EMERSON, STAMPS, AND SMITH: Catholicity says, “You swim in a different stream of Christianity than me, but instead of cutting you off, I want to learn from you where I can.”
EBC Manifesto, Article X: Creation and Redemption
Loving Wisdom Like the Early Church
What Can We Learn from the Ancient Church?
The Great Tradition and the New Normal
Integrating Patristic Voices In the Local Church
EBC Manifesto, Article IX: Means of Grace
MATTHEW Y. EMERSON AND R. LUCAS STAMPS: We affirm the two ordinances or sacraments instituted by Christ, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and believe that they function as signs and seals of God’s grace, expressions of individual faith, and bonds of the church’s covenantal unity in Christ. As such, these ordinances are not empty signs or mere symbols but tangibly demonstrate our union with the risen Christ and with his body, the church. Other Christian practices, such as confession of sin, confirmation in the faith, the ordination of church officers, Christian marriage, and the prayerful anointing of the sick may also frame a life of Christian faithfulness, but should not be considered sacraments.
