Mizpah Declaration

​Adopted at Reclaiming Africa for Christ

Biblical Worldview Summit

42 Articles of the Essentials of a Christian Worldview

Delegates from as far afield as Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, from all over South Africa, and from France and the USA participating in the Reclaiming Africa for Christ Biblical Worldview Summit at Mizpah near Cape Town, South Africa, adopted The 42 Articles of the Essentials of a Christian Worldview.
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This document, The Essentials of a Christian Worldview, incorporates 2,000 years of the Church’s orthodox, historically accepted theology and touches on a full range of theological and philosophical points necessary to outline the Biblical Worldview. It has been described as one of the most detailed, comprehensive, yet concise statement of the Biblical Worldview yet produced.

​The 42 Articles of Affirmation and Denial on The Essentials of a Christian Worldview is the result of many years work by the Coalition on Revival, a network of Evangelical leaders who share a vision for, and a commitment to, Revival, renewal and Reformation in both Church and society.
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The Christian Action Network is affiliated to the Coalition on Revival and has adopted The 42 Articles of the Essentials of a Christian Worldview. The Christian Action Network includes 57 member organisations, missions and ministries committed to the fulfilment of the Great Commission, and to Reformation and Revival.

Member ministries and associates of the Christian Action Network are in Burundi, Cameroon, the Congo, Kenya, Ghana, Liberia, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The 42 Articles of the Essentials of a Christian Worldview cover the Nature of God, the Nature of the Universe, the Nature of Truth, the Nature of True Values, the Nature of Authority, the Nature of Salvation, the Nature of Human Government and the Nature and Purpose of History.

It is most timely and appropriate that these 42 Articles of a Christian Worldview have been adopted at the Reclaiming Africa for Christ Biblical Worldview Summit. Christian leaders dedicated to missions and Reformation, from all over Africa, prayerfully considered and enthusiastically adopted these articles. The Essentials of a Christian Worldview will be invaluable Spiritual and intellectual ammunition in the World War of Worldviews raging in all too many colleges, seminaries and universities today.

It provides a powerful Bible-based response to the onslaught of Humanism which is threatening many aspects of our churches and family life today.

You can click here to view the 42 Articles of the Essentials of a Christian Worldview on the www.christianaction.org.za website. Following are several extracts from the Mizpah Declaration:

1.  We affirm that there is only one living God who is infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible, and absolutely distinct from His creation...
2.  We affirm that the entire universe, including all finite beings, was created by God out of nothing (ex nihilo)...
3. We affirm that man as a rational and moral being is ultimately responsible and accountable to God.
We deny that man's moral actions are determined genetically or environmentally, or that his responsibility is limited to himself or society.
4. We affirm that because of man's rebellion against God, both he and his environment exist in a corrupted state and stand under the condemnation of God.
We deny that either man or the world in their present corrupted state may be perfected by natural or human agencies alone...
5.  We affirm that God is the ultimate author of all truth.
We deny that man can be the ultimate author and determiner of truth.
6.We affirm that truth is objective, absolute and ultimately non-contradictory
We deny any view that reduces truth to a purely relative, subjective, experiential, or a paradoxical status.
7.  We affirm truth to be that which corresponds to and accurately describes and explains reality...
8.  We affirm that God is the source of all right and just values and that they reflect His moral character.
We deny that true values are ultimately derived from man or any other finite source.
9.  We affirm that the basis of all true values are objective and absolute.
We deny that the basis of all true values is merely subjective, relative, or cultural.
10.  We affirm that true values are determined by God and merely discovered by man.
We deny that it is legitimate for man to create his own true values on either the personal or societal level...
11.  We affirm that the ultimate source of authority is God.
We deny that man has the authority to create his own moral standards.
12.  We affirm that God has expressed His authority to His creatures in general revelation and most clearly and fully in special revelation.
We deny that human society, culture, or consensus is a legitimate basis for man's moral conduct.
13.  We affirm that God in his general revelation, through the works of creation and the consciences of men, has revealed His eternal power and deity with His moral law in the hearts of all men, even though they in their corrupted state suppress this truth in unrighteousness...
14.  We affirm that God's normative, special revelation is expressed in and limited to His authoritative, inerrant, written Word, the Bible, which is the final bar of appeal in all matters of faith and life and stands in judgment over all reason, revelation, and experience...
15.  We affirm that the laws of man must be based upon the laws of God.
We deny that the laws of man have any inherent authority of their own or that their ultimate authority is rightly derived from or created by man.
16.  We affirm that God alone is the source of man's salvation.
We deny that man can initiate or attain his own salvation.
17.  We affirm that Jesus Christ, the God-Man, by virtue of His perfect life, His substitutionary, atoning death, and His bodily resurrection, is the only Mediator between a Holy God and sinful man.
We deny that man can achieve salvation by means of secular education, social programs, political action, genetic engineering, psychology, or self realization, or by any other means...
18.  We affirm that God has established a multiplicity of human governments such as individual, familial, ecclesiastical, and civil.
We deny that any form of human government (or ruler) has valid authority from any source but God or that any human government has either absolute or complete jurisdiction over all other governments.
19.  We affirm that the Sovereign God is providentially directing the course of human history and that the saving purposes of God in Christ are accomplished within the same history...
20.  We affirm that the purpose and meaning history is to bring praise and glory to God and abundant life to His children.
21.  We affirm that the consummation of history is the final triumph of God over all death and evil and their consequences, and its ultimate goal is the manifestation of the glory of God.

The full 42 Articles of the Essentials of a Christian Worldview can be viewed on www.christianaction.org.za or on the website of the International Church Council: www.churchcouncil.org or on the website of the Coalition on Revival: www.reformation.net.

“If My people, who are called according to My Name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from Heaven, I will forgive their sin and I will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14

For further information contact: International Co-ordinator of the Christian Action Network Taryn Hodgson on 072-215-4801 or (021) 689-4480, E-mail: [email protected]; or write to: Christian Action Network, P.O. Box 23632, Claremont, 7735, Cape Town, South Africa.