|
What We Believe
Northminster Presbyterian
Church's members have an unwavering belief in God, His Son, Jesus
Christ, and His instruction to spread His Gospel, or Good News, to
all that exist.
Truth, reliance, and confidence are our strengths
and we invite everyone to join us and share our faith.
Statement of Faith
The following is our
"Statement of Faith" as extracted from the documents of Presbyterian
USA. It is a beautiful prayer and thought provoking confession of faith.
In life and death we belong
to God. Through the grace of or 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 good
news to the poor and release to the captives, teaching by word and deed
and blessing the children, healing the sick. and binding the broken
hearted, eating with the 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 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 Sarag chose a covenant people to bless all our 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 give 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 Jesus Christ our Lord. Glory
be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen.
*Copyright @ 1991 by the office of the General Assembly,
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). This document is part of the Book of Confessions,
which is in turn Part I of the Constitution of the Church
|
|
