Where We Stand

affirmations and denials

access the original document written by the EFCA online by CLICKING HERE

We believe the good news of the Kingdom of God, announced and embodied by Jesus, is the ultimate and final solution to the problems of this world. As we interact with one another and the world around us, we are committed to convictional kindness, we both proclaim the gospel and seek to live in a manner worthy of the gospel. Loving God and loving neighbor requires us to seek the welfare of our community.

We believe and practice, “In essentials unity; in non-essentials liberty; in all things, charity.” In that light, we address the following cultural trends that have potential to create division among us.  The following are not meant to demonize or denigrate but are attempts to clarify where we stand.

  • We believe that biblical justice has social implications, particularly in protecting those who are most vulnerable and marginalized.  We are not adherents of the secular “Social Justice” movement as held in progressive circles.

  • We see the need to be awakened to the global and indeed cosmic impacts of sin, including racial injustice, and to be attuned to the biblical call for gospel-driven efforts toward reconciliation and restoration, we are not “woke” in the sense of having embraced a progressive ideology that is grounded in critical theory rather than the Bible.

  • We believe that the questions and challenges “Critical Race Theory” raise stir us to recall critical biblical truths that we may have neglected and require our attention, we are not adherents of CRT that reduces all racial inequities to a struggle between oppressor and oppressed and presents a worldview that is contrary to the Scriptures.

  • We believe that a patriotic love of one’s nation is appropriate, and that Christians should be good citizens who may freely advocate for God-honoring public policies, we are not “Christian Nationalists” who believe the federal government should declare the United States a Christian nation or who believe that Americans are “God’s chosen people.”

  • We believe God has appointed governing authorities to do good and that, for citizens in Christ's kingdom, King Jesus’ rule and reign transcends all citizenships and partisan ideologies and transforms how we live in the world, we do not believe that political means can establish the kingdom of God.

  • We believe that some people experience a distressing struggle between a person’s biological sex and their self-perception as a man or woman and that we must treat those who struggle in this way with love and compassion as we seek to help them, with the truth and power of the gospel, toward the wholeness of a biologically-sexed identity grounded in God’s “very good” design in creation as male and female, we do not believe that a person’s biological sex should be separated from their self-perception as a man or a woman nor that the body should be altered when it does not conform to that self-perception.

  • We believe that the gifts and ministries of women are essential to the health and fruitfulness of churches and ought to be sought out and multiplied in ways that arise from and are consistent with our complementarian convictions, as reflected in our EFCA ordination policy, we are not egalitarian in our understanding of the roles and functions of men and women in the church.

  • We do not believe in the annihilation of those who die apart from Christ, but in their eternal conscious punishment. Among the kinds of suffering we ought to seek to alleviate, this is the most grievous, and it is our urgent duty and God-given privilege to seek to alleviate it by proclaiming the gospel and calling all people to believe the gospel by repenting and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ.