Our Values and Beliefs
The congregation of First Presbyterian Church of Newhall is a vibrant, multi-generational, inclusive family of Christian faith.
We seek to be caring, welcoming, passionate, faithful and empathetic as followers of Jesus Christ. We love worship and music; programs for children and youth are important; we engage in caring for others in our community and with others around the world; we have many fellowship groups where we are engaged with each other in Bible study, prayer, support and caring for the world around us.
We are an active community of faith, and we invite you to participate with us in our activities, ministries and missions.
In 1983 the two largest Presbyterian churches in the United States reunited. The “Plan for Reunion” called for the preparation of a brief statement of the Reformed faith. It’s terrific. Read it. Read it again. Put a copy in your bible and use it as a guide to interpreting and understanding the sweep and scope of scripture. The early Christians had what is called The Rule of Faith, which they used to put the ancient Hebrew writings and the newly minted Christian writings within the context of the entirety of the revealed word of God. Paul declared, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (Tim 3.16). Our Brief Statement of Faith is an indispensable tool to do precisely what Paul called for. It serves, in my judgment, as a corrective for the current inadequacies of the ancient creeds. There is a Balm in Gilead –and this is it:
Brief Statement of Faith
In life and in death we belong to God.
Through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God,
and the communion of the Holy Spirit,
we trust in the one triune God, the Holy One of Israel,
whom alone we worship and serve.
We trust in Jesus Christ,
Fully human, fully God.
Jesus proclaimed the reign of God:
preaching good news to the poor
and release to the captives,
teaching by word and deed
and blessing the children,
healing the sick
and binding up the brokenhearted,
eating with outcasts,
forgiving sinners,
and calling all to repent and believe the gospel.
Unjustly condemned for blasphemy and sedition,
Jesus was crucified,
suffering the depths of human pain
and giving his life for the sins of the world.
God raised this Jesus from the dead,
vindicating his sinless life,
breaking the power of sin and evil,
delivering us from death to life eternal.
We trust in God,
whom Jesus called Abba, Father.
In sovereign love God created the world good
and makes everyone equally in God’s image
male and female, of every race and people,
to live as one community.
But we rebel against God; we hide from our Creator.
Ignoring God’s commandments,
we violate the image of God in others and ourselves,
accept lies as truth,
exploit neighbor and nature,
and threaten death to the planet entrusted to our care.
We deserve God’s condemnation.
Yet God acts with justice and mercy to redeem creation.
In everlasting love,
the God of Abraham and Sarah chose a covenant people
to bless all families of the earth.
Hearing their cry,
God delivered the children of Israel
from the house of bondage.
Our Values & Beliefs
Our congregation is a family of Christian faith, following Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior both personally and as a congregation. We are passionate to honor Jesus Christ in what we believe and what we do, since we represent Jesus Christ in and to the world. We welcome people to participate in our family of faith and to explore and grow spiritually in a friendly, warm, loving community.
As a family of faith, we seek to follow the Living Word, Jesus Christ, through the direction of the Holy Spirit and through the written Word of God in the Holy Scriptures. The Bible is our basis for the preaching and teaching in our congregation. The Bible teaches us how to have a relationship with God, how to participate in the salvation brought through God’s Son Jesus Christ, and how to live a Christian life with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
We believe in the doctrines expressed in the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed. We accept the doctrines expressed in the other Creeds and Confessions adopted by our PCUSA denomination.
We encourage each person to love God with heart, soul, strength and mind, as commanded by God and His Son, Jesus Christ. We love worship together, with music, teaching, sharing and prayers. We encourage devotional practice in small groups and personally by each person. We encourage each other to follow God’s commandments and walk in accord with the Holy Spirit. We are an open community where each person can explore the Christian faith and is encouraged to grow as a disciple of Jesus Christ.
We seek to be a loving community of faith in following Jesus’ command to love each other. We seek to be welcoming and inclusive of all who wish to join our community of believers, regardless of status. We aim to be a warm and friendly community. We provide shelter, care, nurture, support and fellowship for all who would gather together in our community of faith. Our Board of Deacons, assisted by our pastors, serves the needs of those in our community of faith.
We seek to love our neighbors in our local community and around the world. We seek to share the love of Christ with those who are suffering and in need. We seek to uplift the lives of people with ministries that address hunger, shelter, health, education, sanitation and water, and other human needs. We seek to promote social righteousness, justice and mercy that are marks of the Kingdom of God. We invite others to explore and to become part of the life of faith in Jesus Christ.
We believe that each member of our congregation is gifted by God through the Holy Spirit with unique abilities and character to serve Christ in our church. Each person is as important as any other in our congregation. Each serves as a minister of Christ, according to his or her calling from God through the Holy Spirit, in cooperation with others in our family of faith.
In our congregation the members and pastors share the ministries and leadership. Our pastors are elected by our congregation in cooperation with the Presbytery of San Fernando, which oversees 24 PCUSA churches in the San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Antelope Valleys. We are led by our Elders, who are elected by our congregation to serve on the Session, the governing board of our church. We are called “Presbyterian” because that is derived from the New Testament Greek word used for the elders who led the early Christian Churches. The Elders lead and direct the various ministries of our church. Men and women are glad to serve equally whether they are called to be Pastors, Elders or Deacons.
We are connected to the nationwide Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) denomination. PCUSA is made up of 1.3 million church members in about 9,000 congregations. Through PCUSA, we are able to participate in missions and ministries that are too large for one congregation. Over 200 missionaries of our denomination serve churches and peoples in over 50 countries around the world. Through PCUSA we participate in missions of evangelism, food and agriculture, health, disaster recovery, community development and education in both the USA and other countries.
More information on What We Believe, including on the issues of our day, can be found on the Presbyterian Church USA website, access here.
Our FPCN Church History
Diversity is good
“Presbyterians believe that the best decisions are made when the broadest possible representation of our diversity participates. We believe in the equality of all people before God, and therefore our system represents a parity, an equality, of persons. There are always both elders and ministers qualified to vote in every governing body. We seek to have women as well as men represented. We encourage people of every race and ethnicity to participate.”