Statement of faith while in Manila

I’m actually in Manila right now. (I fly back to Bangkok tonight.) I was invited by the representative of one of the foundations I’m writing a grant with for the LadderWorks project to come and share about the LadderWorks vision with his pastors training seminar for sustainable transformational ministry here. Its been great to visit Manila for the first time. It feels like Los Angeles compared to Bangkok. Bangkok is maybe more like New York in comparison. Manila is so much quieter and less crowded, a drivable, relaxed city compared to Bangkok. And its really encouraging to see Filipino pastors get excited about the LadderWorks vision and start to think about how they might start something similar here in the Philippines.

While here, I’m also working on the official grant application for this foundation. At one point, it asks for a one page statement of faith. This was a good exercise for me to write out somewhat concisely, but in a stream of consciousness manner (just a set of “I believe….” statements really) what I believe. Its not exhaustive obviously, and its just a rough sketch. But with the amount of change that has occurred in my theology over the last couple years, its freeing to state out everything in one page as a confession of sorts. I thought I’d share it here as well.

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I believe in the Gospel that Jesus is Lord, that the Kingdom of God is at hand, that we are to repent and believe the good news, that the promises of new creation are real and true and for this world. I believe that Jesus is the Word, the Logos, the Way, the Truth, the Life. I believe that God created the earth and all the universe. I believe that he is before all things and all things hold together in him. I believe that God gave people free will to love him or reject him, to obey him or sin against him. I believe that God created a world in which he necessarily limited his use of absolute sovereignty to coerce or control in order to guarantee the exercise of free will by humans and spirits. I believe that God is love. I believe that God’s character is fully revealed in Jesus Christ. I believe that God desires humankind to freely love him and align themselves to his will and partner with him in his mission to return shalom to this earth. I believe God and Satan are at war. I believe in the reality of angels and demons. I believe in the efficacy of prayer. I believe in the reality of structural and systemic evil. I believe that we should pray for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. I believe wherever two or three gather in the name of Jesus, there God is with them, and there we can be in heaven. I believe heaven is where God is and earth is where man is. I believe earth and heaven should one day be joined together fully so that the dominion of earth is the dominion of God. I believe Jesus is both man and God and that he is the unique anointed one of God, the Messiah. I believe Jesus was born of a virgin through the Holy Spirit and walked this earth as a man, fully human, suffering all the temptations that any man faces, yet was without sin, the only one to ever live without sin. I believe he was the greatest teacher whoever lived. I believe he was a prophet proclaiming judgment upon the leaders of Israel and prophesying Jerusalem’s future destruction. I believe God chose Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to be his witnesses on this earth, his conduits to shine the light of his truth and shalom to all nations. I believe that Jesus fulfilled, renewed and redefined God’s covenant with Israel, establishing his twelve disciples symbolically as the twelve tribes of Israel, so that the church would indeed be the reconstructed Israel, fulfilling God’s mission originally given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I believe that Jesus died on a Roman cross outside Jerusalem and was raised to life on the third day. I believe that the Kingdom of God and the path to new creation is most fully revealed on the cross. I believe that true life is indeed most fully found when we would lose our lives for the sake of the Gospel. I believe that the promise of bodily resurrection is real. I believe that salvation is not simply an escape ticket out of this earth after you die into “heaven” where we would live an ethereal, spiritual existence, singing worship songs to God all eternity up in the clouds. Rather, I believe that the good news is good news for right here and now, that we can begin the life of the ages right now. That first and foremost, Jesus taught the way, is the way, called the Kingdom of God, by which we would partner with him in being the new creation and unveiling the new creation. I believe that God is not going to simply throw this earth away and burn it up. Rather I believe that he is building his new creation right now and that one day we will see the fullness of his presence among us, gloriously, in the somewhat familiar confines of this physical earth, but this earth redeemed, as it was always meant to be. I believe that all humans are made in the image of God, loved by God, and that Jesus died on the cross for each one. Therefore, every human has infinite value, worth, and great potential. I believe that judgment is real. I believe that Jesus is fully God and that the Holy Spirit is also fully God. I believe that it is an absolute miracle that God loved us so much he became flesh and dwelt among us because he wanted us to know him in all his fullness. I believe that it is so mindboggling that the Holy Spirit, the fullness of God, lives within us. I am confused as to why we don’t literally burst into flames if the Spirit lives inside us. I believe the greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength and the second is like it, to love our neighbor as our self. I believe we should devote all our energies to living and enjoying a shalom lifestyle and praying for and practically working for the expansion of shalom on this earth. I believe that people of any culture can be followers of Jesus, within their culture. I believe that one day, every tribe and tongue and nation will together bow down before Jesus. I believe in the promise of the holy city of Jerusalem, come down out of heaven to earth. I believe in the promise of the tree of life, whose fruit is borne in every season and whose leaves are for the ongoing healing of the nations.