Our Statement of Faith: Guiding Our Mission

One challenge facing the Christian communities all over the world is that of maintaining unity (which is clearly Jesus’ prayer in John 17:21-24) in the midst of various Christian doctrines and biblical interpretations.  There is a well-known quote: “In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity”. 

The challenge is how we define the essentials of the Gospel and the non-essentials of the Christian faith and biblical doctrines.  In the real world of today, true Christians might even disagree on what are the essentials.  Yet as per Jesus’ prayer, we are called and commanded to be united.

The Christian English School of Torino has developed a proposed “Statement of Faith”. This statement of faith includes the essential elements of the faith in the context of our current world and culture.  Some items (such as statements on marriage and sexuality) may not be essential to the Gospel, but are deemed to be very important for a biblically-oriented Christian school in today’s culture, and are, therefore, included in our Statement of Faith.

The CES-to’s “Statement of Faith” defines the core biblical doctrines and standards of the school.  CES-to is by choice a non-denominational school with desires to attract families from many different Christian churches, enrolling students and hiring faculty and staff of varied Christian denominations.  We affirm that the responsibility for instructing students in denominational differences which are outside the Statement of Faith, resides primarily with their parents, and secondarily with their local church.