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What are we about?
We're for Guildford Diocese
We're for Evangelicalism
We're for Fellowship
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Our Vision
Our hope is that all people across Guildford Diocese have the opportunity to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and trust in Him as Lord and Saviour.
We believe that Jesus is living and reigning, that His words are more precious than gold, and that He offers us a life and identity that will never ever spoil or fade.
We meet altogether two or three times a year at our Open Meetings primarily to remind one another of those key truths. These meetings provide the perfect space for us to pray with one another, share genuine fellowship, and hear stories about what God is doing all around our diocese. We seek to make the Open Meetings inspiring inviting a wide variety of speakers to speak on a wide variety of topics, but the chief hope is that this space acts as a network and offers a fruitful resource for Christians within the diocese to commit to evangelism and continue to trust the orthodox faith professed in the historic creeds.
Our committee, made up of both clergy and laity, sign the CEEC Basis of Faith (displayed to your right) at every committee meeting they attend. And our committee represent a healthy breadth of evangelicalism with ties to CPAS, New Wine, Church Society, Fulcrum and HTB, to name but a few.
Our Open Meetings are open to all, both clergy and laity, those with evangelical sympathies and those without.
Behind the scenes our committee work hard to support our diocesan bishops in their sterling work, and seek to enable evangelicals to engage within the structure and life of the diocese and the wider Church of England.
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THE CEEC BASIS OF FAITH
The Basis of Faith of the Council shall be:
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As members of the Church of England within the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church we affirm the faith uniquely revealed in the holy Scriptures and set forth in the catholic creeds, of which the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion are a general exposition. Standing in the Reformation tradition we lay especial emphasis on the grace of God - his unmerited mercy - as expressed in the doctrines that follow.
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God as the Source of Grace - In continuity with the teaching of Holy Scripture and the Christian creeds, we worship one God in three persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God has created all things, and us in his own image: all life, truth, holiness and beauty come from him. His Son Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man, was conceived through the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, was crucified, died, rose and ascended to reign in glory.
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The Bible as the Revelation of Grace - We receive the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments as the wholly reliable revelation and record of God's grace, given by the Holy Spirit as the true word of God written. The Bible has been given to lead us to salvation, to be the ultimate rule for Christian faith and conduct, and the supreme authority by which the Church must ever reform itself and judge its traditions.
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The Atonement as the Work of Grace - We believe that Jesus Christ came to save lost sinners. Though sinless, he bore our sins, and their judgement, on the cross, thus accomplishing our salvation. By raising Christ bodily from the dead, God vindicated him as Lord and Saviour and proclaimed his victory. Salvation is in Christ alone.
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The Church as the Community of Grace - We hold that the Church is God's covenant community, whose members, drawn from every nation, having been justified by grace through faith, inherit the promises made to Abraham and fulfilled in Christ. As a fellowship of the Spirit manifesting his fruit and exercising his gifts, it is called to worship God, grow in grace, and bear witness to him and his Kingdom. God's Church is one body and must ever strive to discover and experience that unity in truth and love which it has in Christ, especially through its confession of the apostolic faith and in its observance of the dominical sacraments.
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The Sacraments as the Signs of Grace - We maintain that the Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion proclaim the Gospel as effective and visible signs of our justification and sanctification, and as true means of Gods grace to those who repent and believe. Baptism is the sign of forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Spirit, new birth to righteousness and entry into the fellowship of the People of God. Holy Communion is the sign of the living, nourishing presence of Christ through his Spirit to his people: the memorial of his one, perfect, completed and all -sufficient sacrifice for sin, from whose achievement all may benefit but in whose offering none can share; and an expression of our corporate life of sacrificial thanksgiving and service.
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Ministry as the Stewardship of Grace - We share, as the People of God, in a royal priesthood common to the whole Church, and in the community of the Suffering Servant. Our mission is the proclamation of the Gospel by the preaching of the word, as well as by caring for the needy, challenging evil and promoting justice and a more responsible use of the world's resources. It is the particular vocation of bishops and presbyters, together with deacons, to build up the body of Christ in truth and love, as pastors, teachers, and servants of the servants of God.
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Christ's Return as the Triumph of Grace - We look forward expectantly to the final manifestation of Christ's grace and glory when he comes again to raise the dead, judge the world, vindicate His chosen and bring his Kingdom to its eternal fulfillment in the new heaven and the new earth.
Additional Declarations
(Taken from the Constitution)
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(4.1.1.) We gladly proclaim and submit to the unique and universal Lordship of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, humanity’s only Saviour from sin, judgement and hell, who lived the life we could not live and died the death that we deserve. By his atoning death and glorious resurrection, he secured the redemption of all who come to him in repentance and faith.
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(4.1.2.) We acknowledge God’s creation of humankind as male and female and the unchangeable standard of Christian marriage between one man and one woman as the proper place for sexual intimacy and the basis of the family. We repent of our failures to maintain this standard and call for a renewed commitment to lifelong fidelity in marriage and abstinence for those who are not married.