Proposal of Two Amendments to the Constitution of

the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference

by way of a Preamble to the Statement of Faith

and a Revised Statement of Faith

We propose the adoption of (1) a preamble to the CCCC Statement of Faith; and (2) a revised Statement of Faith (See below) to replace the existing statement as the confessional basis for our Conference life.

The Proposed Preamble:

That the following words be inserted as a preamble to the CCCC Statement of Faith:

      While we acknowledge the Savoy Declaration of Faith and Order to be the classical expression of historic Congregationalism and, therefore, a valuable guideline for Congregational churches; and while we recognize the Cambridge Platform as the document expressing the more fully developed American historical Congregational “Order”; we affirm the following statement of faith as a confessional basis for our Conference life:

Rationale for the Proposed Preamble:

 • The World Evangelical Congregational Fellowship, of which the CCCC is a member, identifies the WECF as “a fellowship of national associations of evangelical Congregational churches of the historic and biblical persuasion” (Article 2 -Nature).

 • The opening paragraph of the Constitution of the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference identifies constituent churches as “congregationally governed churches of historic Biblical persuasion.”

 • The WECF Constitution acknowledges “the Savoy Declaration of Faith and Order to be the classical expression of historic Congregationalism and, therefore, a valuable guideline for Congregational churches”(Article 4, Statement of Faith).

• WECF President, the Reverend A. Barry Jones, who is also a past President of the CCCC, in a feature article in Our Congregational World (November 2004) entitled “What’s in a Name?”, and under the rubric of “Evangelical,” stated the following:

This defines our theological position, in that we hold to “the faith once delivered unto the saints” (Jude v 3), a truly apostolic faith and doctrine. As evangelicals we believe in a fixed body of truth enshrined in the Holy Scriptures and enunciated in the historic creeds and reformed declarations of the fathers (e.g. The Savoy Declaration).*

 • The New Testament apostle Paul expressed his desire to hear that the Christians of Philippi were “standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel” (Phil. 1:27).

 • Article 3 of the WECF Constitution affirms part of the WECF “Purpose” as “to present to the world a witness to our oneness in Christ as evangelical Congregationalists.”

 • Since the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference is a national association member of the World Evangelical Congregational Fellowship, it is fitting that it echo the WECF’s constitutional witness to our Congregational heritage expressed in the Savoy Declaration of Faith and Order, as well as its Statement of Faith.

•          As part of his 1999 Conference Minister’s Report, and in reference to the 350^th Anniversary Celebration of the Cambridge Platform, Rev. Clifford R. Christensen, wrote,

In preparation for the meeting, I read through Peter Murdy’s modern version of the Cambridge Platform several times, and I highly commend it to you for study in your churches as one of the most basic documents, along with the Savoy Declaration, of our Congregational heritage.*

•          In the January/February 1999 issue of the Foresee, Rev. Clifford R. Christensen wrote,

The Cambridge Platform influenced the governing of Congregational Churches in New England for 150 years. Its authors sought to be biblical at every point, which is reflected in the title, “A Platform of Church Discipline, Gathered out of the Word of God.” . . . Not many Congregational Churches are patterned after the Cambridge Platform today, and it would be impossible to do so at some points, but most of it is still very relevant, and we would do well to study it and learn from it.*

•          In that same article, Rev. Christensen stated,

Our Conference Recording Secretary, Rev. Peter Murdy, has given us an excellent revision of the Cambridge Platform that appears alongside the original. I highly recommend it to church boards, adult Sunday School classes, and home Bible studies as a means of understanding the essential nature of Congregational polity as it was originally conceived and practiced in New England. . . .*

*The inclusion of these quotations from Rev. A. Barry Jones and Rev. Clifford R. Christensen should not be understood as an endorsement, on the part of either of these CCCC leaders, of the proposed preamble to the CCCC Statement of Faith.

Proposed Revised CCCC Statement of Faith

1. We believe there is only one true God who eternally exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Isaiah 48:16; 1 Cor. 12:4-6; 2 Cor. 3:17;13:14; 1 Pet. 1:2), who alone is worthy to be worshiped (Isaiah 6:3; Matt. 4:10; John 17:3; Heb. 1:6; Matt. 14:33; Luke 5:8; John 20:28; Acts 5:3-4; 7:60; 9:4; 2 Cor. 3:17); who created all things visible and invisible from nothing in six days (Gen. 1:1-31; Col. 1:16-17; Psalm 33:6, 9); who upholds the universe by the word of His power (Heb. 1:2-3); who wisely and sovereignly rules over all (Ephes. 1:11; 1 Tim. 1:17; 6:15-16: Acts 2:23); and whose revelation to us is defined by the Old and New Testaments (Deut. 4:7-8; Psalm 147:19-20; Isaiah 8:16, 20; John 1:14; 21:24; 2 Pet. 1:16-21; 3:15-16; Matt. 5:17-18; Luke 24:25, 44;1 John 1:1-4; Acts 24:14; 2 Thess. 2:1-3,15).

2.We believe the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments constitute the Holy Bible, the only fully sufficient, God-breathed, inerrant, infallible, authoritative Word of God written, to which nothing may be added or subtracted (2 Tim. 3:16; John 10:35; Matt. 4:4, 7, 10; Prov. 30:6; Eccles. 12:11-12; Rev. 22:18-19). We believe that the true church is called into being and nurtured through the public and private reading, proclamation, explication, and application of this Word and is subject to it (1 Tim. 4:13; 1 Peter 1:23; 1 John 1:1-4; Ephes. 1:13; 5:26; Rom. 1:16; 10:14-15; 1 Cor. 1:18; 1 Thess. 1:6; 2:13; Neh 8:8; Luke 4:21; 24:27, 32; Acts 17:2-3; 18:4; 19:8; 20:32; Matt. 4:4; John 8:31-32; 15:3, 7; 17:8,17, 20; 2 Peter 1:19-21; 2 Tim. 3:14-4:5; 1 Cor. 4:6; 14:37-38; James 1:21-25; Psalm 1:1-2; 119:11). We believe that heart adherence to the standard established by the apostles and prophets, and conformity of thought and action to the pattern of their sound words, are essential to godliness and to healthy churches (Rom. 6:17; 2 Tim. 1:13). We believe that at the heart of the Bible is the underlying unity of God’s eternal covenant of grace, with its various administrations, culminating in the New Covenant in Christ Jesus (Hosea 6:7; Gen. 17:7, 11-14; Isaiah 28:14-18; 54:9-10; 55:1-3; Jer. 31:31-36; 33:19-21; John 1:17; 3:19-22; 8:56; Acts 7:44-51; Rom. 1:1-4; 4:13-25; 5:12-21; Gal. 3:13-29; Col. 2:11-12; 1 Cor. 10:1-11; 2 Cor. 3:3-16; Heb. 2:5-9; 4:6-14; 7:11-22; 8:6-13; 9:11-15; 10:5-18; 11:19, 26; 12:22-24; 13:20; 1 Pet. 3:20-21; Rev. 3:7-8; 4:3).

3. We believe that God created man without defect in the image and likeness of God, as male and female (Gen. 1:26-27); that He instituted the blessing of the holy marriage covenant as the proper context for intimate male-female companionship and the bearing of children (Gen. 2:22-25; Prov. 2:17; Song of Songs 4:12; 8:8-9; Mal. 2:14; Psalm128; Ephes. 5:31), issued the command to procreate and subdue the earth (Gen. 1:28; Psalm 127:3-5), and established the Sabbath as a holy day of worship and rest and for the enhancement of human fellowship with the Creator (Gen. 2:2-3; Luke 4:16). We believe that God gave to Adam a specific command to refrain from eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil with the threat of the penalty of death whereby Adam’s and his wife’s moral accountability to God, and the accountability of his offspring, was forever established (Gen. 2:16-17). We believe that through a voluntary transgression of the command, the woman yielding to the serpent’s temptation and Adam complying in the woman’s transgression, sin and death were introduced to the entire human race so that all have sinned, fall short of the glory of God, and stand under the eternal condemnation of the Righteous God (Gen. 3:9-11; Rom. 1: 26-27; 2:14-16; 3:9-20; 5:12-21; 1 Tim. 2:13-14). Though God’s work of creation was a glorious work in and of itself, and more than sufficient ground for men to worship their Creator, as the result of the Fall that work only suffices to render fallen members of Adam’s race inexcusable for their idolatries and shameful ways (Rom. 1:18-32). Only God’s revelatory unfolding of the gospel in the history of redemption through the Spirit of grace culminating in the incarnate Son of God, has been sufficient to reconstitute members of Adam’s fallen race as true worshipers of the living God (Gen. 3:15; 4:26; Rom. 1:16-17; 10:14-17; Heb. 10:29; John 1:14-18; 4:21-24; 1 Thess. 1:4-9).

4. We believe that Jesus of Nazareth is Israel’s Messiah and the Savior of all who call upon him, and that being conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary in Bethlehem, He is fully God and fully man (Luke 4:21; John 1:45; Acts 2:31, 36; 1 Tim. 4:10; Col. 2:9; Rom. 10:9, 13; John 1:14; 1 Tim. 2:5). We believe that Jesus was the greatest Teacher and miracle-worker who has ever lived among men (Matt. 7:28-29; Mark 1:27; Luke 4:15; 5:26; John 7:46; 15:24;21:25 ), and that He lived a sinless life though tempted as all men (Heb. 4:15; John 8:46). We believe that Jesus Christ’s voluntary outpouring of His blood on a Roman cross culminating in His triumphant death whereby He yielded up His spirit (Matt. 20:19; Luke 18:32; John 10:18;19:30; Psalm 22:16) as an act of obedience to the will of the Father (Heb. 10:5-10), and whereby He was for a time “cut off” from His Father (Isaiah 53:8-12; Mark 15:34; 2 Cor. 5:21), satisfied God’s eternal justice on behalf of sinners (Rom. 3:25; Mark 15:34; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 2:9) both actively as the last Adam (Rom. 5:12-21) and passively as the sacrificial Lamb of God (John 1:29), thereby establishing the new covenant in fulfillment of the Scriptures (Matt. 26:28; 1 Cor. 11:25; Heb. 9:15). We believe that Jesus Christ rose bodily from the tomb on the third day, the first day of the week, in fulfillment of Scripture (Luke 24:38-46; 1 Cor. 15:3-4; John 20:1,19-20); and that He ascended to a position of universal authority at the right hand of the Father where, as the only Mediator between God and men (1 Tim. 2:5), He ever lives to make intercession for the saints (Heb. 7:25). We believe that Jesus Christ will personally and bodily return at the end of the age to receive His church as His holy bride, consummate her glorification, and subdue her enemies, in order that she might forever reign with Him (Acts 1:11; John 14:3; Ephes. 5:27; 1 Thess. 4:13-17; 1 Tim. 6:14; 2 Tim. 4:8; 1 John 3:3; Rev. 1:7; 19:7-8; 21:2-4; 22:20).

5. We believe that salvation involves the gracious act of God's justification of sinners solely through their faith in the risen Lord Jesus Christ and His atoning work on the cross, totally apart from any works by the sinners themselves. We believe that regeneration by the Holy Spirit, whereby God works repentance in the believer's heart transforming his character, is absolutely essential to that salvation (Rom. 3:24-25; 8:33; 11:6; John 1:12-13; 3:5-8; Titus 3:5-6; Luke 18:13-14; Acts 11:18). We believe that faith, if it is genuine, issues in confession that “Jesus is Lord” (Rom. 10:9-10; 1 Cor. 12:3) and in good works (Matt. 3:8; Acts 26:20; Ephes. 2:8-10; James 2:17-23; Rev. 19:8). We believe that God has commanded all people everywhere to repent and believe the gospel and that the proclamation and defense of the gospel, “the faith once for all delivered to the saints,” is the ongoing task of the church (Acts 2:38;17:30; Mark 1:15; 13:10;16:15; Jude 3).

6. We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by Whose indwelling power and fulness, coupled with the Word of God, watchfulness, and prayer, the Christian, though daily engaged in a struggle with the world, the flesh, and the devil, is enabled to live a godly life that upholds the law and pleases the Lord (Gen. 3:15-19; Rom. 8:1-11, 8-23; Gal. 5:16-23; Ephes. 5:18-21; 6:10-20; John 5:4-5; 1 Pet. 5:8-11; Rev. 12:11).

7. We believe in the spiritual unity of all believers in Christ who constitute the one true church which is the body of Christ (John 17:23; Ephes. 4:3; 1 Cor. 12:13). We believe that evangelical congregations are complete expressions of the body of Christ, that their true leaders are called by God, and that the members’ consent is exercised in their leaders’appointment (Deut. 1:13; cf. Exod. 18:2; Acts 6:3; 14:23 [Note the Greek verb keirotoneo]; 2 Corinthians 8:19), as well as in the determination of their own membership (1 Cor. 5:4-5). We believe that Christ has instituted for the church two visible signs of the new covenant, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which, when conjoined with the true preaching of the Word, confirm to us the spiritual realities that they represent (Matt. 28:19; Acts 22:16; Ephes. 5:26; Heb. 10:22; Rom. 6:4-5; Titus 3:5-6; 1 Pet. 3:21; Matt. 26:26-29; 1 Cor. 10:16-17; 11:23-32).

8. We believe that those who are saved will experience the resurrection of life and everlasting blessedness and enjoyment of the presence of God; that those who are lost, refusing to repent, will experience the resurrection of damnation and everlasting punishment and banishment from the presence of God. We believe that Christ has been appointed by His Father to be the Judge of all men (Psalm 2:6-12; John 3:17-21; 5:25-29; Rom. 8:1-4; Matt. 25:31-46; Acts 17:31; 2 Cor. 5:10; 2 Thess. 1:6-10; Rev. 6:16-17). We believe that the end for which all things were created and toward which all things move in God’s plan, in keeping with God’s original design for man himself and every biblical covenant, is the manifestation and enjoyment of God’s glory, and that that glorious end will reach its consummation in the new heavens and the new earth manifested in the New Jerusalem (Psalm 19:1; 26:8; Isaiah 43:7, 21; 48:11; 61:3; Acts 7:2; 12:23; Hab. 2:14; Luke 2:14; 9:31-32; 24:26; John 12:27-28; 17:4-5,10, 22, 24; Rom. 1:21-23; 9:22-24; 11:36; 2 Cor. 3:7-18; Ephes. 1:6, 12; 3:10-21; Phil. 1:11; 2:11; 3:3, 21; 4:19-20; Rev. 1:5-6; 4:11; 5:13-14;15:3-4; 21:1-22:5).

Rationale for the Amendment to Upgrade the Existing CCCC Statement of Faith as Per the Proposed Confession of Faith

         The existing CCCC Statement of Faith addressed particular issues which were undermining the Christian faith at the time it was written, but it needs to be expanded and strengthened to address the issues which threaten the Christian faith at the present time. The problems associated with the existing CCCC Statement of Faith are not with what it affirms but with what it fails to affirm. Its present inadequacies include the following:

1) The existing CCCC Statement of Faith does not affirm God as Creator and Sustainer of the universe in a day when one of the most controversial issues facing our public schools is the Creation/Intelligent Design/Evolution issue.

2) The existing CCCC Statement of Faith does not establish any historical/geographical context for the gospel in a day when a massive propaganda effort is underway to discredit the historicity of the New Testament account.

3) The existing CCCC Statement of Faith does not identify the person and work of Christ with Jesus of Nazareth leaving the door open to the suggestion that the Messiah has not yet come.

4) The existing CCCC Statement of Faith, though mentioning Christ’s virgin birth, does not specifically affirm the full humanity of Jesus Christ.

5) The existing CCCC Statement of Faith fails to affirm Jesus Christ as the greatest Teacher of all time in a day when the founder of another major world religious movement is hailed as a prophet greater than Jesus.

6) The existing CCCC Statement of Faith does not clearly establish the origin, nature, and universality of sin in a day when charlatans are defining sin as a lack of self-esteem or ignoring it altogether.

7) The existing CCCC Statement of Faith fails to underscore the truth that justification is by faith alone in a day when both Luther and the apostle Paul are being called into question on this issue; nor does it mention repentance as an essential aspect of salvation in a day of seeker-sensitive customer accommodation in churches, so-called “radical inclusivism,” and other forms of “easy-believism.”

8) The existing CCCC Statement of Faith does not sufficiently establish the objectivity and exclusiveness of God, Jesus Christ, the gospel, and salvation leaving the door open for the possibility of alternative deities, pretenders, gospels, and salvation schemes on the basis that our Statement only pertains to the “Christian” god.

9) The existing CCCC Statement of Faith does not identify the “end” of all things as though the “why” and “whither” is not important in a day of human self-absorption and consumerism.

10) The existing CCCC Statement of Faith does not specify the number of books in the Bible in a day of evangelical dialogue with Roman Catholics who regard the Apocrypha as part of the Old Testament, and when a Princeton theological professor has alleged on the national news that the Church’s male hierarchy surreptitiously removed Gnostic versions of the Gospel from the biblical canon.

11) The existing CCCC Statement of Faith does not mention the eternal covenant of grace so thematically unifying to the Bible in a day when there is much confusion as to the relationship between the Old and New Testaments, and many regard the Old Testament as irrelevant for the Christian, or fail to give due regard to the relationship between Israel and the church.

12) The existing CCCC Statement of Faith does not mention the church, baptism, or the Lord’s Supper even though the Conference, appropriately or inappropriately in view of its stated Congregational polity, has been celebrating the Lord’s Supper at its annual meetings and talking about planting churches, and ministerial recognition is withheld from those who do not believe in water baptism.

13) The existing CCCC Statement of Faith does not allude to the biblical foundations of marriage or sexuality in a day when only one out of every four school children has both a father and mother in his home and “gay rights” activists are clamoring for legal sanction of “gay marriages” and adoption rights.

14) The existing CCCC Statement of Faith overlooks the order of Creation and the Fall as it pertains to the man and the woman in a day when the modern feminist movement is undermining the church and the family by promoting an unscriptural female encroachment upon male teaching and leadership responsibility where men are among the subjects of that leadership or recipients of the teaching in the church.

15) The existing CCCC Statement of Faith fails to mention that man was made in the image of God–a biblical doctrine which establishes man’s identity and his accountability to his Maker, matters of such critical importance to the gospel, not to mention its relevance to the modern technological advance in genetics, legalized destruction of the unborn, weapons of mass destruction, cruelty toward the homeless, and genocidal issues which press in upon us.

16) In a day of widespread contraception and abortion which our Protestant forebears strongly opposed, the existing CCCC Statement fails to underscore the creation mandate of Genesis 1:28, a mandate that is repeated in Genesis 9:7 and 35:11, and reflected in Psalms 127 and 128.

Signatories

David C. Brand

Director, ADVOCATE Enterprise, P.O. Box 1388, Mount Vernon, OH 43050

Author, Profile of the Last Puritan (Scholars Press, AAR, 1990).

Former Chairman, CCCC/WTS Planning Committee

Dr. James W. Gustafson

Professor of Philosophy 1970-2001, Northern Essex Community College, Haverhill, MA

Author, The Quest for Truth: An Introduction to Philosophy (Simon and Schuster, 1998)

Member CCCC Credentials Committee; former member CCCC Board of Directors

Chairman, CCCC Ad Hoc Committee on Web-based Education

David Williams

Member CCCC Board of Directors, 1994-1997

CCCC Representative, Social Action Commission, NAE, 1983-2003

Fort Worth, TX

Rev. S. Dennis Kletzing

Pastor, Christ Reformed Church, Ruffs Dale, PA

Rev. Phillip A. Ross

Marietta, OH

Rev. J. Kirk van der Swaagh

Pastor, Neighborhood Church of Greenwich Village (CCCC member church)

Area Representative Greater NYC/NJ Area Fellowship

CCCC delegate to the National Pro-life Religious Council

Former Board Member

Rev. Steven James Weibley

Associate Pastor, Carlisle Congregational Church, Carlisle, PA

Rev. David L. Green

Pastor, Cornerstone Church, Beverly, MA

Chairman, New England Reformed Fellowship

Moderator, Reformed Congregational Fellowship

Rev. Herbert E. Anderson

Pastor, Snyder Avenue Congregational Church, Philadelphia, PA

Rev. Robert G. Hall

Co-Pastor, Bronx Household of Faith, Bronx, NY; CCCC/WTS Coordinator