What We Believe
We first and foremost believe that you, YOU, are loved by God in all times and in all places and especially when you are unworthy of that love, and we are to go out into the world to love others, as God loves us!
The Foundation of our Church
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IThe Six Pillars of Faith
The Six Pillars of Faith are the Emergent Catholic Church’s theological and dogmatic core root foundations. Each one compliments and completes the other. They shall supersede personal beliefs and popular sentiments of the day.
1. Progressive Anglican and Catholic Tradition
Anglican and Catholic Tradition
Catholic Tradition has been, and continues to be, one of the foundations of Christian thought and western culture. From this tradition Anglicanism found its principles; shaping Christianity and brought the faith to most of the world. From Anglicanism, a progressive and, both protestant and catholic, Christian tradition was allowed to form, one that can be evangelical and traditional with a charismatic feel. Anglicanism’s rituals and traditions will be in mind in all we do.
Reason
Drawing on History, Scientific Advances, the Human Condition, common sense, and acts of love, we make our decisions.
Friendship
This Church operates with the intent to make lasting, deep, and sincere friendships. All members are like family
Community
Community has multiple aspects. There is your local community, the Church community, the country community, the global community. Everything is interconnected. What we do has impacts far beyond just our tribe.
Born in the protestant evangelical church, the Emergent Church Movement is the realization that the Church is undergoing a radical change due to post-modernism. The Holy Spirit is actively creating a new approach to Christianity, a new church. This new church seeks to bring those not traditionally welcomed and are in isolation from Christianity into the faith. We open ourselves up to the new church, seeking Jesus in everyday life instead of just scripture, operating on friendships, and being an affirming and accepting safe space.
Scripture
In our faith, we study scripture in the historical context that which it was written. The Bible is not a scientific or historical textbook in the modern sense. Rather, it is a narration of ancient Israel’s tradition and that of the early Church and the life of Jesus. It contains the ancient Israel and early Christian traditions and concepts of the past. A mixture of myths and legends, cultural memories, revisions of traditions, and literary brilliance. It is a complex portrait of the past that encodes the values of biblical religion and creates a rich array of perspectives on the world. There are authentic historical memories in the books. It is somewhat unfair to note the scientific inadequacies, since it was not written to be a work of modern science. The Bible is a powerful tool in which we are provided a window into the nature of God.
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The creeds are statements of our basic beliefs about God. This Church uses five creeds: The Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, The Phoenix Affirmation, The Phoenix Declaration, and the Summary Creed.
The Apostles' Creed is the ancient creed of Baptism; it is used in the Church's daily worship to recall our
Baptismal Covenant.The Nicene Creed is the creed of the universal Church
and is used at the Eucharist.The Phoenix Affirmations is a set of twelve principles originally penned by a group of clergy and laypeople from Phoenix, Arizona, in an attempt to articulate clearly the broad strokes of the Emergent Church Movement written in 2006.
The Phoenix Declaration is a document prepared by the clergy group No Longer Silent: Clergy for Justice in late 2002 working towards full acceptance and inclusion of LGBT people within Christianity and the world at large.
The Summary Creed is our Church’s summarizing of he Phoenix Affirmation.
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1. Holy Baptism
2. Eucharist
3. Confirmation
4. Reconciliation
5. matrimony
6. Anointing of the Sick and Dying (Ention)
7. Ordination
8. (sometimes exorcism)
As in our Anglican tradition heritage, we recognizes sacraments as “outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace.” Holy Baptism and the Eucharist (or Holy Communion) are the two great sacraments given by Christ to his Church.
In the case of Baptism, the outward and visible sign is water, in which the person is baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; the inward and spiritual grace is union with Christ in his death and resurrection, birth into God’s family the Church, forgiveness of sins, and new life in the Holy Spirit. In the case of the Eucharist, the outward and visible sign is bread and wine, given and received according to Christ’s command. The inward and spiritual grace is the Body and Blood of Christ given to his people, and received by faith. In our faith we believe in Transubstantiation (that the Bread and Wine become the Body and Blood of Jesus.)
In addition to these two, there are other spiritual markers in our journey of faith that can serve as means of grace. These include:
Confirmation: the adult affirmation of our baptismal vows
Reconciliation of a Penitent: private confession
Matrimony: Christian marriage
Ordination: ordination to the diaconate, priesthood
Unction: anointing those who are sick or dying with holy oil
Common Questions We Get
Who is God?
God is the creator of all of the universe. God is perfect Love and to know Love is to know God. This said, God is completely above all understand but choose to come into the world as a fully human being named Jesus of Nazareth so that humanity and God are forever connected. There is only one God who presents itself in three completely the same, yet mysteriously separate ways in the Holy Trinity: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit.
Who is Jesus Christ?
Jesus of Nazareth, now Jesus Christ (the Messiah) is a fully human, yet fully God, man born in the First Century Common Era in the Middle East. Jesus was crucified on a cross on the first “Good” Friday, died and descended into Hell. Three Days later on Easter Sunday, was resurrected and we can meet him even today by entering into a relationship of following God, which includes Jesus as he is fully God, in his message of love as described in the Gospels and the New Testament of the scripture that we call the Holy Bible that tell the Story of Christ, and of the Early Church.
Do we Believe in Gay Marriage ?
Absolutely! We consider it as the direct Will of God and the Will of Scripture for us to do!
What Does It Mean to be Catholic?
By Catholic, we are saying that we adhere to the traditions and worship practices of the Western Church, and those particularly found in the Roman Catholic Church and Anglicanism. One of the be differences between our faith and those of the protestant traditions is that we know and view all of creation as inherently good. in our faith. We believe and are guided by The Holy Spirit, Science, History, and Love.
By Catholic, we acknowledge all the councils of the Western Church and believe in the Nicene Creed and Apostles Creed.
What Does Emergent Mean?
We are a community that is being guided by the Holy Spirit into the Church that She is creating. We follow in the traditions of the anglican and catholic faiths, while opening up ourselves to new truths. We do not hold the Bible or Tradition to be the authority in our faith. We believe and are guided by The Holy Spirit, Science, History, and Love.
We choose to get to know the living Christ in our everyday interactions. We believe our mission is to fight for Social and Environmental Justice, Deconstruction of Harmful Faith Beliefs, and Respecting the Dignity and Humanity of Every Human Being. We even believe that other faith traditions are valid worship of our Loving God who is known by many names.
Are You a Roman Catholic Church?
No, we are not, we are completely a separate catholic church. We are not part of The Episcopal Church, nor are we part of the Anglican Communion. We are not part of any other Independent Sacramental Movement jurisdiction.
How do we differ from other Catholics?
The Bible does not define, nor is it a central part of our faith.
We do not have original sin.
We believe that a person of any gender can be a priest.
We have two paths to The Apostolic Secession, one more then the historic church; our leaders are chosen by the congregation.
We believe in the power of laying on of hands for healing and ordination. We have same-sex marriages.
We have open communion.
We do not have a pope, just Jesus Christ our High Priest.
We allow you to use contraceptives.
We are Universalist.
We do not require you to believe Blessed Mary remained a Virgin.
We love contemporary worship music.
Majority Vote shows us the Will of God.
We believe there is salvation, even in Hell.
We firmly support a woman’s right to choose.
How do we view the Bible?
In our faith, we study scripture in the historical context that which it was written. The Bible is not a scientific or historical textbook in the modern sense. Rather, it is a narration of ancient Israel’s tradition and that of the early church and the life of Jesus. It contains the ancient Israel and early Christian traditions and concepts of the past. A mixture of myths and legends, cultural memories, revisions of traditions, and literary brilliance. It is a complex portrait of the past that encodes the values of biblical religion and creates a rich array of perspectives on the world. There are authentic historical memories in the book. It is somewhat unfair to note the scientific inadequacies, since it was not written to be a work of modern science. The Bible is a powerful tool in which we are provided a window into the nature of God.
What Gender is God?
We believe that God is Male, Female, Neither, No Gender, and All Genders. God is not confined by human boxes such as gender. God can be a Woman; God can be God the Father.
Jesus was a Middle Eastern man. Fully Human, Fully Divine.
The Holy Spirit will mostly be referred to as a woman, but we do not confine Her to that gender.
What Bible and lectionary do you use?
Most of our Services will use the New Revised Standard Vision Updated Edition (NRSVue). We follow the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL).
We cannot pick a Bible for you, but we recommend a Bible accepted by mainstream academia such as the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), Revised Standard Version (RSV), New American Bible revised edition (NABre), Common English Bible (CEB), The Revised English Bible (REB), New International Version (NIV), The Message, and the King James Bible (KJB). The KJB is good if you know Shakespearean English.
We believe the Holy Scriptures are composed of the Old and New Testaments along with the Deuterocanonical Book. These Deuterocanonical Books for those following Western traditions are Tobit, Judith, Additions to the Book of Esther, the Wisdom of Solomon, Baruch, the Letter of Jeremiah, the Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Children, Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, 1 Esdras, the Prayer of Manasseh, and 2 Esdras. While those who look toward Eastern Christianity may include 1 Esdras, Psalm 152, the Prayer of Manasseh, 3 Maccabees, and 4 Maccabees. We use all of them.It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.