Declaration of Unity
Adopted by the NRB Board of Directors
February 6, 2009
Preamble
We, the members of the National Religious Broadcasters, acknowledging that our mutual relationships are rooted in the bond we share in Jesus Christ, reaffirm this day our devotion to the historic Christian faith and declare afresh our long-standing commitment to use every electronic medium available to proclaim the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Believing the days ahead to hold significant challenges but also providential opportunities, we rededicate ourselves to our high and holy calling, taking this opportunity to expressly affirm the faith “that was once for all entrusted to the Saints” (Jude 3) and to declare our unity of purpose in fulfilling the Great Commission given by our Savior and King. And in the strength of that unity, we commit ourselves to the declarations that follow.
Our Declaration
We proclaim the message of the Gospel as the central truth of the historic Christian faith – the good news that God has rescued sinful humanity through the death and bodily resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. All who repent of their sins and believe this Gospel are welcomed by God into a restored, eternal relationship with Him.
We profess that this “good news” of our redemption in Christ is what matters most to us. It defines who we are and supersedes everything else. It is for us to carefully and accurately represent this message in our culture, and we must do so in a way that exhibits kindness, compassion, humility, charity and grace.
We acknowledge that as Christian broadcasters, we bear a special responsibility in this area. We must never lose sight of the fact that our first priority as ambassadors for Christ is to speak about Him – to clearly articulate the Gospel message of redemption and reconciliation.
We recognize our holy obligation to boldly and creatively proclaim a Christ-centered Gospel, rather than a “man-centered” message.
We remember our responsibility to refrain from overly dwelling on secondary matters – those that tend to divide even the household of faith – focusing rather on the message of redemption wrought by Christ Jesus on the cross.
We embrace our calling to proclaim objective truth, as revealed in the Holy Scriptures, rather than overemphasizing subjective personal experience.
We confess that we fail in our high and holy calling when our proclamation of the Gospel is manifested in a way that is harsh, argumentative, or does not fully reflect the kindness, compassion and humility of Christ.
We affirm that our faith proclaims our ultimate citizenship in the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, yet we affirm our secondary citizenship in an earthly kingdom and will avail ourselves of our God-given rights and privileges inherent in that standing.
We declare our deeply held belief that religious liberty is the cornerstone of any truly free society and commit ourselves to work within the bounds of our nation’s laws to defend and preserve it.
We fully accept our charge to faithfully obey the command of Christ to preach the Gospel, even if human governments and institutions attempt to oppose, constrain, or prohibit it.