What are services like?
Services are intimate and experiential -- you never know when there might be a talk-back sermon or a monolog, a time for renewal of baptism or a special activity. But if you've been Presbyterian before, you'll still recognize it all -- liturgy and even hymns you love. Sample sermons are available at our website at www.faithpcusa.com.
Seventy-five minute services usually begin with a traditional call to worship, followed by praise and worship music, a common prayer of confession and assurance of pardon and an affirmation of faith, often the Apostle's Creed. Everything is printed somewhere if you are not familiar with the language.
We collect an offering, remembering that it is not an obligation, but a thank you for all the blessings we have been given. You may give or not, as you desire.
After the offering, we have a time for children, a traditional hymn, Scripture, sermon, prayers, and on the first Sunday of every month, the Lord's Supper (Communion or Eucharist). We close with a hymn or praise song.
People are casual -- jeans are o.k. -- but so is your Sunday best if that's what you prefer. Our goal is to worship God: to create a space where we can experience God's presence, thank God for the love that surrounds us, laugh and cry together, and to give God the glory for it all. Instead of a performance, worship at Faith is a chance for every person to participate in glorifying God and lifting up the name of Jesus so that everyone in our community and our world can hear it.
Plan to stay afterwards for a light luncheon -- we like to boast that no one ever leaves hungry.
What is the community like?
This may not be the church for you if you like to say "We've never done it that way." Our church family loves to try new things, reach beyond our church walls to ministry in the community, and always find ways to care for one another.
We admit that one of our biggest challenges in evangelism is that for many of us, our closest friends are also members of the church. Knowing that, however, we work hard to include newcomers in the fun and fellowship.
That's important, because fun and fellowship is important to us. We have a Fourth Friday game night where we usually play "cut-throat" dominoes. Sometimes we'll still be laughing and joking about it on Sunday morning. We want to share the joy we have with one another with all the people we meet.
Our members come from all walks of life: farmers, bus drivers, teachers, pilots (lots of pilots!), businesspeople, real estate agents, retired people, and more. We also have young families without children, with children, grandparents, single people -- truly all ages.
What if I'm not a Christian?
People who think they know what the church "is" might be surprised when they come to Faith. We're not so different from what people who used to go to church might have known, but there's a Spirit of love in our church that we hope is contagious. Come if you haven't been to church in a long time. Come if you've never been to church, if you're not sure at all what you believe. Ask questions. Set up a time to talk with our pastor. Our goal is not to give you all the answers, but to allow you to ask the questions as you explore your own relationship with God. Sure, one day we believe every voice will cry out that Jesus Christ is Lord -- but if you're not there yet, just come and lay your burdens down with us for a while.
