We value relationships at Cornerstone Neighbourhood Church. We desire to build bridges of relationship which bear the weight of God’s truth. We live in a time when it is quite likely that someone will want to know the way in which we support relationships at our church, especially as they impact marriage, sexuality, and gender. Because of the immense importance the Bible places upon marriage, Cornerstone has a passion for the sanctity and permanence of marriage. It was God’s idea from the beginning of time for a man and woman to unite their lives as one. And God very wisely warns couples not to unite if they do not share spiritual values, such as a personal relationship with Him.
Basic to this is our understanding from Colossians 1:16, “Everything was created through [Jesus] and for Him.” Consequently, Christians are not called to the hyper-autonomy of our age. Rather, we are told, “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.” (I Corinthians 6:19-20) Practically, we believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman.
As followers of Jesus, we believe that God is the originator and designer of marriage, that He has communicated His design through the Bible, and that His design is binding on how we define and practice marriage. We are aware that such marriage relationships are being challenged by our culture. However, in our family of Baptist churches across Canada we believe marriage is reserved for the formalized, covenant relationship between one man and one woman who commit themselves through legal declaration to exclusive, intimate companionship and sexual union with the intention of permanence.
We believe that God wonderfully and wisely created each person as male or female. These two distinct, complementary genders together reflect the image and nature of God (Genesis 1:26-27). Since marriage is to be exclusive to the union between a man and a woman, our God-given gender does matter. Males and females are given distinct, complementary characteristics that reflect the image and nature of the God who made them. We believe that the rejection of one’s biological gender is a rejection of the image of God within that person.
We believe that all human life is sacred and created by God in His image. Human life is of inestimable worth in all its dimensions, including pre-born babies, the elderly, the physically or mentally challenged, and every other stage or condition from conception through natural death. It is our responsibility as followers of Jesus to defend, protect, and value all human life (Psalm 139).
Because all people are loved by God and made in His image, every person must be afforded compassion, love, kindness, respect, and dignity (Mark 12:28-31; Luke 6:31) regardless of their gender, race, background, or sexual orientation. Hateful and harassing behavior or attitudes directed toward any individual do not reflect a biblical standard or the culture of Cornerstone. They will not be tolerated in our community of faith. This means that we would not affirm someone for leadership in our church family who is actively living contrary to these beliefs. Our goal is to live according to II Corinthians 5:15 (NLT), “[Jesus] died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.”