Beliefs

“For over four centuries, Presbyterians have been responding to the call of Jesus Christ, taking the gospel into the world and bearing witness to Christ’s saving love to the ends of the earth. Today the Holy Spirit is still on the move, calling us to share in what God is doing in the world. 

Shaped by its Reformed theology, history, and representational form of leadership, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) faithfully works to serve Christ in the world through new and existing communities of faith, hope, love, and witness.”

“Presbyterians belong to widening circles of theological identity and relationship: Reformed, Protestant, and Christian. Presbyterian is a way of being Reformed, which is one way of being Protestant, which is itself a way of being Christian.”

Presbyterianism grew out of the theology and teachings of Protestant reformers such as John Calvin. His writings in 16th-century Geneva crystallized much of the Reformed thinking that came before him, including an emphasis on the grace of God in Jesus Christ and church government by representative assemblies called presbyteries.

Presbyterians have a distinctive form of church government, or polity, in which the authority to make decisions is lodged not in individuals but in groups, known as councils, made up of both ministers and elected members of congregations known as ruling elders. The word “Presbyterian” comes from the Greek word for “elder.”

The PC(USA) has a long history of applying theological insights to issues that affect society, believing that all people are children of God. Women and men serve together at all levels of leadership. The church seeks to earnestly discern the will of Christ, and to speak and act with humility and love.