What We Believe

Our History:

Our denomination, the Presbyterian Church

(U.S.A.), formed in 1983 by unifying two of the largest Presbyterian

denominations at the time. There was a plan for a statement of faith to be

drafted for the “Plan of Reunion” called “A Brief Statement of Faith.” This

statement of faith unites us all as one, universal church and lifts up the

concerns that urgently calls upon the church then and now.

A Brief Statement of Faith, 1983

“In life and in death we belong to God. Through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, we trust in the one triune God, the Holy One of Israel, whom alone we worship and serve.

We trust in Jesus Christ, Fully human, fully God. Jesus proclaimed the reign of God: preaching good news to the poor and release to the captives, teaching by word and deed and blessing the children, healing the sick and binding up the brokenhearted, eating with outcasts, forgiving sinners, and calling all to repent and believe the gospel. Unjustly condemned for blasphemy and sedition, Jesus was crucified, suffering the depths of human pain and giving his life for the sins of the world. God raised this Jesus from the dead, vindicating his sinless life, breaking the power of sin and evil, delivering us from death to life eternal.

We trust in God, whom Jesus called Abba, Father. In sovereign love God created the world good and makes everyone equally in God’s image male and female, of every race and people, to live as one community. But we rebel against God; we hide from our Creator. Ignoring God’s commandments, we violate the image of God in others and ourselves, accept lies as truth, exploit neighbor and nature, and threaten death to the planet entrusted to our care. We deserve God’s condemnation. Yet God acts with justice and mercy to redeem creation. In everlasting love, the God of Abraham and Sarah chose a covenant people to bless all families of the earth. Hearing their cry, God delivered the children of Israel from the house of bondage. Loving us still, God makes us heirs with Christ of the covenant. Like a mother who will not forsake her nursing child, like a father who runs to welcome the prodigal home, God is faithful still.

We trust in God the Holy Spirit, everywhere the giver and renewer of life. The Spirit justifies us by grace through faith, sets us free to accept ourselves and to love God and neighbor, and binds us together with all believers in the one body of Christ, the Church. The same Spirit who inspired the prophets and apostles rules our faith and life in Christ through Scripture, engages us through the Word proclaimed, claims us in the waters of baptism, feeds us with the bread of life and the cup of salvation, and calls women and men to all ministries of the church. In a broken and fearful world the Spirit gives us courage to pray without ceasing, to witness among all peoples to Christ as Lord and Savior, to unmask idolatries in Church and culture, to hear the voices of peoples long silenced, and to work with others for justice, freedom, and peace. In gratitude to God, empowered by the Spirit, we strive to serve Christ in our daily tasks and to live holy and joyful lives, even as we watch for God’s new heaven and new earth, praying, “Come, Lord Jesus!”

With believers in every time and place, we rejoice that nothing in life or in death can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

Presbyterian FAQs

What is the order or shape of worship? What are the primary actions?

The Presbyterian Book of Common Worship describes a four-fold shape of worship, consisting of (1) Gathering, (2) The Word, (3) The Eucharist and (4) Sending. Within these four primary movements are secondary parts of worship, such as: (under Gathering) Call to Worship, Hymns of Praise, Confession and Pardon, and the Peace; (under the Word) Prayer for Illumination, Scripture Readings, the Sermon, an invitation to Discipleship, the Affirmation of Faith, Baptism, and Prayers of the People; (under the Eucharist) Offering, Invitation to the Table, Great Thanksgiving, Lord’s Prayer, Communion of the People; and (under Sending) Songs or Acts of Commitment, the Charge and Blessing. There is broad historical ecumenical consensus on this liturgical pattern.

Can someone who is not baptized be saved?

Baptism, in the Reformed/Presbyterian tradition, is a sign and seal of God’s gift of salvation — of the saving work that has already been done for us in Jesus Christ. Through baptism, we respond to God’s gracious gift, offering our lives to God in service and entering into covenant relationship with God as members of the body of Christ. Ordinarily, the sacrament of baptism (baptism with water and in the name of the Father, Son and

Holy Spirit) takes place at the time of profession of faith, whether by oneself (as in the case of adult or believer’s baptism) or by one’s parents/guardians (as in infant baptism). Either way, it is God who chooses, calls and claims us, long before we are able to articulate our faith on our own. It is certainly possible for one to receive the gift of salvation from God without the accompanying rite of baptism. This is sometimes called “baptism by the Spirit” — though of course the Holy Spirit is present and active in the ritual act of baptism as well! The story of Cornelius and the

first Gentile converts in Acts 10-11 offers an example of baptism by the Holy Spirit preceding the act of baptism with water. Moreover, the Apostle Paul argues that Abraham was saved by grace through faith (Romans 4), not by virtue of his works or by a ritual act such as circumcision. Our theological ancestor John Calvin argued strongly that “we must utterly reject the fiction of those who consign all the unbaptized to eternal death,” and “baptism is not so necessary that one from whom the capacity to obtain it has been taken away should straightway be counted as lost” (Institutes of the Christian Religion, IV.xvi.26). As people with confidence in the grace of God and faith in God’s sovereign power, we may affirm that “for God all things are possible” (Mark 10:27).

Is it an altar or a table?

The Presbyterian/Reformed understanding of the Lord’s Supper is one of thanksgiving and remembrance for the self-offering of Jesus

Christ once and for all time on a cross in Jerusalem. Christ’s perfect sacrifice of love and service is not re-enacted or reactualized at the Lord’s

Supper; rather, in the joyful feast of eucharistic celebration, we offer our praise and thanksgiving to God for this amazing gift. Furthermore, the sacrament that Christ instituted for the remembrance of him takes the form of a simple meal — a sharing of bread and wine. Therefore, it is Presbyterian practice to refer to the Lord’s table rather than an altar. To be sure, the memorial (or anamnesis) of Christ’s death and resurrection is an integral part of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. This is one of several theological themes implicit in the eucharistic meal.

Others include: thanksgiving to God for the gifts and goodness of creation, prayer for the fruitful reception of the sacrament through the Holy Spirit, the communion of the faithful in the presence of Christ and the anticipation or foretaste of the heavenly banquet in the kingdom of God. Around the symbol of the “table” there is room for this rich feast of sacramental meaning.