BELIEFS

MISSION AND VISION - PLANTING SEEDS OF GOD'S LIGHT

Striving to reflect the light of Christ, we seek to plant new seeds envisioning a harvest of God's fruits of faith, hope and love. Our passionate, loving and faithful members reach out, nurturing an environment recognizing everyone's God-given gifts and skills. We create an atmosphere of trust by valuing diversity and openness, accepting and welcoming all as beloved children of God. Illuminated by the Holy Spirit, we serve by providing for the needs of those outside our walls, supporting and ministering to those within our walls, and taking action exhibiting the kingdom of God together with our neighbors.

PRESBYTERIAN

Being Presbyterian is a way of being Christian.
Presbyterian is more like an adjective than a noun. We are Presbyterian Christians.
But Presbyterians have their own history, theological emphases, and ways of being Christian in the world. To be a Presbyterian means you are inserted into a family of faith that has expressed its faith and practices being Christians in certain, recognizable ways and patterns throughout the centuries.
Presbyterians celebrate our identity as Presbyterian Christians. We are grateful that God has called us into this family of faith and that we have expressed our faith in important ways. Our Presbyterian heritage can help us live as faithful Christians in the years ahead. Excerpt from The Presbyterian Handbook, Revised Edition.

SACRAMENTS

BAPTISM

Like most denominations, Presbyterians believe that baptism is a celebration of the renewal of the covenant with which God has bound His people to Himself.
One could say it is the first and most important of the Presbyterian practices.
Through baptism, individuals are publically received into the church to share in its life and ministry, and the church becomes responsible for their training and support in Christian discipleship. When those baptized are infants, the parents and congregation both have a special obligation to nurture children in the Christian life, leading them to eventually make, by a public profession, a personal response to the love of God shown in their baptism.

THE LORD'S SUPPER

Presybyterians gather in worship to praise God, to pray, to enjoy each other's fellowship, and to receive instruction through the teachings of God's Word. Presbyterians practice open communion meaning that anyone believing in the Lord Jesus can partake of the elements of the loaf and cup. Church members consider communion a solemn but joyful act, symbolic of celebrating at the table of their Savior, and a reconciliation with God and with one another.