Ecumenical

* Ecumenical - Promoting or relating to unity among the world’s Christian Churches.  Relating to or representing the whole of a body of churches, promoting or tending toward worldwide Christian unity.

DOCTRINAL IDENTITY

The substance of Cherokee Classical Christian’s Statement of Faith/Statement on Sanctity of Life, Marriage, and Sexuality is that which will be considered primary doctrine at the school. Beyond the primary doctrines articulated in the Statement of Faith/Statement on Sanctity of Life, we respect and acknowledge the primacy of local churches and families and refer any secondary doctrinal questions to local churches and parents (for example, sacraments, infant baptism, immersion baptism, transfiguration, etc.). Secondary or potentially divisive doctrines and issues will not be presented as primary doctrine.  We embrace the ecumenical historic tenets of the Western Christian churches (both Roman Catholic and Protestant) as articulated in the creeds of the early churches. It is mandatory that all board members, school administrators, school faculty and staff subscribe with unreserved acceptance to the Statement of Faith/Statement on Sanctity of Life, Marriage, and Sexuality and actively serve Christ under the authority of a local Christian church that is in essential agreement with this Statement of Faith/Statement on Sanctity of Life, Marriage, and Sexuality.

There are several key Bible verses which explain ecumenical, and these words have been built into the school’s foundation.

Love of Neighbor, the Greatest Commandment:  Leviticus 19:18  God said to Moses “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.  
This love was reiterated in the New Testament by Jesus in Mark 12:29-31 when he responded to one of the teachers of the law “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’   The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:29-31

Unity vs a Church divided over Leaders: I Corinthians 1:10, 12 Paul explained unity in Christ, “I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.  What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.”  

At Cherokee Classical Christian School we believe the focal point of all that is, has been, and ever will be is the person of Jesus Christ.

Christ’s Prayer for Unity of all Believers   Before Jesus entered the garden he prayed to be glorified, prayed for his disciples, and he prayed for all believers.  John 17:20-23  “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

** The word "catholic" in the statement of faith refers not to the Roman Catholic Church, but to the universal church of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

The Statement of Faith does not exhaust the extent of our beliefs. The Bible is the inspired and infallible Word of God that speaks with final authority concerning truth, morality, and the proper conduct of mankind along with Church Traditions (2 Thess 2:15; John 20:29-31; John 21:23-25). In our community churches the Protestant Bible has 66 books, and the Roman Catholic Bible has 73 books, but both share the same 39 Old Testament books and the 27 New Testament books. The Bible shares 5 Old Testament books with the Jewish Torah: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. For the purposes of Cherokee Classical Christian School’s doctrine, faith, practice, behavioral standards, policy, and discipline, our Board is the final interpretive authority on the Bible’s application. Statement of Faith is to be inclusive of the Statement on Sanctity of Life, Marriage, and Sexuality.