The others-centred, self-giving, life-transforming Way of Jesus

• God is love—a relational, triune communion—in us, among us, beyond us. 

• We are all connected to God, the Creator, the faithful and dynamic source of love & life.

• Creation—in all of its poetic mystery—exists as an extension of the inherent goodness of God.

• Entangled in the web of sin, we are missing the mark of our intended interconnectedness and calling (to God, creation and each other) to co-work with God for shalom & healing for all creation.

• The Incarnation of Jesus reveals God’s active, faithful and loving engagement with the cosmos and God’s gracious desire to free everyone and everything from bondage to sin and death.

• Love compassionately promotes well-being. It is non-coercive, non-violent, others-centred, self-giving and effective—most clearly depicted in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.

• Participating in the way of Jesus is a transformative process that moulds us and our faith communities ever more into the likeness of God, fostering safety and healing for everyone.

• We deeply treasure and value the Bible—comprised of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) and the New Testament—as a polyphonic text that points us to the Living Word, Jesus. We read Scripture with a Jesus-centered lens of “hopeful theology” whose fruit promotes justice and flourishing for all. We see no single interpretation as infallible but trust that Scripture is best understood through diverse local communities with active reliance on the Holy Spirit. Scripture’s inspiration is past, present and future, ever-unfolding through the ongoing, context-specific work of the Spirit here in Canada.

The openness of Christ’s table

• We believe the church's calling is to embody and invite a new way to be human, reconciled to God through the way of Christ.

• We believe that gathered body of Christ, the church, deeply matters. We worship in cities and towns from coast to coast in community through prayer, sacrament, Scripture, celebration, serving, advocacy, art, creativity, encouragement, meaning-making, and more.

• We believe that God welcomes everyone to the table to experience and enjoy every aspect of church fellowship, regardless of race, ethnicity, ability, gender, sexuality, age, neurodiversity, economic standing, political ideology or worldview. We believe the church is better when the gifts of all people are welcomed and celebrated.

• Belonging at Christ’s table is rooted in God’s faithful loving-kindness and the unity of the Spirit.

• By washing his disciple’s feet, Christ made humility a core aspect of table fellowship. We don’t always know what is best and seek to embody Christ-like humility.

• We seek to trust and amplify voices at the edges through relationships of humility and curiosity. We recognize that there are lived understandings we cannot fathom without listening and will never fully understand without lived experience.

• We affirm and welcome all LGBTQIA2S+ individuals to the Jesus community formed around Christ’s table, including access to all aspects of church life, such as volunteering, leadership, marriage, baptism and beyond.

• We acknowledge with Godly repentance the ways that supremacy culture (racism, sexism, ageism, ableism, classism, trans/homophobia, genderism, patriarchy, imperialism, gnosticism (dualism between body/spirit that denigrates bodies), body shaming, etc.) has poisoned many of our faith communities and opposes our essential Jesus-centered convictions of belovedness, inherent dignity and justice.

The dignity and worth of every person

• The Incarnation of Jesus calls us to value each and every wondrous and limited human being in it, even those we may strongly disagree with.

• Creation’s inherent goodness means that we are made for loving relationship with God, creation and each other. We live in mutual interdependence, designed for mutual flourishing.

• We see the dignity and worth of our neighbours and take God’s call to love and serve them and our neighbourhoods seriously. Radical hospitality, welcoming, listening and learning with others transform the whole person. Through Christ, we become blessed, broken, and given for the life of our neighbours.

• We affirm that people and their stories matter. Stories carry responsibility since they inform our beliefs and experiences, which form our behaviours and practices. Stories carry beauty, meaning, and hope—especially where is complexity and suffering.

• There is value and worth in our embodied lives, including particular and experiential ways of knowing. (i.e. meal sharing, sex & intimacy, procreation, intersectionality, body wisdom, nature’s wisdom, etc.)

• Trust matters—in the goodness and colourfulness of our God-given humanity and in the ability to hear from and experience the working of the Holy Spirit through every embodied being.

• Conversations with our histories, traditions and preceding generations enrich and inform our present.

Peacemaking and power-sharing

• We see that evil exists as a distortion of the goodness of God and God’s story of being with us and for us.

• Meaningful change in our world requires prayer, solidarity and collective effort. We believe in the importance of table practice, sharing actual meals and cultivating relationships across diversity and intersectionality.

• We commit to noticing power dynamics and promoting shared power as a means of reducing barriers, promoting human flourishing, and witnessing God's goodness and nearness through the work of the Holy Spirit.

• We recognize that people are inextricably connected to the land (their context), and that concerns about money and power can unduly affect decisions about church and theological directions and how we treat creation and each other.

• We acknowledge with repentance that certain voices have been ignored and silenced, while those of privilege and power have often created the normative lens for determining religious validity. Recognizing that assigning responsibility for leadership means we are choosing to empower some to discern on our behalf, we intentionally seek out, make space for, and listen to those whose perspectives have historically been left out. 

• We uphold humility, listening, peace-making, and power-sharing as primary leadership traits for the church and followers of the Jesus Way.

• We hold a non-antagonistic posture towards those who disagree with us and these values, affirming their inherent dignity and worth as brethren in Christ. We will not de-Christianize those who oppose or disagree and, where possible, seek to make peace.

• We believe freedom of choice matters. We freely choose to make these theological commitments to each other and live into them together in our local contexts.

Justice for the oppressed

• We assume a position of lament for all those who haven’t felt safely welcomed to a Christian table.

• We repent for not loving God, neighbour, and creation and for treating some humans more worthy

• In our present context, we especially acknowledge Indigenous people, those with disabilities, people of colour (the global majority), economically disadvantaged people, and those who identify beyond the gender/sexual binary. We commit to an ongoing readiness to confess, repent and repair.

• We stand in hope that the Spirit is active, compelling us to invite everyone to Jesus’ table of fellowship that produces good fruit, including healing and restorative justice for all.

• We persevere for justice that pursues the common good and liberation for all people, not just some. We listen and learn from those at the front lines of specific justice issues in which we engage.

• We see Jesus as our model for justice. God's call for justice is realized in Jesus and expected to be acted out by his followers. We desire to be courageous, public, intentional, and transparent in our actions and postures.

• We observe that honouring relationships and holistic justice is only possible when we are deeply grounded in sabbath practices of rest and celebration.

• We acknowledge the temptation to be close-minded about God’s work for good beyond the walls of the Christian church and affirm that God is already at work everywhere, making all things new.

• We desire to always embody a posture of prayerful repentance, acknowledging that we have not always had eyes to see the harm we have caused. Rather than condemning ourselves or others for our mistakes, we hope to embrace compassion, openness to the transformation of the Spirit, and commitment to repair. We honour ourselves and those we have harmed by including and learning from our mistakes rather than hiding, denying, or brushing them off. We recognize that we are always in process.

“God is good and blessed is the one who takes refuge there. (Psalm 34)