A note about the word "distinctives"--we thought of using the word "values" but in a world where we pick and chose optional values we liked the term "distinctives" because it gives us a God-given set of values that help us understand what should distinguish us as God's people in the world.
A Gospel Community: We are a people committed to participating in the good news of God redeeming all creation through Jesus Christ.
The gospel is everything God has done, is doing, and will do to redeem all creation for his glory. We are both recipients and participants in this unfolding drama of redemption. Our worship services and ministries are shaped by re-enacting this "good news" story and celebrating its centerpiece, Jesus Christ. Being Christ-centered implies that we embrace the cross of Christ as God's means of redeeming us from sin's penalty and sin's hold through the power of the Holy Spirit. Through the consistent exposition and application of the Scriptures, we are progressively transformed into a people who follow Jesus, seek his kingdom, and reflect his glory to the nations.
A Missional Community: We are a people in mission seeking to effectively testify to the Good News in our neighbourhoods and the nations of the world.
God is on a mission--as the Father sent His Son, so Jesus is now sending us, empowering us by His indwelling Holy Spirit. As "sent ones" we are to be the embodiment of the Living Word in human culture and social settings so as to display His divine nature and transforming power. We seek to engage the culture both locally and abroad declaring and demonstrating the gospel within the specific context of time, place, language, and culture. We seek to radically identify with the world while maintaining a radical distinction from it.
A Trinitarian Community: We are a people who desire our relationships to reflect the community of our three-in-one God.
By looking at Jesus, we will clearly see him in relationship with the Father and the Holy Spirit. As we are drawn into the fellowship of the Trinity, our earthly relationships with one another will begin to reflect our understanding of the Trinitarian nature of God, not our own relational needs and desires. We long to reflect the relationship within the Trinity, where each member is co-equal with one another, lives with and for the other, serving, cherishing and honouring the other.
A Sacramental Community: We are a people who highly value the stewardship of all God's creation and the celebration of the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper.
We see all of God's creation as holy, reflecting his glory, and therefore "good". We see no distinction between what is sacred and secular, spiritual and physical. The incarnation of Jesus of Nazareth supports that what we see, taste, smell, and touch is indeed good. Being a sacramental community implies the generous stewardship of all of God's gifts (environment, money, family, business, facility, etc.) to the best of our ability and for the glory of God. We are also sacramental in that we value the celebration of baptism and communion as not mere symbols of deeper spiritual realities, but as God's means of grace to his gathered church. We believe that baptism and The Lord's Supper are frequent practices of the worshipping church, where heaven is particularly close to earth. We enjoy a weekly celebration of the Lord's Supper.
A Catholic Community: We are a people who highly value our relationship with Christ's whole Church, past, present, and future.
We desire "catholicity" by embracing the work of God's Spirit throughout church history. We see ourselves as a dependant branch of the universal Church which humbly gathers nourishment from the entire tree in all its historical, theological, and cultural diversity. We choose to learn from those who hold differing views than ours in the non-essentials, yet we contend for those bedrock beliefs that the whole church for all time and in every place has considered orthodox. Our ultimate allegiance is to the King and his kingdom. Yet, we believe there is synergy by working in submission and alignment to our own denomination, the Christian and Missionary Alliance. This enables us to be served and coached by others who share our values. These find their greatest expression in discipleship, church planting and global missions. In addition, we seek and welcome opportunities for cross-denominational fellowship and endeavours.
A Charismatic Community: We are a people who desire the fullness of the Holy Spirit to empower us for Christ's mission in the world.
We are a charismatic community in that we acknowledge the Holy Spirit is present and active in the church today, sovereignly dispensing all His gifts for the building up of the church and the renewing of his world. We value the ministry that God has given each and every member of the body of Christ. We love and serve with eager anticipation of what the Holy Spirit can and will miraculously do as Jesus' kingdom breaks into our midst.
A Hopeful Community: We seek to be a people who live with an expectant eye on Christ's second coming.
We are encouraged in this present life to persevere with the blessed hope that "when he comes, we shall be like him." Just as "all creation groans eagerly awaiting her redemption", we too acknowledge our weakness and imperfection "until He comes." With Christ we share with those who suffer, and rejoice in the hope and victory of his return when all suffering ends. Living with one eye on his return will keep us from the two extremes of discouragement and arrogance. This hope compels us to be watchful, prayerful, patient and prepared.
The Distinctives Journey
The articles below describe the journey of congregational and membership forums taken to come to Pacific's final Seven Distinctives (June 2, 09). In a very real way these Distinctives are the work of our community.
If you are curious read the following articles to see where we started:
Distinctives Process: A Congregational Introduction
The Board has invited all of Pacific to engage in a season of reflection and wrestling as we prayerfully engage a time to articulate the distinctives that can mark and shape Pacific. This will be a three month process--Study, Synth and Scribe.
We have established a process to guide us but it has an open ended feel to it because we are deliberately inviting you to be part of the process. You might sense a shift in the style of leadership being expressed. At times Churches have emphasized the singular leader who has the "special" annointing and is able to meet God and come down the mountain with laws for life (Moses was a good example in the Old Testament but he longed for the days of the New Testament).
We are emphasizing a different kind of leadership that is exemplified at Pentecost and throughout the New Testament. We believe the Holy Spirit is poured out on the whole congregation and by discerning God's Spirit and his direction together we reflect more truly the nature of the Church and are able together to move directly into what he is calling us to become.
- Read all about it in our Leadership Voices
- If you are wondering about the icon, and why that one - read Brian's article in the Leadership Voices.
Distinctives Process: Stages
Some conversations are nice. Other conversations are difficult. The best conversations are transforming and sometimes they can be both nice and difficult. The conversation the Board is launching is one that we expect to be significant for us now and our future. This three month conversation is about clarifying our distinctives. Initially we used the word, "values" but we don't think that the word best captures what we are hoping to achieve. Values are generally understood as those convictions that each of us can choose and adopt as we deem best and useful. Distinctives, however, describe the character and identity that distinguishes us from something else. We believe our distinctives need to derive directly from God through his word as his Spirit guides us to live out his truths for our generation. As we clarify our distinctives they will serve powerfully to guide us as we articulate our vision and press into ministry.
We want you and need you to be part of this conversation. In the last year the Board and Senior Leadership crafted a set of eight distinctives that now serve as a starting point for our conversation. The process begins by including all interested and then narrows to just include official members of PCC and then narrows once again to just the Elders.
There are three stages. Study: a time for all to reflect, consider, weigh, sharpen, replace, add, subtract.... Synth(esize): a time for PCC members to bring the thoughts and ideas together. Scribe: a time to allow the Elders to finalize a set of distinctives.
There are three ways to be involved. Prayer: the process began with prayer and will continue in prayer. This is not our process but a process we ask the Spirit to shape and direct. Feedback: we will create a type of blog on our MYPCC group. We will also provide response forms to provide you opportunity to give your thoughts. Forums: We will host two different congregational forums and also invite groups (teams and small groups) to talk about the distinctives in their groups as it relates to them (Missions Team, Leadership Teams, Small Groups etc.).
Distinctives Process: Forums
The First Forum (March 7th) is now complete and attached for you to read and to consider.
Our next step is our Membership Forum set for March 28. It will be the same but different then the first Forum. The comments and insights from the First Forum will be digested and some suggestions will be proposed for the Membership to consider and think about. We still wish for people to discuss this material before the next forum in their groups and in their meetings.
A basic way to evaluate the document is to do the SWiM anaylsis: List strengths, weaknesses and modifications. You can send your comments to Pastor Jim who will collate the material. It was exciting to have a large group of people thinking seriously about PCC.
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