First Presbyterian Church of Pearland, Texas

What We Believe….

People often ask what a particular church or denomination believes. What they may expect to hear is how we are different from other churches. But as Christians we know ourselves to be united by common belief in Jesus Christ based on Scripture. We know that He who unites us is greater than any small area of disagreement or varying emphasis or interpretation of God’s Word.

The Bibles says there is “one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all….” (Ephesians 4:5 ) .The Bible also says Christians are one Body. (1 Corinthians 12:27 ). So, I’d like to begin with how we in this church and in the Presbyterian Church (USA) believe what millions of other Christians and thousands of other Christian churches al around the world also believe.

Here are some things the Presbyterian Church believes, but you do not have to believe all these things to be a Christian or a church member! To be a Christian and a church member, you must simply admit you are an imperfect sinner, tell God you are sorry, and ask Him to forgive and gradually change you.

Beliefs we share with all Christians (Protestant and Catholic) that scripture and the early creeds based on scripture teach:

1.  
   1. The mystery of one God who is three-in-one (the Trinity), Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is mysterious. He is beyond our understanding. As a Christian minister put it long ago, just as a tree has an underground hidden portion (its root system), an above ground visible system (branches, leaves and flowers), and the wondrous yet invisible fragrance of those flowers, so God the Father is unseen, God the Son was made visible as a flesh-and-blood human being, and God the Holy Spirit is also invisible, but His presence is like a fragrance that refreshes us.
   2. The second person of the Trinity, also known as the Word or the Son, existed from the beginning but became flesh and blood in Jesus of Nazareth, God’s Son, who is fully human and fully God. He died for the sins of the world and was bodily  raised the third day, and sits at the right hand of the Fatherin heaven. He and the Father sent us the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of Christ with us today. The Holy Spirit draws us to Jesus, opens and illumines our hearts and minds to understand Scripture, and gives us love for God, for others in the Body of Christ, and for the whole world.

Beliefs we share with all Protestants from the Protestant Reformation of the 1500’s as these Bible truths were re-discovered.

1.  
   1. Grace alone--We are saved by God's free grace alone, not by our own works. We can never earn or deserve God's love. It is a free gift of grace! We should have good works, which the Holy Spirit accomplishes in those who trust Jesus, but such works can never and do not save us. Salvation is a free gift.
   2. Faith alone--We are saved by grace through faith alone. We receive God's grace through our faith that God gives us. Our faith does not have to be perfect, and it can include doubts. Faith is simple child-like trust in God and in His promises in Christ. Faith is reaching out and receiving a free gift.
   3. Scripture alone--Scripture is God's truth. The Bible is God’s written Word. We do not believe that the teaching of the Church is on at all the same level as scripture. Instead we believe that the Church’s creeds, catechisms, and confessions, while based on scripture, are subordinate to scripture, and that they are authoritative only insofar as they correctly teach what scripture teaches. We do not believe that any source of truth outside the Bible is necessary for salvation. The Bible shows us Jesus who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father but by me.” John 14:6 .

Beliefs we share with many other Reformed and Christian Churches

1.  
   1. God is loving, majestic, holy, and righteous, and He works in all things for the good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28 ) We call this “divine providence”
   2. God chose us before we could choose Him. And He chose us, just as He chose Abraham long ago, not just to be saved, but also to serve, not just so that He could bless us, but also so that He could bless the world through us.
   3. We understand that we as Christians live life in covenant with God and with one another, so that we should live disciplined, orderly lives according to God's Word. He has made a new covenant with us through the death and resurrection of Jesus. That new covenant came to us by grace and by his blood shed for us.
   4. We are stewards, or administrators, of God’s creation all of which belongs to God. This means that everything we have belongs to God, and we are His managers. Also we believe in living lives that are simple, not showy, so that we use God's gifts as He wants!
   5. We recognize that humans have a tendency to put things before God (we make idols or false gods). We believe that if we love God with our whole hearts, and if we put God first ahead of family, friends, work, success, and everything else, that family and friends will actually end up being loved more by us than if we put them first! (Jesus told us to love God with everything in us and to love our neighbor as ourselves).We also believe that there is also a tendency of fallen human beings like us to try to dominate or lord it over others (tyranny). But Jesus came as a servant, and we are to be servants also. We believe God calls us not only to assure that people have trusted in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and have given their lives to Him, and consequently will go to heaven when they die. We also believe God wants us to help make this world a better place while we are here by feeding and healing and loving people just as Jesus did. In the Lord’s Prayer (also called the “Our Father”) Jesus taught us to pray to God the Father that His kingdom would come and His will would be done on earth as it is in heaven!

We understand that everyone who wishes to join this church may not yet have studied and believed all of these things, so, to become a member, a person must simply by faith profess their trust in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. To be an officer of the Church (elder, deacon, or minister of Word and Sacraments), they should endorse (in a way appropriate to them) the Christian beliefs stated above, which are also beliefs of the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Pastor Casey Jones, revised 10-5-2010