Recognizing whose created order this is, and because we are citizens of God’s kingdom, we are to love our neighbors as ourselves, doing good to all, especially to those who belong to the household of God. Reading “along” the whole Bible. Because the gospel removes both fear and pride, people should get along inside the church who could never get along outside. Mr. McElroy is a professional writer, and … We do not exist for ourselves, but for the glory of God. We exist to glorify and enjoy God by making disciples who make a difference through grace-filled worship, community, and missions. The Holy Spirit is himself the down payment of the promised inheritance, and in this age indwells, guides, instructs, equips, revives, and empowers believers for Christ-like living and service. As pastors, we intend to do this in our churches through the ordinary means of his grace: prayer, the ministry of the Word, baptism and the Lord’s Supper and the fellowship of the saints. The core dynamic of gospel–centered ministry is therefore worship and fervent prayer. Instead of calling people to individual conversion through a message of grace, people are called to join the Christian community and kingdom program of what God is doing to liberate the world. It is a community which so loves and cares practically for its members that biblical chastity makes sense. How this vision of truth shapes us. More recently, postmodernism has critiqued this set of assumptions, contending that we are not in fact objective in our pursuit of knowledge, but rather interpret information through our personal experiences, self–interests, emotions, cultural prejudices, language limitations, and relational communities. As we confess in CS–(7), Jesus Christ acted as our representative and substitute, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Robert McLean In Robert Archibald signed a document promising to provide a stipend for William Smart to start the first Sabbath School in Canada. If you would like to have it removed, please. We affirm that truth is conveyed by Scripture. In this imbalance there is little or no emphasis on the importance of the work of justice and mercy for the poor and the oppressed, and on cultural production that glorifies God in the arts, business, etc. But we believe there are also penultimate steps to take. We have committed ourselves to invigorating churches with new hope and compelling joy based on the promises received by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Sin is the rejection of relationship with God. These writings alone constitute the verbally inspired Word of God, which is utterly authoritative and without error in the original writings, complete in its revelation of his will for salvation, sufficient for all that God requires us to believe and do, and final in its authority over every domain of knowledge to which it speaks. A manse, stable and small schoolhouse soon followed. As such, every person on the face of the earth is of great value, possesses great dignity, and is worthy of great respect. There are many seeker–driven churches that help many people find Christ. We are led by a plurality of elders and connected to other churches across our country. The Justification of Sinners We believe that Christ, by his obedience and death, fully discharged the debt of all those who are justified. The Gospel We believe that the gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ—God’s very wisdom. There is one way to salvation in both Old and New Testaments: faith alone in Jesus Christ. He convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and by his powerful and mysterious work regenerates spiritually dead sinners, awakening them to repentance and faith, and in him they are baptized into union with the Lord Jesus, such that they are justified before God by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. The integration of faith and work. Lewinsville Presbyterian Church, founded in 1846 at the corner of Chain Bridge Road and Great Falls Streets in McLean, "seeded" five other churches through the … McLean Church grew out of a Sunday School that began in the Old Paradise School house. As a result it was more individualistic, centering almost completely on personal conversion and safe passage to heaven. Because it points us to a man who died for his enemies, the gospel creates relationships of service rather than of selfishness. There is a fast–growing charismatic movement with emphasis on glorious, passionate, corporate worship. God created both soul and body, and the resurrection of Jesus shows that he is going to redeem both the spiritual and the material. Immanuel means "God with us" [Matthew 1:22-23]. It is not enough that the church should counter the values of the dominant culture. If you have made an account on the new church directory but have forgotten your password you can recover it, If you have made an account on the new church directory but have forgotten your username or need any other assistance, please contact us at. Unaided human reason, it was thought, is able to know truth objectively. The former is con- nected with entrance into the new covenant community, the latter with ongoing covenant renewal. Its first service was held on Easter Sunday at Chesterbook Elementary School in McLean with Pastor J. Albert Ford. But we never want to be so affected by our culture that we compromise gospel truths. Christ Jesus is our peace: he has not only brought about peace with God, but also peace between alienated peoples. The Gospel Coalition supports the church by providing resources that are trusted and timely, winsome and wise, and centered on the gospel of Jesus Christ. Reading “across” the whole Bible. The Power of the Holy Spirit We believe that this salvation, attested in all Scripture and secured by Jesus Christ, is applied to his people by the Holy Spirit. And while, in God’s grace, there is an encouraging number of bright spots in the church, we see no broad movement yet of this gospel–centered ministry. There is great hope if we can unite on the nature of truth, how best to read the Bible, on our relationship to culture, on the content of the gospel, and on the nature of gospel–centered ministry. While TGC does its best to validate each entry, TGC cannot guarantee the actual health of these churches as they are self-regulated. We yearn to work with all who, in addition to embracing the confession and vision set out here, seek the lordship of Christ over the whole of life with unabashed hope in the power of the Holy Spirit to transform individuals, com- munities, and cultures. Regarding money, the church’s members should engage in radical economic sharing with one another—so “there are no needy among them” (Acts 4:34). There will be calls for radical Christian community in which all members share wealth and resources and make room for the poor and the marginalized. You will find attached both our Confessional Statement and our Theological Vision for Ministry—a vision rooted in the Scriptures and centered on the gospel. 3. In anticipation of the union of the Congregational Church, Methodist Church and Presbyterian Church, the Congregationalist Church of Kingston elected to join Chalmers in 1922. Because of the attractiveness of its community and the humility of its people, a gospel–centered church should find people in its midst who are exploring and trying to understand Christianity. Sent by the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ, and, as the other Paraclete, is present with and in believers. We have become deeply concerned about some movements within traditional evangelicalism that seem to be diminishing the church’s life and leading us away from our historic beliefs and practices. Join us on Sundays at 9:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m. and 5:15 p.m. Visit Location Website. The Spirit of God not only converts individuals (e.g., John 16:8) but also renews and cultivates the face of the earth (e.g., Gen 1:2; Psalm 104:30). 4. The church is the body of Christ, the apple of his eye, graven on his hands, and he has pledged himself to her forever. The gospel is the declaration that through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has come to reconcile individuals by his grace and renew the whole world by and for his glory. Dr. Burch, too, figured very largely in the early history of the church. The Redemption of Christ We believe that, moved by love and in obedience to his Father, the eternal Son became human: the Word became flesh, fully God and fully human being, one Person in two natures. Christ wins our salvation through losing, achieves power through weakness and service, and comes to wealth through giving all away. This betrays a lack of gospel humility and a lack of love for our neighbor. 5. The biblical gospel differs markedly from traditional religions as well as from secularism. A. The Restoration of All Things We believe in the personal, glorious, and bodily return of our Lord Jesus Christ with his holy angels, when he will exercise his role as final Judge, and his kingdom will be consummated. If we do this we will be “salt” and “light” in the world (sustaining and improving living conditions, showing the world the glory of God by our patterns of living; Matt 5:13–16). Share to Twitter. What could lead to a growing movement of gospel–centered churches? The answer is that we cannot “contextualize” the gospel in the abstract, as a thought experiment. Presbytery. The supreme need of all human beings is to be reconciled to the God under whose just and holy wrath we stand; the only hope of all human beings is the undeserved love of this same God, who alone can rescue us and restore us to himself. Our church is a member of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). We embrace the Westminster Confession of Faith as a helpful framework in understanding the tenets of our faith. If you are a representative of this church, you can claim this listing in order to update and maintain your church's profile. III. Dr. Hugh Macleod, Minister of Union Presbyterian Church, Mira Ferry; Instead, he sends the Holy Spirit to dwell in our hearts. Regarding sex, the church should avoid both the secular society’s idolization of sex and traditional society’s fear of it. As the Jewish exiles were called to love and work for the shalom of Babylon (Jer 29:7), Christians too are God’s people “in exile” (1 Peter 1:1; James 1:1). Join us Sundays at 9:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m. and 5:15 p.m. Sign up for email updates. This was recognized as the first church body organized in McLean County. Community is at the very heart of who God is and so he gave us the Church. Moreover, this God is a speaking God who by his Spirit has graciously disclosed himself in human words: we believe that God has inspired the words preserved in the Scriptures, the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, which are both record and means of his saving work in the world. Many today (but not all) who major in the first of these two ways of reading the Bible—that is, reading along the whole Bible—dwell on the more corporate aspects of sin and salvation. Counter–cultural community. We do all of this because the gospel of God leads us to it, even while we recognize that the ultimate restoration of all things awaits the personal and bodily return of our Lord Jesus Christ (CS–[13]). Today the church has over 800 active members and friends. We do not, however, see enough individual churches that embody the full, integrative gospel balance we have outlined here. God loves to communicate with the people he created and the Bible is the book he wrote to do just that. Inasmuch as Christ was given by the Father for us, and his obedience and punishment were accepted in place of our own, freely and not for anything in us, this justification is solely of free grace, in order that both the exact justice and the rich grace of God might be glorified in the justification of sinners. To read across the whole Bible is to collect its declarations, summons, promises, and truth–claims into categories of thought (e.g., theology, Christology, eschatology) and arrive at a coherent understanding of what it teaches summarily (e.g., Luke 24:46–47). The former slave evangelist, abolitionist, women’s rights activist and author, delivered a public lecture at the church on that date. God put humanity in the garden to cultivate the material world for his own glory and for the flourishing of nature and the human community. . (The hermeneutical issue). It must welcome them in hundreds of ways. Creation of Humanity We believe that God created human beings, male and female, in his own image. God ordains that they assume distinctive roles which reflect the loving relationship between Christ and the church, the husband exercising headship in a way that displays the caring, sacrificial love of Christ, and the wife submitting to her husband in a way that models the love of the church for her Lord. We are connected to Christians locally, regionally, and nationally through our denomination and beliefs. In 1884, at the dedication of a new addition, the name Memorial Presbyterian Church was adopted. We affirm that truth is correspondence to reality. Why? Men and women, equally made in the image of God, enjoy equal access to God by faith in Christ Jesus and are both called to move beyond passive self-indulgence to significant private and public engagement in family, church, and civic life. Also, its preaching, though expository, was sometimes moralistic and did not emphasize how all biblical themes climax in Christ and his work. How should we relate to the culture around us? We believe that every expression of Christianity is necessarily and rightly contextualized, to some degree, to particular human culture; there is no such thing as a universal a–historical expression of Christianity. We want to be a church that not only gives support to individual Christians in their personal walks with God, but one that also shapes them into the alternative human society God creates by his Word and Spirit. The cross is seen mainly as an example of sacrificial service and a defeat of worldly powers rather than substitution and propitiation for our sins. Rev. The distinctive leadership role within the church given to qualified men is grounded in creation, fall, and redemption and must not be sidelined by appeals to cultural developments. The gospel replaces superiority toward the poor with mercy and compassion. Do you want to know the entry ticket price for McLean Presbyterian Church? The structure was crudely built of native black walnut. We have a vision for a church that sees conversions of rich and poor, highly educated and less educated, men and women, old and young, married and single, and all races. We adopt a “chastened” correspondence–theory of truth that is less triumphalistic than that of some in the older evangelicalism. We therefore do not see our corporate worship services as the primary connecting point with those outside. Prince of Peace is one of the oldest churches in Crofton, founded not long after Crofton itself was built by the Crawford Corporation in the 1960s. How shall we respond to this cultural crisis of truth? God will be all in all and his people will be enthralled by the immediacy of his ineffable holiness, and everything will be to the praise of his glorious grace. Share to Facebook. In this imbalance there is little emphasis on vigorous evangelism and apologetics, on expository preaching, and on the marks and importance of conversion/the new birth. This is not an outline of our doctrinal beliefs (see the Confessional Statement), but a statement of how we intend to discharge Christian ministry and interact with our culture in biblical and theological faithfulness. To read along the whole Bible is to discern the single basic plot–line of the Bible as God’s story of redemption (e.g., Luke 24:44) as well as the themes of the Bible (e.g., covenant, kingship, temple) that run through every stage of history and every part of the canon, climaxing in Jesus Christ. Join us on November 12 to hear B. Roland McElroy discuss his history of the Lewinsville Presbyterian Church. In 1816 Alexander, Jr. and Sr., Henry, Anna, Nancy and Rebecca McLean signed the document of rules for the governing of the First Presbyterian Church of Brockville. contact us. Church records, 1805-1842 (Presbyterian Church (Lansing, New York)) Family History Library Lansing Church Records 1800-1846 (includes baptisms and marriages) US Gen Web McLean Church Records. CONCLUSION For more details on what we believe, we encourage you to … The organizational meeting was held March 13, 1892 and the charter listed seventeen members. The next morning the three got on their horses and rode to Dickson County, But we also reject a view of truth that sees truth as nothing more than the internally coherent language of a particular faith–community. At the same time, and in the same congregations, there will be engagement with the social structures of ordinary people, and cultural engagement with art, business, scholarship, and government. McLean, VA 22101. It brings out the purpose of salvation, namely, a renewed creation. We want to encourage a passion for sound doctrine, but we know that Christian growth is not simply cognitive information transfer. The gospel moves people to holiness and service out of grateful joy for grace, and out of love of the glory of God for who he is in himself. Our History. On May 5, 1909, the Session and Trustees met and selected the present location at the corner of First and Willow Streets, laying the cornerstone on September 25, 1910, and dedicating the building on November 19, 1911. He perfectly obeyed his heavenly Father, lived a sinless life, performed miraculous signs, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead on the third day, and ascended into heaven. As suggested by its new pastor, Mr. McLean, the church was named Westminster Presbyterian Church. There are many churches with a radical commitment to the poor and marginalized. The church is distinguished by her gospel message, her sacred ordinances, her discipline, her great mission, and, above all, by her love for God, and by her mem- bers’ love for one another and for the world. On January 3, 1847, with seventeen members attending, the official dedication of the church took place. I. Written history of the Towanda Presbyterian Church covers the years 1852 - 1973. It will do little to make them “comfortable” but will do much to make its message understandable. McLean Presbyterian From Peabody Avenue the congregation moved to the southwest corner of Union Avenue and McLean Boulevard, then in 1926 to the present building, known as "the South's Cathedral of Presbyterianism” and listed in the National Register of Historic Places. No amount of work, effort, or good intentions can mend the mess we’ve made. Jesus did not treat us that way. It teaches its members to conform their bodily being to the shape of the gospel—abstinence outside of heterosexual marriage and fidelity and joy within. Share to Tumblr. For the common good. The Kingdom of God We believe that those who have been saved by the grace of God through union with Christ by faith and through regeneration by the Holy Spirit enter the kingdom of God and delight in the blessings of the new covenant: the forgiveness of sins, the inward transformation that awakens a desire to glorify, trust, and obey God, and the prospect of the glory yet to be revealed. We desire to advance along the King’s highway, always aiming to provide gospel advocacy, encouragement, and education so that current- and next-generation church leaders are better equipped to fuel their ministries with principles and practices that glorify the Savior and do good to those for whom he shed his life’s blood. We affirm that truth is correspondence of life to God. If you had an account on the old church directory at churches.thegospelcoalition.org you will need to make a new account. God does not leave believers to make it through life on their own. But if we seek direct power and social control, we will, ironically, be assimilated into the very idolatries of wealth, status, and power we seek to change. This good news is biblical (his death and resurrection are according to the Scriptures), theological and salvific (Christ died for our sins, to reconcile us to God), historical (if the saving events did not happen, our faith is worthless, we are still in our sins, and we are to be pitied more than all others), apostolic (the message was entrusted to and transmitted by the apostles, who were witnesses of these saving events), and intensely personal (where it is received, believed, and held firmly, individual persons are saved). We want to generate a unified effort among all peoples—an effort that is zealous to honor Christ and multiply his disciples, joining in a true coalition for Jesus. If your area does not have a regional chapter and you are interested in starting one, please contact us at [email protected]. For more about our confessional statement, check out our series of 14 booklets written by the Council and edited by co-founders D. A. Carson and Timothy Keller. 2. In its perfect pages, he tells us all we need to know for this life and the life to come. Levi H. Christian was called to be the first pastor and agreed to preach for $200 per year. Jesus will return, bodily and visibly, to finish what he started. Mr. J. C. Rouck, while serving the Ellerbe field, would preach on Sunday afternoons. (The contextualization issue), 1. We believe that such commitments will drive us afresh toward Scripture, toward the Christ of Scripture, toward the gospel of Christ, and we will begin to grow in our ability, by God’s grace, as churches, to “act in line with the truth of the gospel” (Gal 2:14). From King'shome, they went to Ephraim McLean'sand spent the night of February 2. But to speak of truth only as propositions weakens our appreciation of the incarnate Son as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and the communicative power of narrative and story, and the importance of truth as living truly in correspondence to God. About Immanuel Presbyterian. The Bible is to be believed, as God’s instruction, in all that it teaches; obeyed, as God’s command, in all that it requires; and trusted, as God’s pledge, in all that it promises. Our church is a member of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). The claim to objectivity is arrogant, postmodernism tells us, and inevitably leads to conflicts between communities with differing opinions as to where the truth lies. Therefore the person who does not generously give away his or her wealth to others is not merely lacking in compassion, but is unjust. In addition to all this, gospel–centered churches will have a bias toward church planting as one of the most effective means of evangelism there is. 3. Thus the gospel creates a human community radically different from any society around it. Between 1850 and 1866, Presbyterian services were held in Little Glace Bay by Rev. We are a fellowship of evangelical churches in the Reformed tradition deeply committed to renewing our faith in the gospel of Christ and to reforming our ministry practices to conform fully to the Scriptures. Being fully God and fully human, he became our substitute: living the perfect life we couldn’t live, dying on the cross to pay the punishment our sin deserves, then rising again to conquer death. How this relationship to culture shapes us. The first worship service of Immanuel Presbyterian Church was conducted by our organizing pastor, the Reverend Robert Keever on September 11, 1960, in the cafeteria of Franklin Sherman Elementary School in McLean, Virginia. If we over–contextualize, it suggests that we want too much the approval of the receiving culture. By being a counter–culture. If a church seeks to be a counter–culture for people’s temporal and eternal good, it will guard itself against both the legalism that can accompany undue cultural withdrawal and the compromise that comes with over–adaptation. How should we read the Bible? Immortal and eternal, he perfectly and exhaustively knows the end from the beginning, sustains and sovereignly rules over all things, and providentially brings about his eternal good purposes to redeem a people for himself and restore his fallen creation, to the praise of his glorious grace. Sojourner Truth is returning to Second Presbyterian Church on the 140th anniversary of her appearance there on September 18, 1879. Secularism tends to make people selfish and individualistic. Ministers of Chalmers. We believe in the comprehensive Lordship of God over all of life: creation, providence, and salvation are all initiated and consummated by the Lord. The kingdom of God, already present but not fully realized, is the exercise of God’s sovereignty in the world toward the eventual redemption of all creation. Adam and Eve belonged to the created order that God himself declared to be very good, serving as God’s agents to care for, manage, and govern creation, living in holy and devoted fellowship with their Maker. The biblical revelation is not just to be known, but to be lived (Deut 29:29). The gospel changes our relationship with God from one of hostility or slavish compliance to one of intimacy and joy. But it also affirms the goodness of serving Christ as singles, whether for a time or for a life. As the mediatorial King, he is seated at the right hand of God the Father, exercising in heaven and on earth all of God’s sovereignty, and is our High Priest and righteous Advocate. God’s New People We believe that God’s new covenant people have already come to the heavenly Jerusalem; they are already seated with Christ in the heavenlies. The emphasis is on Christianity as a way of life to the loss of a blood–bought status in Christ received through personal faith. The church is the body of Christ, the apple of his eye, graven on his hands, and he has pledged himself to her forever. The gospel, however, humbles and affirms us at the same time, since, in Christ, each of us is simultaneously just, and a sinner still. Indifference to the poor and disadvantaged means there has not been a true grasp of our salvation by sheer grace. We do not exist for ourselves, but for the glory of God. By the Spirit’s agency, believers are renewed, sanctified, and adopted into God’s family; they participate in the divine nature and receive his sovereignly distributed gifts. Christian growth occurs only when the whole life is shaped by Christian practices in community—including prayer, baptism, the Lord’s Supper, fellowship, and the public ministry of the Word. He will complete his promise to make all things new when he comes again, judging all humankind and receiving his people unto himself. By his sacrifice, he bore in our stead the punishment due us for our sins, making a proper, real, and full satisfaction to God’s justice on our behalf. Copyright © 2021 The Gospel Coalition, INC. All Rights Reserved. VISION In this perspective, the gospel appears as God, sin, Christ, faith. Enter your email address below. Humanity was created by God – in his image – to be in relationship with him. God calls us to share his gospel through the Great Commission, and we passionately seek to fulfill this calling. The kingdom of God is an invasive power that plunders Satan’s dark kingdom and regenerates and renovates through repentance and faith the lives of individuals rescued from that kingdom. About us Lewinsville Presbyterian Church was established in 1846 at our present location in McLean, Virginia. We walk, not only with God, but also with other believers, loving one another well and working together to see God’s purposes for humanity fulfilled here on earth.

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