Aaron Twitchell – Statement of Faith
Who is like God? Who can create out of nothing? Who loves with all patience, all kindness, and all perseverance?
Like mother and father, God creates out of nothing. Like father, God loves kindly, patiently, and unconditionally. Like mother, God protects and instructs, and always perseveres.
The Son, through whom the world came into being, lowered himself to become one of us though in him the fullness of the Godhead was yet pleased to dwell. Through the Son we shall return to the Father.
Like a friend, the Holy Spirit helps, inspires, and walks with me. She asks me things, wonders, and guides. The Spirit is like the friend I need to live well in a broken world; a companion who is home. The Holy Spirit is fully God, enrapturing God’s people into abundant life through gifts, discernment, and harmony.
I believe scripture is the revelation of God as Trinity and of God in relationship to humanity. I affirm Holy Scripture as the fullest witness of God’s love for humankind. In scripture, we see the work of the Spirit in its writing, we hear the voice of God the Father in the creation of the world and everything in it, and we witness the life and work of God the Son in Jesus Christ.
I affirm and believe in the gospel as it is told in the Bible: that Jesus was born, lived the life of a teacher and prophet, was crucified and died, and on the third day he was raised from the dead. My experiences have made Jesus and the Bible very real in ways that are larger than even these creedal beliefs. In the gospels I am given what was taken away from me as a child: the moral and spiritual example of a father- figure. In the gospels I am shown what a loving response to my brokenness looks like. The Bible tells me about Jesus who is holy but kind, angry but righteous, and present and faithful. Jesus promises to never leave me nor forsake me and he shows me how to pray and how to live in community with God and people.
The sacraments cover me in God’s love for me and his call upon my life. My baptism was a one-time act of obedience that connects me to God’s grace and that unites me with believers everywhere.
Communion is the presence of the Holy Spirit in the gifts of bread and wine. Communion is an invitation to offer myself as a living sacrifice and it sustains me on my Christian journey. Christ is present in the sacraments, the Spirit unites us in our practices of baptism and communion, and God is glorified through our obedience and worship.
My faith is not just about me. God’s love is in and for all people and God’s favor rests upon all creation, especially the poor and the oppressed. The message of the Bible is that our world is broken even though God lavishes his love upon us and that God is reconciling the world out from our brokenness. Bearing witness to God’s redemptive love is the life and work of all Christians and the mission of the Church.
Called to proclaim this gospel, the Church lives and moves to welcome all people into the house of God through various forms of ministry.
The mission and ministry of the Church are signposts both of the spiritual salvation of humanity and the mercy and justice of God in the everyday lives of people. The Church strives to be spaces of spiritual refuge, genuine worship of God, proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the administration of the sacraments. The Church also works with individual communities to help alleviate the strains of poverty, inequality, and injustice. They demonstrate love for their neighbors and a commitment to human dignity. The Church universal and congregations everywhere serve as prophetic witnesses to the Kingdom of God on earth.
God has redeemed the world through the life and resurrection of Jesus. Just as all things came into being through the Son, all things will be reconciled to God through the Son.