Introduction to Part II

Developing Part 2 of the Cape Town Commitment -- Chris Wright

Today’s reading is Part II, Introduction and IIA.1-2.

Read here.

Our covenant with God binds love and obedience together. God rejoices to see our ‘work produced by faith’ and our ‘labour prompted by love’, for ‘we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.’

As members of the worldwide Church of Jesus Christ, we have sought to listen to the voice of God through the Holy Spirit. We have listened to his voice coming to us from his written Word in the exposition of Ephesians, and through the voices of his people around the world. Our six major Congress themes provide a framework to discern the challenges facing the worldwide Church of Christ, and our priorities for the future. We do not imply that these commitments are the only ones the Church should consider, or that priorities everywhere are the same.

Bearing witness to the truth of Christ in a pluralistic, globalized world (1)

Truth and the person of Christ

As disciples of Christ we are called to be people of truth.We must live the truth. To live the truth is to be the face of Jesus, through whom the glory of the gospel is revealed to blinded minds. People will see truth in the faces of those who live their lives for Jesus, in faithfulness and love.We must proclaim the truth. Spoken proclamation of the truth of the gospel remains paramount in our mission. This cannot be separated from living out the truth. Works and words must go together.

Truth and the challenge of pluralism

We long to see greater commitment to the hard work of robust apologetics. This must be at two levels. We need to identify, equip and pray for those who can engage at the highest intellectual and public level in arguing for and defending biblical truth in the public arena. We urge Church leaders and pastors to equip all believers with the courage and the tools to relate the truth with prophetic relevance to everyday public conversation, and so to engage every aspect of the culture we live in.

Closing prayer:

We pray for church leaders, pastors and evangelists to preach and teach the fullness of the biblical gospel, in all its scope and truth. We must present your gospel as your Father’s plan for the whole universe in you. People may come to you to meet a personal need, but they stay with you when they find you to be the truth. We seek your help to identify and equip those defending biblical truth in the intellectual and public arenas. We pray that Church leaders and pastors will equip all believers with the courage and the tools to relate this wondrous truth in everyday public conversation. Amen.