.
And so, the churches of the South Sudanese Presbyterian Evangelical Church, the Synod of Blantyre, Church of Central Africa Presbyterian and the Presbytery of Pittsburgh, Presbyterian Church (USA) bind together to:
- Encourage one another,
- Exchange experience with one another and
- Assist one another in carrying out the commands of Jesus,
- Be faithful to Jesus Christ and each other in community, as all Christian communities are called to be faithful.
Ecclesiastes 4:12 teaches that a three cord rope cannot be broken. The South Sudanese Presbyterian Evangelical Church, the Synod of Blantyre, Church of Central Africa Presbyterian and the Presbytery of Pittsburgh, Presbyterian Church (USA) will be three cords that are woven together by the power of the Holy Spirit, who with Jesus Christ the Son and God the Father exists as the community of the Trinity.
Objectives
Having been called to become a particular representation of the Body of Christ, the South Sudanese Presbyterian Evangelical Church, the Synod of Blantyre, Church of Central Africa Presbyterian and the Presbytery of Pittsburgh, Presbyterian Church (USA) agree to share available resources for the following purposes:
- To encourage all Christians, ordained and lay, to visit, meet and to get to know each other in their everyday contexts so as to allow each to learn the unique circumstances of the other(s) and thus better equip the entire church community to carry out the commands of Christ.
- To recognize and encourage and strengthen the role of women in the churches of the South Sudanese Presbyterian Evangelical Church, the Synod of Blantyre, Church of Central Africa Presbyterian and the Presbytery of Pittsburgh, Presbyterian Church (USA).
- To disciple and nurture the faith of our children allowing them to maintain a Christian identity in a multi-cultural world.
- To communicate with each other in love and respect and truth.
- To stand unified in response to cultural challenges.
- To learn innovative and new ways to worship and evangelize.
- To meet and communicate regularly.
- To share the financial cost of partnership activities fairly and justly.
- To have each member of the partnership become both a sender and receiver of support and encouragement.
- To pray continuously for each other that each will be successful in its mission and ministry.
- To advocate the interests of each partner publically and politically and so seek justice for the churches and people of the partnership.
- To give each church in the partnership the opportunity to become a member of a tripartite relationship with a member from other partner churches.
- To provide leadership training for member churches.
- To provide training in the challenges of interfaith and intercultural relations.
In carrying out this vision and these objectives the churches shall take full responsibility for communicating and dealing with each other with dignity, honesty, integrity, transparency, respect, and accountability. In the event there are conflicts or disputes between the churches, the churches will take all reasonable and necessary steps to resolve such conflicts and disputes so that the partnership can continue. In all respects, the churches shall grant grace, mercy and forgiveness in all things, recognizing that the churches act through human beings who are inherently fallible.
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