What We Believe.
In brief, today’s Presbyterians are members of a Protestant Christian denomination distinguished by:
We Presbyterians hold core beliefs which are similar to other contemporary Protestant denominations, including…
We trust in the one triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit whom alone we worship and serve.
Our knowledge of God and God’s purpose for humanity comes from the Bible, particularly what is revealed in the New Testament through the life of Jesus Christ.
Our salvation (justification) through Jesus is God's generous gift to us and not the result of our own accomplishments.
It is everyone's job—ministers and lay people alike—to share this Good News with the whole world. The Presbyterian church is governed at all levels by a combination of clergy and laity, men and women a like.
God is the supreme authority throughout the universe.
The reconciling act of God in Jesus Christ exposes human evil as sin in the sight of God. All people are helpless and subject to God's judgment without forgiveness. In love, God took on himself judgment and shameful death in Jesus Christ, to bring all to repentance and new life.
For both adults and infants, Christian baptism marks a welcome into the Church and the receiving of the same Spirit by all his people. Baptism with water (sprinkling or immersion) represents not only cleansing from sin but also a dying with Christ and a joyful rising with him to new life.
To be reconciled to God is to be sent into the world as his reconciling community. This community, the church universal, is entrusted with God’s message of reconciliation and shares his labor of healing the enmities which separate men from God and from each other.
We believe Christ gave the Church seven sacraments as visible signs of God’s grace
