The Christian and Missionary Alliance is part of the larger community of evangelical Christians. The articles in our Statement of Faith reflect a doctrinal correspondence to other evangelical Statements of Faith.  Evangelicals hold strongly to the truth of the Deity of Christ; the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture; salvation through faith in Christ, who made atonement for our sins by His death; and the Second Coming of Christ.

Over one hundred years ago, God gave Dr. Simpson, our founder, two distinct emphases for the Alliance that were not underscored in main-line churches, namely, the deeper Christian life and world evangelization.  These are the two core values of our denomination.

Dr. Simpson spoke of the “all-sufficiency" of Christ, and summed up this truth in what he spoke of as "The Four-fold Gospel" -- Christ, our Savior; Christ, our Sanctifier; Christ, our Healer; and Christ, our Coming King.  This slogan has become the essence of our "deeper life" message.  It presents our Lord Jesus Christ as sufficient for our salvation from past guilt and condemnation; sufficient to enable us to live holy (sanctified) lives; sufficient for our physical health and healing, and whose second coming we anticipate.

This message is summed up in two of Dr. Simpson's well-known gospel songs, "Himself" and "Jesus Only". They are descriptive not only of a "full Gospel", but also of A.B. Simpson's personal testimony of discovering the centrality of Christ -- sufficient for body, soul, and spirit.

Christ, Our Savior

Through His death and resurrection, our Lord Jesus has made full atonement for our sins; through faith in Him, we are pardoned and treated as though we had never sinned (justification).  We are saved from the sinner’s guilt and condemnation.

Christ, Our Sanctifier

We need to understand more fully what is meant by “the deeper Christian life”.  It encompasses more than receiving the Lord Jesus as the One who, by His death on the cross, saves us from eternal death.  The deeper Christian life involves a second step, sometimes called sanctification.  Sanctification means separation.  Throughout the Bible, those who are “filled with the Spirit” are separated from the world and worldly thinking and are also separated unto God and a holy life.

Perhaps the following analogy illustrates this process:

We have all had the chance to witness the launching of a rocket into orbit.  Many of us have been glued to our television screens with anticipation and awe from the time the countdown begins until the craft takes off  5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1.  

What is actually taking place is much more intricate than meets the eye.  There are several stages that take place before the spacecraft is set into orbit.  The first phase is the firing phase -- this is when we see the flames surround the base of the craft, the support structures fall and the white, billowing smoke cloud the craft from view.  Nothing can be heard above the noise that is made during this initial stage.  The main goal of this phase is to develop enough thrust for the spacecraft to break free of earth’s gravitational pull.  At a subsequent stage, the rockets fire one more time to lock the vehicle into its new orbit.  During this critical stage the booster rockets are jettisoned from the spacecraft, and from this point on, it appears that the craft is moving without any external power source.  

This process can be likened to our spiritual transformation.  Just like the firing stage, at conversion we “break free” from earth’s pull.  We are no longer living by the world’s standards and demands.  But that alone is not sufficient.  We need the second touch of the Holy Spirit to get “locked in” to this new pattern of behavior and to help us walk through the deep valleys we may be asked to endure.  In this final stage, just as the craft appears to move without external force, we too no longer obey an external set of rules; our lives are shaped by the Holy Spirit living in us.

The “deeper Christian life” is a Christ-like life, lived out day by day in the power of the Holy Spirit, who is the gift of the risen and exalted Christ to His people.  We believe, first, that it is possible for believers not only to be “born again” of the Holy Spirit, but to be “filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18).  Having surrendered him/herself to the Lordship of Christ, the believer is now able to ask Christ to fill him or her with the Spirit, and to receive the Spirit by faith.  Everyone who has ever been filled with the Spirit knows they have been filled.  This is both a crisis and progressive experience.

We believe, secondly, that having experienced what our “Statement of Faith” calls the crisis of being filled (see Article 7), it is necessary to “walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16).  This involves our continually making two choices in life: (1) to “put to death” the deeds of the flesh by the power of the Spirit of Christ (Galatians 5:19-21, Romans 8:13, Colossians 3:5), and (2) to yield ourselves moment by moment to Christ, asking Him to produce in us the “fruit of His Spirit” (Galatians 5:22,23).

This life, lived under the control of the Spirit is summed up beautifully in Alfred C. Snead’s prayer hymn, “Fully Surrendered”. The last verse says it all:

Fully surrendered -- Lord I am Thine;
Fully surrendered, Savior divine!
Live Thou Thy life in me;
All fullness dwells in Thee;
Not I, but Christ in me,
Christ all in all.

Not only does the “deeper life’’ mean a life of increased holiness (Christ-likeness), but it is also a life empowered by the Spirit for ministry.  Spirit-filled Christians are enabled to bear witness to Christ in the marketplace (Acts 1:8), and to minister to the body of Christ through the gifts that the Spirit imparts to them (1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12:5-8).

Christ, Our Healer

We believe that in the redemption purchased by Christ Jesus, there is provision made for our physical health and healing.  Such passages as Isaiah 53:4,5 and Matthew 8:17 teach us that our Lord Jesus bore not only our sins, but our sicknesses in His death on the cross. God is not only interested in our souls, but in our “whole person”.

In James 5:14-16 there is made available to the sick the privilege of anointing with oil in the name of the Lord for healing.  Those who wish this ministry are instructed to “call for the elders of the church”.  At that time, sins are to be confessed and the prayer of faith is offered.  This does not preclude the wise use of medicines prescribed by a physician.

Christ, Our Coming King

We affirm that our Lord Jesus will return to earth in a literal, visible and pre-millennial coming (see Revelation 20).  Immediately following our Lord’s ascension, the angel assured the disciples, “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you in heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11).  This is our “blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13).

Many evangelical people believe that our Lord will return before “the great tribulation” to “rapture” His church out of the world.  Others believe that Christ will come after the great tribulation.  The Alliance does not take an official stand on this particular matter, choosing rather to simply emphasize the truth that Christ will indeed return.

The second coming of Christ is both an incentive for holy living (1 John 3:2,3) and an impetus for evangelism.

The commitment of the Alliance does not stop with the deeper life.  The second “core value” of the C&MA is our commitment to evangelize the world.  “Why”, you might ask, “do we have these two core values?  Why does the Alliance place unique importance on these two aspects of the Christian life?”

The Key Connection

The answers to the above questions are found when we look at how these two core values are related.   Dr. Arnold Cook, president of The Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada, writes, “If we are going to continue to provide a full Gospel for the world . . . we must rediscover the dynamic link between the teaching of the deeper life and Missions.”  He continues, 

Organizations committed to dual goals are usually doomed to gravitate toward emphasizing one over the other.  For example, many good organizations have begun with established goals of evangelism and social action.  Through time they invariably drift toward doing primarily social action.  The Christian and Missionary Alliance has reached its Centennial with a strong missionary thrust.  As a missionary denomination, we continue to adhere to the work of the Holy Spirit in sanctification.  Why have we escaped the fate of dual purpose movements?  The answer is found . . . in the fact that they are not two -- but one.  The Holy Spirit was sent to empower the Church for missions (Acts 1:8)

The danger lies in our tendency to look upon these values as being independent of each other, arbitrarily chosen by our denomination because we needed to have a “focus”.

Rather, these two dimensions of our heritage sustain each other.  Without an emphasis on the full experience of Christ through the work of the Spirit, the missionary task becomes nothing more than human effort in the face of insurmountable obstacles. And without a commitment to proclamation and service, a focus on the deeper life becomes inordinately introspective, losing an essential outward orientation of service to and in the world.  The missionary task must be informed by the deeper life; similarly, the deeper life is incomplete and inauthentic without expression in service.

The Precursor to Missions

A further connection can be made between the deeper life and world evangelization, that is, one directly flows out of the other.  Tozer, in his book entitled "Of God And Men", writes, 

“The popular notion that the first obligation of the church is to spread the gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth is false.  Her first obligation is to be spiritually worthy to spread it.  Our Lord said, ‘Go ye,’ but He also said, ‘Tarry ye,’ and tarrying had to come before going.  Had the disciples gone forth as missionaries before the day of Pentecost, it would have been an overwhelming spiritual disaster, for they could have done no more than make converts after their own likeness, and this would have altered for the worse the whole history of the Western world and had consequences throughout the ages to come.”
    
Thus, the deeper life is a precursor to missionary work.  After all, what is missions?  It is human response to the call of God on our lives, and human activity under the authority and empowerment of the Spirit of God.  The deeper life is one that is touched by this same Spirit.  He dwells in us and fills us with a passion to lead others to a knowledge of that same indwelling.  Our passion for missions is directly proportional to the depth of our own walk with God, since the closer we walk with Him, the greater our desire to see others come to Him.

Missions is the outflow of the deeper life.  Without expression in proclamation and service, emphasis on the deeper life becomes introspective and individualistic.  The deeper life, to truly be the deeper life, must have a definitive orientation towards service.  If we experience the fullness of Christ in our inner life, it will assuredly find expression in the service of Christ in the church and in the world.

The Motivation for Missions

The deeper life should be the driving force behind our missions focus.  We tend to look apathetically and coldheartedly at the world around us.  However, when we are filled with the Spirit and are living the deeper Christian life, our perspective changes as we are transformed by the Spirit into the likeness of Christ.  Then we are able to see the world through His eyes and not our own.  We are able to have a genuine concern for the souls of those who are lost, not only within our own culture and neighborhood, but those of other nations and walks of life.

Why we do something is just as important, if not more important, than what we do.  Those involved in missionary work, either on the field or through support, may not necessarily be doing so for the right reasons.  The attention that comes with the life of a missionary can often be a strong attraction  as can the thought of living in a new country, which has the apparent thrill of adventure.  The proper motivation for missionary service comes only as the Spirit  works in our lives and places a genuine love for others in our hearts.  Therefore, the motivation for missions is found in the deeper life.

The Goal of Missions

Not only does missions flow out of the deeper life, but missions has as its goal the deeper life. Many of us are under the assumption, whether consciously or not, that the job of a missionary is done when conviction, repentance and conversion have taken place.  This is certainly a component of missions, but it goes a step further.  The task of missionary service is not complete at the point of conversion.  Missions involves proclaiming the gospel and discipling those who respond to the message they hear.  It is the process of leading new believers along the path towards a mature walk with God so they, too, experience and continue to live the deeper life.  The goal of missions is the deeper life!