I call that church free which enters into covenant with the
ultimate source of existence,
That sustaining and transforming power not made with human
hands.
It binds together families and generations, protecting
against the idolatry of any human claim to absolute truth or authority.
This covenant is the charter and responsibility and joy of
worship in the face of death as well as life.
I call that church free which brings individuals into a
caring, trusting fellowship,
That protects and nourishes their integrity and spiritual
freedom; that yearns to belong to the church universal;
It is open to insight and conscience from every source; it
bursts through rigid tradition, giving rise to new and living language, to
new and broader fellowship.
It is a pilgrim church, a servant church, on an adventure of
the spirit.
The goal is the prophethood and priesthood of all believers,
the one for the liberty of prophesying, the other for the ministry of
healing.
It aims to find unity in diversity under the promptings of
the spirit "that blowth where it listeth...and maketh all things new.
Adapted from the postscriptum of the book
" The Prophethood of All Believers " by James Luther Adams