What Sort of Church Do We Want?
We are grateful to our friends at Fe Adulta,of Madrid, for permission to reproduce the following declaration made by a Protestant congregation whose Pastor is Julian Mellado. Translation by the Editor.
Our Nine Principles.
- We want a church where God never ceases to be mystery, the Ineffable; where no one pretends to have him enclosed within any dogma or human concept; where everyone can approach him with authentic liberty to share experiences without fear of being ridiculed or disdained no matter how different they might be.
2. We want a church where God can be identified as a Presence of Love, of Compassion, of Liberty, of Justice and of Truth.
3. We want a church where each one can feel fully accepted as a person; and where everyone desires to fully accept everyone else as persons.
4. We want a church where Jesus of Nazareth is the principal criterion of faith and thought, the undisputed reference to life, the model to follow; a church where one can breathe and share the values of the Master and his commitment to a new humanity; a church where the Gospel becomes flesh in the midst of our society.
5. We want a church where everyone can have their place of encounter, their corner for reflexion, their space for solidarity, their terrain of acceptance; where each one can share with freedom experiences of faith with the conclusions they have thought out; and where everyone can participate in a common effort to discern the Voice of Jesus.
6. We want a church where every member opens arms in an attitude of welcome to anyone who wishes to participate in the community, without any discrimination whatsoever regarding sex, state, race, inclination or culture.
7. We want a church where any strict and imposed dogmatism moves toward a plurality and acceptance which can find themselves in the testimony of Jesus.
8. We want a church that can be a stimulus to men and women of our century and in our culture; that can translate for us with fidelity that which founded the faith in the times and in the culture of the apostles so that it can be a foundation in our times and in our cultures.
9. We want a church which fosters fraternity with all persons and organisations which follow in the footsteps of Jesus, or which struggle with peaceful means for a better world, more just and more equal.
Julian Mellado, Pastor