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Our Core Values
Listed below are the
God-centered, biblically-based values that drive who we are and what we do
at Eastminster Presbyterian Church.
Outreach
(Telling others
about Christ)
Reaching Out Ministry
God loves lost
people and seeks to draw them into a loving relationship with his Son.
We seek to reach out to lost individuals and introduce them to Christ.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and
you will be my witnesses in
Jerusalem, and in all
Judea and
Samaria, and to the ends of the earth
(Acts 1:8).
Disciple-making
(working with others to help them grow)
God desires
people to grow into mature followers. We follow Christ's
example in teaching, and training others so that they in turn
grow to maturity and reproduce
their life in Christ
in others.
And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many
witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach
others (2 Timothy 2:2).
Bible Teaching
(Learning about Jesus)
Reaching In Ministry
God has
revealed himself through his inspired, inerrant and reliable Word.
We teach the Bible as truth and as the guide for our everyday life.
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching,
rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (2 Timothy
3:16).
Worship
(Giving God
praise)
Reaching Up Ministry
God alone is
worthy of our unending worship. We seek to help people through
worship, come into God's presence, declare his worth, and give him the
best they have to give.
Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord
our Maker (Psalm 95:6).
Prayer
(Communicating with God)
God invites us
to bring our needs to him and talk with him about all aspects of life.
We express our dependence on him and his power through prayer.
Prayer reminds us that since God provides the power, he must get the
glory.
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives;
he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened
(Matthew 7:7-8).
Grace
(Gods nature and gift to us)
God has
lavished us with his grace through the person and sacrifice of Christ. We humbly seek to be a grace-giving church known for
people who treat other people with kindness, acceptance, forgiveness, and
grace just as God is gracious toward us.
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other,
just as in Christ God forgave you (Ephesians
4:32).
Servant hood
(helping others without reward)
God has called
all his people to serve. We encourage all members
to see themselves as fulltime servants. Servant hood is at the
core of how we minister to each other. We seek to be people who gladly serve one
another, rather than seeking to be served.
And whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the
Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life
as a ransom for many (Mark
10:44-45).
Stewardship
(What we return)
God provides
every spiritual and material resource needed for life and ministry.
We use these resources carefully and prayerfully, trusting God
to meet our needs his way.
"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be
food in my house. Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I
will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing
that you will not have room enough for it" (Malachi 3:10).
The Church
Sacraments
Eastminster as part of the
Presbyterian Church, believes in two sacraments.
The first one is Communion
(taking the bread & wine/grape juice that represents
the death of Jesus) and Baptism
(using water to symbolize the promise of the new
relationship in Jesus).
Communion
Communion is established
for the first Saturday and Sunday of the month. Additional communion
opportunities occur on:
Maundy Thursday,
Christmas Eve and
By request for home bound /shut-in members.
Contact the church office
at 723-8371.
Baptism
.................
The
Trinity
Members of the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) denomination (abbreviated as
PCUSA) are
followers of Jesus Christ, something we share with all other Christians.
We celebrate this Christ as Head of the Church. With other Christians, we
believe that God has become known in human history in three ways, as
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, known as the Trinity.
The
Bible
Presbyterians are
guided in their common life together by the Bible, which we believe to be
the Word of God written, the unique and authoritative witness to Jesus
Christ. Where this Word is read and proclaimed, Jesus Christ the Living
Word is present by the inward witness of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus Christ
As Christians, we
believe that Jesus Christ is the reconciler of God and humanity. By His
death on a cross, He obtained forgiveness for all wrongs. By Christ's
rising we believe he offers new life and eternal life. We believe that
the Christian life begins in the power of an open tomb and the celebration
of a good, yet just and forgiving God.
Sovereignty of God
Presbyterians also lean
heavily on the sovereignty of God, believing our Lord has a purpose in all
arenas of life such as the arts, culture, the political arena, personal
and societal ethics.
Kingdom
of God
We believe the
Kingdom of
God is both an inner personal
reality and an outward community boundaries by God's grace. A strong
sense of mission involvement has always characterized Presbyterian
Christianity.
Sacraments
Presbyterians believe
there are two sacraments, both given and endorsed by Jesus Christ. The
sacrament of Baptism, symbolizes our initial belonging to Christ and
cleansing by Him. We believe baptism is for both adult converts and their
children who are nurtured in the Christian faith. The other sacrament,
the Lord's Supper, recognizes our continuing need to be reminded of the
forgiving grace of God through the cross of Jesus.
Our
Mission
Our mission is to share
by our words and our deeds the life and power of Jesus Christ so that all
may come to embrace Him and acknowledge Him as Lord of all.
Governed
We are governed by
elders and could best be described as a "representative
democracy," which incidentally from our denomination became the pattern
for
U.S. government.
In many ways what we
believe is common to all of Christianity, and yet the above emphasis also
identifies us as the Presbyterian part of Christ's larger church.
Presbyterians are also
guided by the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which
consists of two parts,
The Book of Confessions and the Book of Order.
Book of
Confessions
The Book of Confessions
contains the following confessions and statements of belief:
- The Nicene Creed
-
The
Apostles' Creed
-
The Scots
Confession
-
The
Heidelberg Catechism
-
The
Second Helvetica Confession
-
The
Westminster Confession of Faith
-
The
Larger Catechism
-
The
Shorter Catechism
-
The
Theological Declaration of Barmen
-
The
Confession of 1967
-
A Brief
Statement of
Faith-Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.)
-
Book of
Order
The Book of Order has
three sections: the Form of Government, the Directory for Worship, and
Rules of Discipline.
In its Constitution,
the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) sets out for its members and the world to
see what it believes and how it organizes itself, its officers, and its
members for ministry. In its confessions, the Church expresses the faith
of the Reformed tradition, a tradition rooted in key events in 16th and
17th century
Germany,
Switzerland,
France,
Holland,
Hungary,
England,
Scotland and other European
countries.
The Presbyterian Church
(U.S.A.) expresses its belief in many ways in its constitutional
documents. One is the formulation known as the "Great Ends of the Church",
which are:
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The proclamation of
the gospel for the salvation of humankind
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The shelter, nurture,
and spiritual fellowship of the children of God
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The maintenance of
divine worship
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The preservation of
the truth
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The promotion of
social righteousness
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The exhibition of the
Kingdom of
Heaven to the world
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