| |
|
Our Affirmation
- We affirm that sexuality is a good and beautiful gift of God, a gift
of identity and a way of being in the world as male and female.
- We affirm that we can feel positive about our bodies and our sexuality
because we know our Creator.
- We affirm that sexual drives are a real part of our lives, but that
the satisfaction of those drives is not the chief good in life.
- We affirm both the goodness of singleness and the goodness of marriage
and family in the Lord.
Our Confession
- We confess that our sexual attitudes and practices too often fall
far short of the biblical standards. No one can boast of perfection
in this area.
- We confess that sexism lingers among us, damaging the self-esteem
of women and hindering their full contribution to personal relationships
and to the church, and denying men a true understanding of themselves.
- We repent of our wrong view of the body which keeps us from speaking
openly and honestly about our bodies, including our sexual nature.
- We repent of our judgmental attitudes and our slowness to forgive
each other when we fail, a sign of lack of compassion.
- We confess our fear and repent of our rejection of those of us with
a different sexual orientation and of our lack of compassion for their
struggle to find a place in society and in the church.
- We repent of our permissiveness which too often leads to premarital
and extramarital sexual relationships.
- We repent of our failure to maintain healthy and growing marriages.
Our Covenant
- We covenant with each other to study the Bible together and expand
our insight into the biblical teachings relating to sexuality. We understand
the Bible to teach that sexual intercourse is reserved for a man and
a woman united in marriage and that violation of this teaching is a
sin. It is our understanding that this teaching also precludes premarital,
extramarital and homosexual sexual activity. We further understand the
Bible to teach the sanctity of the marriage covenant and that any violation
of this covenant, including spouse abuse, is sin.
- We covenant with each other to mutually bear the burden of remaining
in loving dialogue with each other in the body of Christ, recognizing
that we are all sinners in need of God’s grace and that the Holy
Spirit may lead us to further truth and repentance. We covenant compassion
and prayer for each other that distrustful, broken, and sinful relationships
may experience God’s healing.
- We covenant with each other to take part in the ongoing search for
discernment and for openness to each other. As a part of the nurture
of individuals and congregations we will promote congregational study
of the complex issues of sexuality, through Bible study and the use
of Human Sexuality in the Christian Life: A Working Document for Study
and Dialogue.
- Finally, we covenant with God that as we discern his will for our
lives and our fellowship, we will seek to obey it, through his grace
and strength.
Norma Wiens/Ernest Neufeld/CARRIED
General Conference Annual Sessions
July 21-27, 1986 Saskatoon, SK
|
|
