CESLM FAITH & VALUES STATEMENT
Faith Statement
- The Bible as the inspired, infallible, inerrant Word of God—the final authority in all matters of faith and conduct.
- One God—eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
- Jesus Christ—His deity, virgin birth, sinless life, vicarious death, burial, bodily resurrection; His ascension to the right hand of the Father and His personal future return in power and glory.
- The sinfulness of man and salvation by grace through faith in the shed blood of Christ.
- The present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life.
- The resurrection of the dead, the believer to life everlasting and the unbeliever to the resurrection of judgement.
- The support and participation in the task of fulfilling the Great Commission as an obligation of all believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Since we are an interdenominational society, we recognize there are other doctrines held by various Christian believers which they believe to be consistent with the above. However, such doctrines will not be incorporated except as approved by the Society.
Values Statement
FAITH FOCUS
- We will pray and seek God’s guidance for every major decision, being faithful to God in all our choices and actions.
- We will seek to bring glory to God as we obey His call to love our neighbours by addressing the needs of newcomers and the churches who work with them.
- We will be motivated by our faith in Jesus.
- We will make prayer an integral part of our meetings and activities.
- We will act with the fear of God in all aspects of our programs and services.
- We will operate as a faith-based organization that doesn’t shy away from Christ as the centre, but rather reaches out to others in His love.
- We will be open to change and growth as the Lord leads.
PROMOTING UNITY
- We will promote unity in the body of Christ as we build connections with all churches, denominations and community organizations serving newcomers.
- We will promote unity of believers and have an interdenominational focus.
- We will intentionally live out Jesus’ prayer for unity in John 17:20-23.
DECISIONS REFLECT MISSION AND VISION
- We will relate all programs to our mission and vision.
- We will contribute to each CESLM event which reflects our vision and mission and promote them to our networks.
- We will show respect for everyone’s opinion and point of view as we strive to serve all groups stated in our mission and vision.
SERVING THE BROADER COMMUNITY
- We will show God’s love as we network with those serving newcomers in the broader community.
- We will become a recognized resource for governments by providing excellent services and programs for those working with newcomers.
STEWARDS OF GOD’S RESOURCES
- We will intentionally be good stewards of the resources God supplies.
- We will accept the responsibility to recruit and promote CESLM in our churches and networks.
- We will seek key strategic thinkers with financial resources as we strive to become fully resourced.
- We will make our leadership’s growth a priority.
CONNECTING WITH LOCAL CHURCHES
- We will share our mission and vision with local churches, empowering them to reach out in love to newcomers.
- We will encourage and support local churches as they seek to connect newcomers with the community and the local church.
- We will accept people without discrimination in our services and programs.
SPIRIT OF EXCELLENCE
- We will train and mobilize Christian volunteers to reach out in love to newcomers.
- We will provide excellent training to churches and community organizations to help their volunteers facilitate ESL classes and other programs for newcomers.
- We will provide professional facilitators who share our mission and vision.