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VOW
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On VOW and the Confessing Movement At its meeting of April 26, 2001, the VOW Board unanimously adopted the following statement. ". . . but in your hearts reverence Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence." (1 Peter 3: 15, RSV)From its formation, Voices of Orthodox Women has stood as a confessional network, calling the structures of the church to support women and men in declaring and living the faith entrusted to the saints. Our Statement of Faith has been central to our purpose and foundational to our communication to the church. Among our earliest web-postings as an organization was the simple statement "Here I Stand", a remembrance of Martin Luther's defense of the faith, along with a call to individual Presbyterians and particular churches to take a stand on conviction. The presence of a growing confessing movement within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) gives us a new opportunity to reiterate the firm conviction upon which we stand. With conscience held captive to the eternal Word of God, we unreservedly declare that Jesus Christ is the only Lord; that salvation is found in none other, yesterday, today and forever; and that the one sufficient revelation of this truth is the word of God written in Scripture. We encourage individuals, sessions, congregations
and presbyteries to engage in the task of identifying where they are prepared
to stand, under the sovereignty of the Triune God. Yet it is not enough
simply to endorse our Statement of Belief or the statements of others.
Rather, we are convinced that through such intentional declaring of the
faith, the ground of our theological connectedness will become clear. We
are certain that each such statement, whether or not it is subsequently
to be published, should be the result of faithful prayer and study. We
are of the firm conviction that we must continue the work of calling the
PC(U.S.A.) to faithful discipleship, in which all are to declare their
full trust in Jesus Christ as only savior and Lord and in the sufficiency
of Scripture for faith and for the living of a holy and sanctified life.
STATEMENT OF FAITH As Voices of Orthodox Women
In submission to the Scriptures,
In submission to Christ's Lordship over every
area of life,
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