Who are we? A company of pilgrims! People like you, big and small, short and tall, young and old (and middle-aged too), sinners, but brought together by something we can describe only as amazing grace. Which may sound like a cliché, but how else could one explain that this bunch of very different and imperfect people can stay together and keeps coming back to worship God. In other words we are a creation of the Good News, God’s Word which called us in many different ways to be a part of the larger Christian family. We are a creation of the Holy Spirit who changes our lives and opens our hearts and minds through understanding of the God’s Word. We are people of faith. And what is that faith? We understand faith as a grateful answer to God calling us to be God’s children again. It is an answer to God’s free gift of grace. It is trust, we trust God who came to us in Jesus Christ. Faith is God’s gift, a journey, a way of life. So we are pilgrims, people on the way, and fellow followers of Jesus Christ. That means that we have to learn a lot. We are Presbyterians, reformed Christians because God used this particular Christian tradition to communicate God’s love to us. So we have old roots in reformation of Martin Luther, John Calvin (he is particularly important, sometimes we call ourselves “Calvinists”) and John Knox. We are Presbyterians, which means that a number of local congregations governed by a session of elected elders and form a higher governing body called the Presbytery. The whole denomination is governed by the General assembly. This structure is important for us because as Presbyterians we believe that faith has to be lived in a community. It is not an individual enterprise. Through Christ we are all connected; as one theologian put it: “There can be no church without local congregations and no local church except as they participate in the church universal.” We believe that God can work even through Presbyterian committees. We are people who do not have all the answers. We do not have to because God has them all. For us it is enough to seek God’s will and truth and to trust God’s incomprehensible grace. We are people of the Bible. We believe that the living God speaks also to us from this old and fascinating book. We believe that God’s word is always fresh and relevant. But sometimes we struggle with the Scripture. We believe that we have to humble ourselves and open our minds to guidance of God’s Spirit so we can hear and understand God speaking to us from the pages of the Scripture. The bible is like a window into God’s world. It does not say so much how things are, but how they should be. |
| Welcome to Trinity United Presbyterian Church, Kenton, Ohio |
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To all who are spiritually weary and seek rest; to all who mourn and long for comfort; to all who struggle and desire victory; to all who sin and need a Savior; to all who are strangers and want fellowship; to all who hunger and thirst after righteousness; and to whoever will come- this church opens wide her doors and offers her welcome in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. |