3.4 – How ACOP’s Beliefs Have Evolved

[Alissa Carlton]

Some current issues that may need to be addressed in the future are the trans community and the opportunity for one to transition at some point in their life. Another issue that may need to be addressed is asexuality as a personal expression and if we belive that is a valid expression in a Christian context

[Kevin]

While I appreciate succinctness of documents like this, it might be worthwhile adding one that deals with the sanctity of life (in rebuttal towards abortion) and gender identity (defending against the gender confusion & liquidity in our culture).

Perhaps something like:

15. In the sanctity and value of both human life and gender as God-given at birth

[Deleted User]

I think a current social issue that may need to be addressed in a future statement of Faith would be regarding mental health. I have heard people say things on either side when speaking about mental health: some people have said it is a demonic influenced thing, whereas others have said that it is a health condition that cannot be changed. Obviously there are flaws with both ends of this thinking. I think having in the statement of faith something to help frame the conversations church leaders have with people regarding mental health would be very helpful as this is such a prevalent issue today, and many do not know how to have helpful conversations with those struggling.

[Jaylen]

I think it is good to have ever-evolving statements of faith due to cultural changes. It would be important to distinctly communicate something that we believe might require a clear distinction because culture has moved in a direction to perhaps assume otherwise.
This would be pure speculation, but seeing where Canada is going as far as gender identity goes, we might have to come to a point where we explicitly state that we believe God has made us either male or female, and gender identity is not a matter of spectrum but it is solidified. Much more elegantly said than this, but you get my point. Perhaps even further down the road we might have to elaborate our statement surrounding issues with AI and incorporating AI into our bodies (neuro-link, etc).