Welcome!
Thank you for learning more about us! This is a truly open and welcoming church. God made each of us unique, and we enjoy finding unity amidst our differences. We welcome people of all ages, races, genders, and gender-identities.
Some of our folks have been turned off, excluded, or somehow wounded by other churches, and have found safe refuge here. We have a number of African immigrant families and enjoy being multicultural.
In worship, classes, and other activities, we include both in-person and online participants whenever possible. We have active members living in several different states.
We are large enough to have activities for all ages – children’s and adult Sunday School, youth group, young adults’ group, senior activities – but small enough to have a “family” feel. We are not slick, but we are real. We enjoy one another as we learn together how to embody God’s love and grace in our fast-paced, ever-changing, and increasingly divided world. Come and learn with us!
We are learning together how to be a church in a fast-changing, digital, and increasingly divisive world.
Service and Justice
We are actively engaged in serving the community, especially in feeding the hungry. We have an extensive vegetable garden whose produce goes to the 360 Communities Food Pantry in Rosemount. We have our own Little Free Food Pantry for neighbors. We support the annual CROP Walk and other food drives. And we provide meals for the Dakota County emergency shelter.
Our Justice Works Team has a music ministry reaching underserved children, and we seek to learn and educate the community about issues of racial and economic justice.
Beliefs
As the Apostle Paul said, “faith, hope, and love abide… but the greatest of these is love.” Love of God and love for others is at the heart of our church. We don’t emphasize or require doctrinal conformity. You’ll find a range of political and theological understanding here, but generally we’re on the “progressive” end of churches. We emphasize spiritual inquiry over certainty, grace and acceptance over judgment, and how we live and love others over theological rigidity. You are welcome wherever you are on your spiritual journey!
We take the Bible seriously, but not literally. In fact, it’s because we take it seriously that we don’t try to take it literally. If that idea puzzles you, we will be glad to explore it with you.
We love Jesus, and understand that his love embraces everyone. We don’t think that Christianity calls us to devalue or demonize others. Indeed, we believe that it requires the opposite – valuing and loving all people. We gladly join with people of other faiths, or no religious faith, in seeking a more just and caring world.
Presbyterian
We’re a congregation of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Presbyterians trace their roots back to the 1500’s, when reformers like Martin Luther and John Calvin split from the Roman Catholic Church in a movement known as the Protestant Reformation. There were four major streams of Reformation churches: Lutheran, “Reformed/Calvinist” (Presbyterian, Reformed), Anglican (Episcopalian, Methodist), and Anabaptist (Mennonite, Amish, Baptist). Like other Protestant streams, Presbyterians have split into several different denominations over the years. Ours, the Presbyterian Church (USA), is the largest and most open and affirming of these.
The name “Presbyterian” refers to the way the church is governed. It comes from the Greek, Presbuteros, which means “elder.” A local congregation like ours is led by a council of elders, called the session. The elders are elected by the members. The pastor (also known as the “teaching elder”) chairs the session meetings, but does not vote. Thus, our church governance is essentially a representative democracy. We have no bishops.