"No matter who you are, or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here."
We believe that God’s Word is a Living Word
We look to the Scriptures to understand the Good News that Jesus preached, to understand the great Kingdom of God he constantly taught throughout his ministry. We do not seek to interpret the Bible literally, since Jesus himself taught almost exclusively in parables, metaphors and other figures of speech.
We understand it as the responsibility of each generation of the faithful to interpret, in prayer and mutual discernment, the meanings of Jesus’ teachings for our time and place. We believe our God is still speaking and acting in the world. We affirm the famous words of one of our Congregational ancestors, the Rev. John Robinson, that, “There is yet more light to break forth from God’s Holy Word.” We pray with Jesus that God’s kingdom will come, here “on earth, as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6.10)
We encourage the full participation of every person in the whole life of the church —no matter their age, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, social location, physical, or cognitive ability. We are an Open and Affirming Church. We honor the clear teaching of the Scriptures that we “are all God’s children,” created and beloved by God. (Galatians 3.26) We believe that each member of our church family has talents, insights, skills, and gifts that can and should be shared in the ministries of the church to all persons.
We are part of what is called the Free Church Tradition, meaning that we have no hierarchy, no structure of authority that dictates to us what to believe or do, or how to worship. We have no bishops or others who in any way preside over us. Our democratic organizational structure means that all church members participate directly in our church’s decision-making, as well as in all our ministries.
Seeking to put our faith into action, we try in every way we can to enact Jesus’ call to care for the most vulnerable among us, reaching beyond our congregation to minister to those who need to experience the love of God in tangible ways. We are committed to seeking and doing justice, remembering the words of the prophet Micah, that we are to “do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with our God.” (Micah 6.8) And remembering the words of Isaiah, read by Jesus himself, in the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4.18-19)