Our Beliefs

GOD

Belief in the Trinity — God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit — is central to the faith. God is the Father to whom we come, the Son through whom we come, and the Spirit by whom we come. The doctrine of the Trinity teaches belief in one God who exists as three “persons” with the word “person” having a different meaning from common usage today. The word comes from the Latin “persona” meaning the mask through which actors spoke in Greek plays; and this word was derived from the Latin words “per” and “sonare” meaning to speak or sound through. The original meaning of the word shows we are concerned not with a mask that hides, but with a medium that reveals. The one God comes to us in three modes. The doctrine of the Trinity arises from all that the Bible tells us about God as the Creator, the Redeemer, and the Sustainer. The New Testament writers portray Jesus through his words and actions as divine and the Son of God. (See John 1:1-3,14; Colossians 2:9, and Hebrews 1:1-3.) Adapted from Being a Presbyterian in Canada Today by Stephen A. Hayes, pp. 5-9.

THE BIBLE

The Bible has been given to us by the inspiration of God to be the rule of faith and life. It is the standard of all doctrine by which we must test any word that comes to us from church, world, or inner experience. We subject to its judgment all we believe and do. Through the Scriptures the church is bound only to Jesus Christ its King and Head. He is the living Word of God to whom the written word bears witness. The Holy Spirit gives us inner testimony to the unique authority of the Bible and is the source of its power. The Bible, written by human hands, is nonetheless the word of God as no other word ever written. To it no other writings are to be added. The Scriptures are necessary, sufficient, and reliable, revealing Jesus Christ, the living Word. Both Old and New Testaments were written within communities of faith and accepted as Scripture by them. Those who seek to understand the Bible need to stand within the church and listen to its teaching. The Bible is to be understood in the light of the revelation of God’s work in Christ. The writing of the Bible was conditioned by the language, thought, and setting of its time. The Bible must be read in its historical context. We interpret Scripture as we compare passages, seeing the two Testaments in light of each other, and listening to commentators past and present. Relying on the Holy Spirit, we seek the application of God’s word for our time. ~ Living Faith We are prompted by the Spirit working on our experience to listen afresh for God’s Word witnessed to in Scripture. We seek to understand the Bible in its original historical setting, recognizing the variety of material it contains. For this, a wise use of historical-critical methods is essential. We look at the biblical material as a canonical whole. The dangers of quoting isolated proof texts are well known. We look for the underlying unity and diversity, continuity and discontinuity in Scripture, paying particular attention to the relationships between the Old and New Testaments. We bring the biblical materials to bear on our contemporary situation. The gift of discernment is especially needed here. We must pray for the guidance of the same Holy Spirit who inspired Scripture. From 1994 Acts and Proceedings, The Church Doctrine Committee, pp. 252-253.

WORSHIP AND SACRAMENTS

Worship

The church lives to praise God. We have no higher calling than to offer the worship that belongs to God day by day, Sunday by Sunday. Through the preaching of the Word and the celebration of the Sacraments, in praise, prayer, teaching and fellowship, God sustains the life of the church. We worship God as Lord offering ourselves in the service of Christ, rejoicing that we have been brought from darkness to light. Worship draws us into the work of Christ. Even now he intercedes for the world to which he came and for which he died. In union with him, the church prays for the healing and the salvation of the world. Blessing and honour and glory and power be to our God for ever and ever!

Baptism

Baptism is a sign and seal of our union with Christ and with his church. Through it we share in the death and resurrection of Christ and are commissioned to his service. In Baptism, water is administered in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. The water signifies the washing away of sin, the start of new life in Christ, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. By the power of the Holy Spirit God acts through Baptism. It is the sacrament not of what we do but of what God has done for us in Christ. God’s grace and our response to it are not tied to the moment of Baptism, but continue and deepen throughout life. It is a sacrament meant for those who profess their faith and for their children. Together we are the family of God. Baptism is also an act of discipleship that requires commitment and looks towards growth in Christ. Those baptized in infancy are called in later years to make personal profession of Christ. What is born may die. What is grafted may wither. Congregations and those baptized must strive to nurture life in Christ. Baptism assures us that we belong to God. In life and in death our greatest comfort is that we belong to our faithful Saviour Jesus Christ.

Holy Communion

In breaking bread and drinking wine Jesus told us to remember him. In this action called Holy Communion, Lord’s Supper, or Eucharist, Christ offers himself to us and we present ourselves to him in worship and adoration. In Holy Communion Christ places his table in this world to feed and bless his people. The Holy Spirit so unites us in Christ that in receiving the bread and wine in faith we share in his body and blood. The Lord’s Supper is a joyful mystery whereby Jesus takes the bread and wine to represent his atoning sacrifice, deepening our union with himself and with each other, giving us of his life and strength. Here Christ is present in his world proclaiming salvation until he comes– a symbol of hope for a troubled age. The Eucharist is thanksgiving to God. We pray for the world and with gratitude offer our lives to God. We celebrate his victory over death and anticipate the joyous feast we shall have in his coming kingdom. We pledge allegiance to Christ as Lord, are fed as one church, receive these signs of his love, and are marked as his. Those who belong to Christ come gladly to his table to make a memorial of his life and death, to celebrate his presence, and together as his church offer him thanks.

LIVING FAITH

In every generation the church needs to confess its faith anew. That confession must at one and the same time be the ancient faith of the church and yet spoken into the mood and questions of its own time. Living Faith endeavours to do that. This Statement of Christian Belief was prepared under the direction of the Committee on Church Doctrine of The Presbyterian Church in Canada. It has been received by the General Assembly of that Church and commended as an acceptable statement and as useful in both worship and study. While arising out of the Canadian Presbyterian experience, it is hoped that the statement speaks to a much wider circle than one denomination, and to people outside the church. Here, perhaps for the first time, a confessional statement acknowledges the difficulties of belief and the ambiguities of the life of faith. In writing this document the authors have tried to be in contact with people where they stand today. Thus the statement speaks not only of God’s work in Christ, but also of sex, war, the economy, the family and justice. We believe that all this is fitting in a faith which has as its central affirmation the great truth that “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself.” The living God became the person of Christ and walked in our midst in a world that to an astonishing extent shared many of the same problems we do now. If God could get involved with the grim fabric of life, then so can God’s church! So too, must the faith we confess.

Reaching Out and Serving

The Christian church exists for others. We believe that our faith is alive through our actions of service (James 2:14-26). In Presbyterian churches we find evidence of activities that build community and reach out to serve others. Many congregations sponsor Girl Guide or Scouts Canada groups, encouraging the young people to get involved in Religion in Life Programs. On bulletin boards we see notices about coffee hours, potluck dinners, meetings of parents’ groups or CGIT. In church services we hear news of our church’s overseas staff or the work of Presbyterian World Service & Development (PWS&D). Many congregations have groups that support alternative trading organizations like Bridgehead or human right initiatives like those of Amnesty International. Our church bulletin might include an announcement about an intergenerational program for Pentecost or an upcoming youth event, an appeal for Meals-on-Wheels volunteers or for contributions for a food drive, or information about a petition or letter-writing campaign calling for justice in another country. Presbyterians are people involved in social action. Presbyterians believe that Jesus came into the world to demonstrate God’s concern for the world and its people. We recognize Jesus’ challenge to follow him (Luke 9:23) and his final commission to us (Matthew 28:19). In congregations, people of all ages learn to heal and care for each other. They are active in mission and worship beyond their own congregation’s activities – in politics, economics, social structures, the environment, and the world of human needs. As Christians, we go into the world and try to make it more like God’s kingdom. Presbyterians believe God interacts with all aspects of our lives. One of the clearest messages for us in our daily living is found in Micah 6:8, “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” “Many communities across Canada are… cooperating ecumenically for Ten Days for Global Justice, the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, reconciliation and healing with aboriginal peoples and with other programs. We must also recognize that Christians are working together shoulder-to-shoulder with people from other denominations in the Out of the Cold program, food banks, Meals on Wheels and other community projects… I believe we should celebrate, publicize and promote what is already happening ecumenically in our communities as we anticipate the dawning of the new millennium.” From Working Together by Tamiko Corbett in the Presbyterian Record, March 1997