OUR PURPOSE

Promoting peace and reconciliation in relationships through biblical principles and the power of Christ

OUR CORE VALUES

The following acronym of PeaceWise describes our core values.  We aim to live out these values, not just state them!

Peace

We seek to be vehicles for God’s peace

Encouragement

We will be encouragers to the discouraged

Accountability

As the church has been granted the ministry of reconciliation, we promote mutual accountability within the body of believers

Christ

Christ is our hope and motivation for helping others with conflict

Example

We strive to live out what we teach about peacemaking

Wisdom

As the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, we ground all that we do in prayer as we seek God leading and direction

Integrity

We are open, honest and honour our commitments

Scripture

The Bible is our fully sufficient guidebook for all matters of faith and human behaviour

Empowerment

God’s Holy Spirit empowers us as we seek to serve others

OUR STATEMENT OF FAITH

This statement reflects a contemporary summary of the central doctrines in the Bible, which are also presented in the historic creeds of the Christian church.

• The Bible is God’s unique revelation to people. It is the inspired, infallible Word of God, and the supreme and final authority on all matters upon which it teaches. No other writings are vested with such divine authority.

• There is only one God, creator of heaven and earth, who exists eternally as three persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each fully God yet each personally distinct from the other.

• All people are created in God’s image and matter deeply to Him. Central to the message of the Bible is that God loves people, and invites them to live in communion with Himself and in community with each other.

• Apart from Jesus Christ, all people are spiritually lost and, because of sin, deserve the judgment of God. However, God gives salvation and eternal life to anyone who trusts in Jesus Christ and in His sacrifice on his or her behalf. Salvation cannot be earned through personal goodness or human effort. It is a gift that must be received by humble repentance and faith in Christ and His finished work on the cross.

• Jesus Christ, second Person of the Trinity, was born of the Virgin Mary, lived a sinless human life, willingly took upon Himself all of our sins, died and rose again bodily, and is at the right hand of the Father as our advocate and mediator. Some day, He will return to consummate history and to fulfill the eternal plan of God.

• The Holy Spirit, third Person of the Trinity, convicts the world of sin and draws people to Christ. He also indwells all believers. He is available to empower them to lead Christ-like lives, and gives them spiritual gifts with which to serve the church and reach out to a lost and needy world.

• Death seals the eternal destiny of each person. At the final judgment, unbelievers will be separated from God into condemnation. Believers will be received into God’s loving presence and rewarded for their faithfulness to Him in this life.

• All believers are members of the body of Christ, the one true church universal. Spiritual unity is to be expressed among Christians by acceptance and love of one another across ethnic, cultural, socio-economic, national, generational, gender, and denominational lines.

• The local church is a congregation of believers who gather for worship, prayer, instruction, encouragement, mutual accountability, and community with each other. Through it, believers invest time, energy, and resources to fulfilL the Great Commission — reaching lost people and growing them into fully devoted followers of Christ.

OUR RELATIONAL COMMITMENTS

PeaceWise staff and volunteers commit to the principles of Christian relationship found in the Bible in all our relationships.

In particular, we commit, with the help of the Holy Spirit

• to walk together in Christian love with all people who work within or for PeaceWise;

• to seek to support the work of PeaceWise and Christian peacemaking as we are able;

• to address matters of conflict in a biblical and godly manner consistent with the principles for peacemaking that are promoted by PeaceWise; and

• if it is possible, as far as it depends on us, to live at peace with everyone (Romans 12:18).