Our Beliefs
We recognize 3 sources of authority in our tradition: The Bible, Tradition, and Reason.
The Bible
We take the sacred story of the Bible as the word of God. We see the entire story of the Bible itself as a gift from God to us- a statement of who we are as a people, and what God intends for us. We can call this the Word of God without looking to each phrase in the Bible as the “words of God,” because some of them clearly aren’t. We do not practice fundamentalism or literalism.
Tradition
We look to the sacred story of Christian history to learn from great Christians and saints, and to learn from both the triumphs and the mistakes of our story. We celebrate the sacraments of the ancient church as a way to go deeper into the truth of Christ. We appreciate ancient and contemporary art and music as windows to the sacred.
Reason
We celebrate God’s gift of intelligence and reason in order to live the Gospel with authenticity in our own age. With this gift, we are able to discern the movement of the Holy Spirit in our community and our own lives. We respect other Christian denominations and other historic faith traditions from around the world. We do not preach “exclusivism” (which teaches that our group is the only way to salvation.) We practice the equality of men and women in all aspects of church life and leadership.