what we believe
Faith
We believe that we are part of a much bigger story about God’s relationship with the whole of creation. Salvation is one way that we describe God’s work in our world. Our Christian faith is rooted in that salvation—in the amazing love and grace of God, revealed most powerfully in Jesus Christ. Our faith is our response to God’s love and grace. Faith is a matter of the heart, but it isn’t an inanimate possession. It is something we do. Faith is our active believing, trusting, hoping in God’s abundance now and always.
Theology
We believe theology is the ongoing conversation between people of faith about the good news of God’s love. This conversation is open to all, young and old, lay and clergy, male and female. It began long before we were born and it will continue after we are gone. Theology helps us to reflect on our beliefs so that those beliefs will better guide us in our living.
We have several tools to help us in our conversation. These include: scripture, tradition, experience, and reason.
Our most primary tool is our study of the scripture. The Bible is the sacred story of God’s love for the world and in the world, revealed first in ancient Israel, then in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and finally in the foundation of the early Christian church. This story continues with God’s work in our lives, so we are always striving to discern both the original intention of Biblical texts as well as their meaning for us today.
Still, we know that countless people have come before us. They’ve left behind a record of their own reflections and struggles to live according to their faith. And though they are gone, they live on in their poems and creeds, in their art and songs, in their boldest acts and most private prayers. In this way, they have given us a living tradition rich in insights into God’s relationship with all of humanity.
Our own experience also informs our theology. Our lives are made up of joy and grief, disappointments and dreams. We interpret the Bible in light of our cumulative experiences. But we also interpret our experience in light of the biblical message.
Finally, we use our reason in reading and interpreting scripture. Reason not only helps us relate scripture to tradition and experience, but also to the whole scope of human knowledge. Reason helps us to make sense of our own faith stories so that we can communicate them to others.
Mission
We believe that our mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.
We make disciples when we reach out to others, invite them into the community of faith, and receive all who respond. In our faith communities, we work to create an environment in which everyone can grow closer to God. We participate in church not just for our own satisfaction, but so that we can prepare ourselves to do God’s transforming work in the world.
Discipleship
We believe that we are all called to be disciples. What does it mean to be a disciple? Discipleship is not about wearing sandals and wandering the desert, like the original twelve disciples did. It is about being in love with God. It’s about a desire to know God as fully as we humans possibly can--through worship, study, and conversation. It’s about giving ourselves over to God to do God’s work in the world. It’s about being head-over-heals for God—perhaps so much so that we are willing to wander a little.
Loving God
We believe that the most important response we can make to God’s love is to love God in return.
We believe that loving our “neighbor” is loving God.
Our neighbors are not just those who live next door, but those who live on the other side of our geopolitical borders. Our neighbors often don’t look like us. They might not speak the same language. They won’t agree with us all of the time. They could hurt us.
Loving our neighbor is not an option. It’s a commandment. Usually it requires sacrifice. Always it requires us—God requires us—to stretch ourselves so that we might have hearts without boundaries, hearts for love alone.
We believe that the most important response we can make to God’s love is to love God in return. We believe loving our “neighbor” is loving God. We believe that our neighbors are not only those who live next door, but those who live on the other side of our geopolitical borders. Often, our neighbors don’t look like us. They might not speak the same language. They probably don’t agree with us. They are almost never the people we already know.
