What we Believe

One of the great joys -- and great frustrations -- of the Episcopal Church is that it is comprised of people with vastly different beliefs about just about everything; people whose love of God and Neighbor compels them to come together in creative, loving tension, to worship and to serve.  Our Creeds (the Nicene and the Apostles' Creeds are both used in our worship) provide foundational statements of our basic beliefs, and our Catechism gives an outline of our faith, a point of departure for prayerful study and discussion.  These, along with a rich treasure trove of prayers and other worship materials, are all contained in our Book of Common Prayer.

Very briefly, we believe:

• We are part of God's creation, made in the image of God -- free to make choices:  to love, to create, to reason, and to live in harmony with creation and with God.

• In the water of Baptism we are buried with Christ in his death.  By Baptism we share in Christ's resurrection, and through Baptism we are reborn by the Holy Spirit.

• We experience God in a Trinitarian form -- God as Creator (Father/Mother), God as Savior and Redeemer (Son), and God as Sanctifier and Holy Inspiration (Spirit).

• We all sin, in that we all seek to do our own will instead of the will of God, thus distorting our relationship with God, with other people, and with all creation.  Jesus, the Messiah, was sent by God to free us from the power of sin, so that with the help of God we may live in harmony with God, with ourselves, with our neighbors, and with all creation.

• Our Holy Scriptures (The Bible) consist of books written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.  We call the Holy Scriptures the Word of God because God inspired their human authors and because God still speaks to us through the Bible.  We believe the truth of the Holy Scriptures is much deeper, richer, bolder, and more complex than the simple truth of human 'fact.'

• The ministers of the Church are lay persons, bishops, priests, and deacons.  In other words, each of us is called to and gifted for a particular ministry.  'Ministry' is not something reserved for ordained men and women.

At Church of the Holy Apostles, we believe that the vast majority of Christians are called to use our voices.

We are called to use our voices in worship, as we gather to offer praise and thanksgiving to the Holy Immortal One, respond to the reconciling love of the Incarnate Word, and invoke the transformative power of the Breath of Life.

We are called to use our voices as 'the church' Monday through Saturday, as we pray, teach, advocate, counsel, console, nurture, engage, and relate to each other in the course of doing the work God has called us to do in the world.

We believe that the more we practice using our voices, the more confident we will be in raising them up to say 'Here I am.  Send me,"  when the Lord asks "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?"  (Isaiah 6:8)

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