| Together with Christians in every
time and place, Presbyterians confess belief in one, holy, catholic,
and apostolic church. The Nicene Creed’s marks of the church
are not accomplishments of human performance or objects of human
striving, as if the church depends on our efforts. The unity of
the church is a gift of its Lord. The source and the shape of
the gift are proclaimed in Scripture: “There is one body
and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your
calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father
of all, who is above all and through all and in all” (Ephesians
4:4-6).
By God’s grace, the holy, catholic, and apostolic church
is one. And yet the one church is divided, fragmented into distinct
traditions, communions, and denominations that live in various
degrees of estrangement from one another. In turn, each part
of the church embodies tensions in its own life that threaten
to divide the one church yet again. These divisions do not eradicate
the church’s unity, but they obscure it, impairing common
witness and weakening common mission.
The one church is not theological abstraction; the divided
church is not a sociological necessity. The unity of the church
is both God’s real gift and God’s effective calling.
Thus, the one church of Jesus Christ, established by God in
the power of the Holy Spirit, is called to break down dividing
walls of hostility that separate churches from one another and
to build up the fullness of communion that binds churches together
in common faith and witness.
As an expression of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic
church, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has never been able
to live in comfortable detachment from other churches. Instead,
we search diverse patterns of the visible unity of Christ’s
church, seeking concord in essential things: faith, sacraments,
mission, and ministry. Such forms of communion are both signs
of the church’s unity and means by which the church’s
unity is achieved.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) seeks patterns of visible
unity in a variety of ways. We enter councils of churches such
as the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, the World Council
of Churches, and the National Council of Churches, pursuing
oneness in faith, order, and mission. We establish relationships
of full communion with other churches such as the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America, the Reformed Church in America,
and the United Church of Christ, embodying relationships of
mutual responsibility and mutual accountability. We explore
possibilities for living out common faith and witness in covenant
communion within communities of churches such as Churches Uniting
in Christ. We participate in mission globally with ecumenical
church partners, and in mission nationally with regional councils,
local associations, and neighboring congregations. We engage
in bilateral and multilateral dialogues with other churches
and traditions in order to remove barriers of misunderstanding
and establish common affirmations. We work for the reunion of
separate churches in the Presbyterian and Reformed family. We
reach out to unfamiliar traditions and associations of churches.
In God’s grace the one church has been given gifts to
“equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building
up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of
the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity,
to the measure of the full stature of Christ” (Ephesians
4:12-13). The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), in gratitude for
God’s grace and mercy, commits itself to faithful use
of God’s gifts in search for the fuller expression of
the visible unity to which we are called. |
