Practical Resolutions

Practical Resolutions of the Evangelical Alliance

Living out our faith does more to promote genuine Christianity than merely professing it. So we seek to promote good Christian practice, as well as true Christian doctrine, not least by the manner in which we conduct our relationships with each other. The British Evangelical Council and the Evangelical Alliance have over recent years jointly sponsored an Evangelical Leaders Forum, to facilitate personal contacts among evangelicals within and beyond both these bodies.

The 1997 meeting of this forum asked its Steering Group to provide an up-dated version of the eight 'general resolutions' agreed at the 1846 Assembly that launched the Evangelical Alliance, to guide members in their relationships with each other and other Christians. The outcome is an Evangelical Relationships Commitment, which seeks to apply the principles of the 154-year-old resolutions in our contemporary situation. It is intended to stand alongside our Basis of Faith, and to express how we should be treating each other. It should be seen as an integrated expression of the responsibilities we owe each other in the Body of Christ. The Executive of the BEC and the Council of EAUK commend this commitment to members as a reminder of our basic Christian duty towards fellow Christians, and in particular as a guideline when making comments in the media, in book reviews and in public ministry generally. We hope it will assist in building better relationships at every level and in a wider field.

Affirmations

1. We welcome as Christian brothers and sisters all who experience the grace of new birth, bringing them to that fear and knowledge of God which is expressed in a life of obedience to His word.
2. We recognise our Christian duty of trust and mutual encouragement to all who serve Christ as Lord, not least to those who conscientiously prefer not to be identified with the same churches, alliances or councils as ourselves.
3. We respect the diversity of culture, experience and doctrinal understanding that God grants to His people, and acknowledge that some differences over issues not essential to salvation may well remain until the end of time.
   
   
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4. We urge all Christians to pray as Christ prayed, that we may be one in the Father and the Son, and so by the Spirit promote personal relationships of love, peace and fellowship within the Body of Christ, His universal Church.
5. We encourage all Christians earnestly to contend for biblical truth, since only as we are open to learn from others and yield fuller obedience to the truth will we be drawn closer to Christ and to each other.
6. We call on each other, when speaking or writing of those issues of faith or practice that divide us, to acknowledge our own failings and the possibility that we ourselves may be mistaken, avoiding personal hostility and abuse, and speaking the truth in love and gentleness.
7. We owe it to each other, in making public comment on the alleged statements of our fellow Christians, first to confer directly with them and to establish what was actually intended. Then to commend what we can, to weigh the proportional significance of what we perceive to be in error, and to put a charitable construction on what is doubtful, expressing all with courtesy, humility and graciousness.
8. We rejoice in the spread of the Gospel across the world and urge all Christians to commit themselves to this task, avoiding unnecessary competition and co-operating, wherever possible, in the completion of Christ's kingdom of peace, justice and holiness, to the glory of the one God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Practical Resolutions of the Evangelical Alliance is an update of the original eight general resolutions crafted when the Evangelical Alliance was formed in 1846.

Endorsed by Evangelical Alliance Council and the Evangelical Leaders Forum (a diverse group jointly facilitated by the Evangelical Alliance and the British Evangelical Council) the new document is now being commended to wider evangelicalism as a guide to our relationships as we work out our evangelical witness in the world.