What We Believe

​​​Scripture

We share with other Christians the belief that Scripture is the primary source and criterion for Christian witness. Through scripture the living Christ meets us in the experience of redeeming grace in the daily living of our faith and through the life of the church. In our faithful reading of Scripture, we come to know God's reconciling activity in our own lives and the life of the world.

Tradition

The story of the church reflects the most basic sense of  tradition, the continuing activity of God's Spirit transforming human life. Tradition is the history of that continuing environment of grace in and by which all Christians live, God's self giving love, in Jesus Christ. As a Christian people we share in a common history invigorated by the diversity of cultural, historical, and ethnic traditions that comprise our own community.

Experience

Our experience interacts with Scripture. We read Scripture in light of the conditions and events that shape who we are, and we interpret our experience in terms of Scripture. It is personal. It is communal. And, sometimes human experience challenges our understanding such as the inequality, violence, hunger, and loneliness of our own hearts but also the hearts of the world. It is through the awareness of our diverse experiences that we interpret the promises God's love and grace.

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Reason

We recognize the presence of God active in scripture, tradition, and within our experiences. We also understand that our faith as a Christian people is informed by the careful use of reason. By reason we read, witness, question, discern, and relate as the beloved community of God. In our quest for reasoned understandings of Christian faith we seek to grasp, express, and live out the gospel in a way that is thoughtful, inspired by, and in following God's ways.