What Presbyterians Believe

1
What Presbyterians Believe

• Octoberfest 2007

2
Presbyterians are Christians

• Faith in God as creator
• Faith in Jesus Christ as God redeeming us
• Faith in the Holy Spirit as giver and sustainer
  of life and faith
• Bible as Word of God written
• Church as community of Gods people

3
Presbyterians are Reformed

• Share in heritage of John Calvin
• Trust that God is loving and gracious
• Salvation as free gift, not earned
• Bible is ultimate authority in matters of faith
  and life

4
Presbyterian Distinctives

• Sovereignty of God
• Independence from all that is not God
• God is at work in human history
• Freedom from undue concern about salvation
• Ethics and a life of holiness
• Life of the Mind in service to God
• Quality, literate preaching
• Discipline and pastoral care
• Preference for simplicity

5
Sovereignty of God

• God is Lord of all
• The center of religious life is the praise of God
• All other aspects are secondary to praise
• Worship, obedience, generosity are responses to
  Gods goodness

6
Independence from all that is not God

• Nothing can take the place of God
• Critique of materialism, greed,
  self-aggrandizement, even lesser loyalties

7
God works in human history

• God is not confined to the spiritual realm
• God works in history, politics, nature, and the
  cosmos
• Church is concerned with the transformation of
  the world, not mere the salvation of souls

8
Freedom from undue concern about salvation

• Predestination
• God saves - not us
• We love because we have been loved, not out of
  fear

9
Ethics and the Life of Holiness

• Sanctification - growing in the means of grace
• Emphasis on ethical living, practices as a
  response to Gods love
• Faithful life as gratitude, not legalism

10
The Life of the Mind in Service to God

• Value education have advocated for public
  education, started colleges
• Tradition of scholarship among pastors, teachers
• Members of our congregations are better educated,
  more intellectually demanding

11
Quality, Literate Preaching

• Dependence on Scripture
• Relevant to human life and circumstances
• Clarity and directness
• Literacy and intellectual coherence

12
Pastoral Care and Discipline

• We share a common life one is not a Christian in
  isolation
• We live together in covenant Book of Order
• Purpose of order and discipline pastoral and
  reconciliatory, not punitive
• Pastors guide members toward constructive
  participation

13
Preference for Simplicity

• Simplicity in worship, dress, lifestyle
• Shuns ostentation
• Simplicity of church architecture
• Increasing detachment from the things of the
  world