The Church of Jesus Christ was formed in a cultural setting rich in diversity, involving the formation of communities of believers within many cultural contexts. Yet these communities were united in the faith and doctrine declared to them by the Apostles and their disciples, and thus were truly one body: One Word, One Faith, One Baptism, One Lord and Master of all. The ARC Movement seeks to recapture this early vision of movements to Jesus being born and nurtured in their own unique context yet bound together by the faith and doctrine proclaimed through the power of the Holy Spirit on that first Pentecost Day of the Christian Era. We seek to do this by following the leadership models described in the Gospels, Acts, and the Epistles: Our bishops will lead us as church planters, in the selection and ordination of new leaders, as guardians and teachers of the faith, and as disciplinarians when necessary. We believe that this is the role given to the Apostles by Jesus Christ, and we seek to honor it.

   We believe that all Christians are integral parts of the body of Christ, and we seek to work together with them in their various expressions to make Christ known throughout the world. Thus we consider ARC to be simply another expression of Christ’s universal, or catholic, Church.

   We affirm the canonical scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as inspired by the Holy Spirit and containing all things necessary for salvation and discipleship. We also affirm the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds as summaries of the main themes of Biblical truth. We affirm and obey the Lord’s commandments to celebrate the Lord’s Supper and Baptism. We affirm that several forms of church polity and structures can be discerned in the scriptures and that no particular polity can lay exclusive claim to being the New Testament model. Thus we recognize that the form of church structure and polity must be contextualized to the culture that that church or congregation is called to serve. We affirm and expect the ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit within and beyond the Body of Christ.

   We believe in the priesthood of all believers and that God grants access to His Holy Spirit to all who turn to him, without the need for an intercessor. We honor and adhere to the tenets of the Protestant Reformation, and in particular to the theology and traditions of its Anglican expression. We are committed to the principal of reform, not necessarily to a particular or specific confession of “reformed” faith. Rather we mean that we are committed to the idea that Christ’s church is being continually reformed by His Holy Spirit.

    We are committed to regular, intentional prayer for each other, and to the principles of partnership or “koinonia” defined by St. Paul in his letter to the Philippians. We are committed to training at every level of ministry and church life that is rooted in the inductive study of large sections of scripture applied to real-life situations. We are committed to the concept of building fully team-based ministries and ministry structures and to modeling team ministry ourselves. Finally, we are committed to the leader/apprentice model of church multiplication.

   The ARC Movement is focused on the mission of raising new churches and congregations that are committed to the spread of Christ’s saving Gospel throughout the world. To this end, we are specifically committed to mission ministry in the following areas:

·        The Emerging Culture, which is increasingly global, influenced by pop-culture and technology, and is post-modern in its worldview.

·        Pioneer movements among un-reached people groups wherever they may be found.

·        International Cities around the world with growing populations of people from other countries of origin.

·        Catalytic Movements: All churches and congregations within the ARC movement are expected to be catalysts for ministries and church planting that will result in multiplication, such that each new church plant will be developed to be self-propagating, self governing, self supporting, and self-theologizing (development of solid Biblical theology “in culture,” or contextualized for the cultural traditions of the people-group being raised up for Christ).

 

   Thus ARC is a movement to Jesus that is apostolic, reformed, and catholic, coming together representing an international group of Christians and churches committed to spreading the Gospel throughout the world and bringing the world to Christ. 

 

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