Kansas City Statement of Faith
The Kansas City Statement of Faith ( dt. : Creed of Kansas City) in 1913 at a meeting of the National Council Congregational Churches of the USA in Kansas City accepted.
In the preamble the creed is placed in the tradition of earlier creeds of the universal church and the congregational congregations.
It is divided into three parts:
- Faith ( Faith ): includes a commitment to the Trinity and to follow the will of God. In addition to the proclamation of the Gospel, the mission of the Christian Church also includes the contribution to the advancement of human knowledge, justice, peace and brotherhood among men.
- Organization ( Polity ): The individual believer is granted individual freedom, responsibility and the right to judge himself; the congregations are granted autonomy and independence from the control of a church hierarchy.
- Against Fellowship : contains the commitment to the catholicity of the Church of Christ and the desire for unity of all Christians in the words of the Gospel of John ( John 17:21 LUT ).
The authors of the Confession wanted to give the Christian faith of the congregationalists an expression tailored to the needs of their time. In view of the international tensions that preceded World War I , the references to the realm of peace were particularly accentuated. The text combines features of the creeds of the early Church , whose successors the congregationalists saw themselves, with the Puritans ' conviction that God controls human history and will lead them into a realm of justice, communion and peace.
Today the creed belongs to the creed of the United Church of Christ and independent congregational congregations.