About Corpus Christi

Outline

Vision and Mission
Articles of Faith
Our Values
About the Eapens

Corpus Christi, in Latin, means ‘The Body of Christ.’

Vision and Mission

OUR VISION: We envision the full expression of the kingdom of God on earth in righteousness, peace, justice, joy, and love under the Lordship of Jesus Christ whose glory will be shared by the Church–the company of the redeemed from every tribe, tongue, people and nation.

OUR MANDATE: The risen Lord Jesus Christ received all power in heaven and on earth. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords.

He commanded his disciples to preach the good news to all the creatures and to make disciples of all nations. As disciples of Jesus, we seek to obey His royal commission to win and train new disciples in obedience to the King through our word and example.

OUR METHODS: We derive our methods from the two-fold Mandate we received from Jesus Christ.

First, we strive to communicate and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to all.
Second, we focus on making individual disciples perfect in Christ in the context of a local church, the family of God. The local church is a dynamic, organic, self-replicating body of disciples.

Articles of Faith

We believe …

The sixty six books of the Holy Bible, in their original form, are divinely inspired and they constitute a standard for life and teaching of the Church.
The One True God who has revealed himself in the Holy Bible; the One God is One divine Godhead of Three Persons—the Father, The Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God; born of virgin Mary, he lived a sinless life to offer his life as a ransom for sinful humanity destined for eternal destruction; he died, was buried, and rose again from the dead to be exalted above every other name and power as King of kings and Lord of lords; there is no other name by which humankind may be saved from their sins.
Salvation is a free gift of God available to anyone who, in repentance, places his/her trust in the atonement accomplished by the risen Saviour Jesus Christ. Salvation is the offer of eternal life in Jesus Christ; it includes forgiveness of sins, regeneration by the Holy Spirit, adoption into the family of God, deliverance from the effects of sin, and a commission to follow Jesus Christ in the power of His indwelling Spirit.
The Church of Jesus Christ is the universal fellowship of Christ’s followers—forgiven, regenerated people who live in active fellowship with God through Christ. Christ is the Head of this Body, which is the renewed “Israel” of God. She is the new humanity that Christ created to include people from all races and tribes. In its local expression, Church is a dynamic, organic family of Christians who are committed to each other; they meet frequently for worship, fellowship, and service.
- The Church is called to participate in God’s Mission.
- The primary calling of the Church is to glorify God in praise, worship, and through the display of God’s reign in their lives.
- All members of the Church are called to serve one another, like parts of the same Body, using manifold gifts of the Spirit, speaking the truth in love, till all reach unity of faith and spiritual maturity.
- They are also called to participate in God’s mission to save the world from sin, decay, and suffering through the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ and through service; God desires that no one should perish in unbelief. Jesus promised to supernaturally empower each of his followers with the baptism of the Holy Spirit to fulfill God’s mission.
Baptism in water, by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, is an ordinance established by the Lord Jesus for all who believe in Him. Those who believe in Christ and are baptized are born-again (born of water and the Spirit) as God’s children. They, thus, become members of God’s Church.
The Lord’s Supper is a meal of remembrance. “Do this in remembrance of me,” commanded Jesus. Jesus and the Twelve observed the fulfilled Passover in anticipation of the suffering and death that Jesus was about to endure. Christians must observe a fulfilled Passover meal to remember Jesus and the exodus He accomplished through His death. The Afikomen (unleavened bread) demonstrates the unity of the body of Christ, the Church (1 Cor 10:17); its unleavened state teaches us that the church should be free from sin (1 Cor 5:6-8).
The Lord Jesus Christ promised to come back to his apostles (John 14:3) before they exhausted all the cities of Judea while fleeing from persecution (Matthew 10:23). Accordingly, the apostles and the early church expected the Second Coming of the Lord in their lifetime (Matthew 16:27,28; 24:34; John 21: 22-23).
The blessed hope of Christians is that they will share the glory of Jesus Christ. They will be raised from the dead and transformed to inherit immortal, glorious bodies to be with the Lord forever.
The Final Judgment: Although God executes judgment at all times, He will judge all humanity—both dead and alive.

Our Values

We uphold the following values; we aim at instilling these in those entrusted to our care and in promoting these in the marketplace.

a. The Glory of God:

The promotion of the Glory of God and the honor of His church in the eyes of the world is our primary concern.
Interpersonal disputes between Christians are therefore best settled with the help of worthy Church leaders.
Integrity in moral, financial, legal, and related matters is vital.

b. The genetic unity of the human family:

All human beings belong to the family of Adam and Eve. We are one family.
It rules out any possibility for the accommodation of theories of human origin such as the theory of organic evolution or eastern theories of human origin that divide and stratify human beings.
It pulls the rug from beneath the promoters of racism and color based caste system. There is only one race: the human race.

c. Sexual Differentiation

Sexual Differentiation – that is, God’s creation of mankind as male and female – is divinely instituted and fundamental to human life.
Sexual Differentiation is expressed in heterosexual marriage and in differing yet complementary gender roles;
Homosexual practices do not have any place in God’s scheme of creation and are a sign of divine judgement. However, those who claim to have homosexual orientation deserves to be loved and cared for.

d. The Permanence and Sanctity of Monogamous Heterosexual Marriage

Human beings were created and designed for monogamous heterosexual marriage that reflect God’s faithful relationship with His covenant people. Promiscuous tendencies stem from human sinfulness.
Marriage is the only divinely sanctioned arena for the expression and fulfillment of human sexuality.
Divorce and remarriage should be permitted only on those grounds that the Scriptures endorse.

e. Biblical Patriarchy and Male Headship

Biblical patriarchy rests on the fatherhood of God, from whom all families in the world derive their being. God is our Father.
God created Adam in His image and likeness. That is, Adam was appointed to be God’s vice-regent on earth. Man “is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man” (1 Cor 11:7).
In the family and the Church – the only two divinely instituted bodies in the world – God has ordained men to lead with authority, wisdom, and compassion.
Male headship in the family and in the Church is a reflection of Christ’ headship over His Church.
Traditional gender roles for women – such as to “to marry, to have children, to manage their homes” (1Tim 5:15) while “being subject to their own husbands” (Titus 2:5) – are based on God’s created order. Any departure from the created order might discredit the gospel and playing into the hands of the adversary.

f. The Sanctity of Life

God is the Giver of life and the only One who has authority to take it back.
God has prohibited homicide and has ruled that any human or animal who kills a man/woman should be awarded capital punishment by the state.
The weakest link between human generations is the unborn child, the killing of which constitutes murder in the sight of God.

g. Human Worth:

Every individual is valuable in the sight of God.
Every individual has an intrinsic worth that is greater than the worth of the whole world.
Every individual deserves to hear and understand the gospel in his or her language.
A community is not more important than an individual member of the community. An individual’s interests should not be over-ruled by any interest of a community.
No human being should be treated as a commodity. No human should be enslaved or exploited. No human should be violated or tortured or treated in a de-humanizing manner.
Every man and woman has a God-given inalienable right to exercise freedom of choice and expression.
The individual is sovereign. The sovereignty of the state is derived from the collective mandate given by individuals who constituted that state or subscribe to its constitution. A state that tramples the sovereignty of the individual sins against God and the individual.

h. The Goodness of Creation:

We value God’s creation and the intrinsic goodness which God saw in it.
This includes the human body which should be honored as temples of the Holy Spirit. Reasonable and adequate care should be taken for the upkeep of our bodies. Under no circumstance should the body be used for evil, sinful activities or be submitted to intoxication or hypnotism.

i. The Path of Non-violence:

Non-vindictiveness and forgiveness in interpersonal relationships in order to make way for Divine Judgment

j. The Dignity of Work

God has decreed labor for all and therefore remunerative work is honorable for all, including elders in a church. All Christians are to aspire to gain financial freedom through honest labor (1 Thess. 4:10b-12). It is the duty of every Christian man to provide for his family (1Tim 5:8).
The Bible does not command a church to financially support its elders or pastors. Elders are commanded to work and earn money to support themselves and to help others in need (Acts 20:35). Only those whose calling require frequent traveling for the purpose of preaching the gospel are permitted to abstain from other remunerative work (1 Cor. 9:1-14; 1 Tim 5:17-18; 3 John 5-8).

Christians are commanded to share their resources, time, and energy with fellow Christians (Acts 2:44-45; Romans 12:13a; Gal 6:6; 1 Tim 6:17-19; Hebrews 13:16) and with anyone in need (Gal 6:10). Christians are commanded to practice hospitality, especially to itinerant preachers (Romans 12:13b; Heb. 13:2; 1 Peter 4:9; 3 John 5-8)

l. A Life of Faith and the Uncertain Tomorrow:

God in His wisdom has hidden the future from mankind except where He chooses to reveal matters through His Holy Spirit. We trust in God and walk by faith. We reject every human tendency to predict the future through the occult, astrology or other related means.

About the Eapens

I am a follower of The Way – the path inaugurated by the Lord Jesus Christ to His eternal Kingdom.

I’m married to Jessimol and we are blessed with three sons and a daughter.

I was born and raised in the state of Kerala, known as “God’s Own Country,” in a family that belonged to a very religious (yet mostly nominal) ‘Thomas Christian’ community. I was fortunate to have a godly father who led me to a personal relationship with Christ. At the age of 16, I mustered enough courage to go to a small band of poor and despised Pentecostal Christians to be baptized in water. That was a huge step because it marked my departure from a hoary episcopal community that baptize infants. God baptized me with the Holy Spirit and commissioned me to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.

I believe the world needs Jesus Christ more than anyone or anything else. Jesus Christ, the greatest Man who ever walked this earth offers us forgiveness of sins and access to God our Creator. He is exalted as the King of kings, ruling over everything seen and unseen. To be able to follow this King of kings is a sacred privilege. Every man, woman and child deserves a chance to make an informed choice about Jesus Christ.

Ever since, I served as a witness of Jesus Christ on various campuses, led local churches, taught seminarians, and ministered as an itinerant Bible teacher. By training, I’m an environmental scientist and a computer software professional. I’ve also worked as a teacher in one of the best international schools in India.

My life as a follower of Jesus has been a splendid adventure of faith sustained by God’s abundant grace and enriched by fellowship with several godly Christians. If you are one of those who have doubts about God or Jesus Christ, I suggest that you talk to God right now! God, in His love, will answer you and lead you to Him.

Philip Eapen