Negev Institute

The advisors, lecturers, and fellows with the Negev Institute come from a variety of Christian traditions; from traditional/liturgical, to charismatic, to broadly evangelical, and to church communities that live in the spaces between these histories and traditions.

Our desire is to create resources that can be utilized widely in different Christian communities, denominations, and networks, so we endeavor to approach our mission in ways where there can be wide agreement between different groups of believers, while also acknowledging that our work is driven by our core values.

Please know, that as we are invited into faith communities to speak on areas around social/behavioral health, we will work to be respectful of any particular doctrines of those communities, even when some doctrines may be divergent from the our own particular beliefs.

However, though the Negev Institute desires to be open-handed and charitable to all groups, we believe that there is value in clarity, so we will share below the common theological basis of the Institute's mission.

The Faith that Forms Us

As an organization, we are committed to the shared goals and views of confessing Christians; believing in the real and physical incarnation, birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus of Nazareth, a full and complete manifestation of humanity and divinity. And that this truth has meaningful and practical implications in how we should see our current lives, our histories, and our futures. 

We believe that all Christians are called to missional living that engages in the world, but also to remember that the world is not as it should be, and the work of the Church is to be the righteous vanguard of the kingdom to come, even though we do the work imperfectly.

In pursuing our goals as an institution to be both broadly ecumenical while staying committed in our belief that there are parameters of truth to be lived out through our thoughts, speech, and actions, the Negev Institute has adopted the following Statement of Faith, which has adapted from documents such as the National Association of Evangelicals Statement of Faith and the Lausanne Covenant. The core points of the following statement has been affirmed by more than 70 Christian denominations and thus represents a broad consensus among confessing Christians. Our full statement is as follows: 

• We accept the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament and the twenty-seven books of the New Testament universally acknowledged by the Church as Holy Scripture, as the inspired Word of God containing all things necessary for our salvation and as the final authority for all matters of faith and practice.  
• We fully accept the Nicene Creed, the Apostles’ Creed, and the Athanasian Creed as founded upon Holy Scripture and as expressing true faith and doctrine.
• We believe in one eternal and fully sovereign God in three co-eternal and co-equal Persons (the Trinity):  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
• We believe the eternal Son of God took on human flesh in the virgin birth of Jesus of Nazareth, fully God and fully man.  He lived a sinless life, was crucified, died, and was buried.  He rose again bodily from the dead and ascended into heaven where he now reigns at the right hand of the Father.  He will come again to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will never end. 
• We believe that all people, though created in the image of God, have been affected by the fall of Adam and Eve and by their own sins.  All are subject to death, sin, and the fallen powers, and all are estranged from God.  This condition is manifested in every aspect of our being:  body, mind, and spirit, in thought and word and deed.  If left unhealed, this condition leads to eternal separation from God.
• We believe that through the incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of God the Son, a way was made for the restoration of women and men to right relationship with God, and that this way through God the Son is the only way to be saved from the destruction of sin.  We believe that this salvation is an act of Divine Grace from God, and that it cannot be earned and that it is received by faith
• We believe that for the restoration of the relationship between God and humanity, and for the saving of all people, that regeneration of people by the Holy Spirit is of absolute necessity.
• We believe that the Holy Spirit has been with the community of Christians since the indwelling of the first Apostles of the Church on the day of Pentecost after the bodily accession of Jesus of Nazareth. And that the Holy Spirit has sustained the work of Church since that time, while also recognizing the continued need for repentance and forgiveness as the people of the Church continue to live in a fallen world and, corporately and individually, have not always lived righteously with each other nor with our neighbors.
• We believe in the continued ministry of the Holy Spirit to Christians in the present day, and we believe the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in Christians enables them to strive towards godly living and restoration of their relationships with God and their neighbors.
• We believe in the coming physical resurrection of all who have died, and that the Son of God will call those who are saved in His resurrection to eternal life with Himself, and He will make it so that He will be separated forever from those who are lost to His resurrection.  
• We believe and declare the spiritual unity of all believers in the Lordship of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, and the Son of God. The foretold Messiah of the prophets of Israel and the Word made fresh, creator of the universe and existent before all things. We believe that all disagreement between true believers in Christ will be entirely rectified under His lordship, be it in the current age of this world or in the fullness of His coming Kingdom. We believe that while disagreement among believers exist, that we should seek to manifest the Cardinal Virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance; so that the earthly witness of the Body of Christ should not be unduly diminished as we work towards the coming Kingdom of God.