OUR BELIEFS
We believe that each person is a child of God, and we invite and welcome into our community persons of every gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression, mental and physical ability, age, race, ethnicity, economic and social background, marital status, and family structure.
Our faith leads us to welcome all who wish to share their God-given gifts to participate fully in the life, leadership, ministry, fellowship, worship, sacraments, responsibilities, and blessings of our congregation.
As an open and affirming congregation and followers of Jesus, Parkview United Church of Christ relies on and is inspired by God's love that is beyond all human understanding as we continue to strive for justice, acceptance, inclusivity, and love in our congregation and in the world.
Our faith leads us to welcome all who wish to share their God-given gifts to participate fully in the life, leadership, ministry, fellowship, worship, sacraments, responsibilities, and blessings of our congregation.
As an open and affirming congregation and followers of Jesus, Parkview United Church of Christ relies on and is inspired by God's love that is beyond all human understanding as we continue to strive for justice, acceptance, inclusivity, and love in our congregation and in the world.
OUR MISSION, VISION, AND CORE VALUES
Mission Statement
We are a Progressive Christian Community created by inclusion, built on shared values and individual spiritual journeys, sustained by acts of justice and service.
Vision Statement
We strive for a just world shaped by Jesus’ teachings: love, forgiveness, acceptance and service.
Core Values
Inclusive
Believing there are many paths to God, we embrace Christians, questioning skeptics, believers, and agnostics. We welcome every sexual orientation, gender identity, race, ethnicity, creed, and family structure.
Inspired
We are connected to God and each other through music, arts, and spoken word. We value worship that is enlightening, relevant, and spirit filled.
Involved
We live our faith by helping others, promoting justice, peace, and understanding.
Community
We embody God's love by walking together through life's joys and sorrows.
We are a Progressive Christian Community created by inclusion, built on shared values and individual spiritual journeys, sustained by acts of justice and service.
Vision Statement
We strive for a just world shaped by Jesus’ teachings: love, forgiveness, acceptance and service.
Core Values
Inclusive
Believing there are many paths to God, we embrace Christians, questioning skeptics, believers, and agnostics. We welcome every sexual orientation, gender identity, race, ethnicity, creed, and family structure.
Inspired
We are connected to God and each other through music, arts, and spoken word. We value worship that is enlightening, relevant, and spirit filled.
Involved
We live our faith by helping others, promoting justice, peace, and understanding.
Community
We embody God's love by walking together through life's joys and sorrows.
We are open & affirming
By overwhelming majority, Parkview United Church of Christ voted to become an Open & Affirming Congregation on October 9, 2013.
The Open & Affirming designation means the church now openly welcomes persons of every gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression to participate in all aspects of worship and church life.
As an Open & Affirming church, Parkview joins a small by growing number of churches in the Twin Cities metro and throughout the nation, that openly welcome the LGBTQ+ community.
Achieving the Open & Affirming designation was very important to Parkview. We wanted to send a message to everyone in White Bear Lake and the surrounding areas that they are loved and valued as a child of God. We are living up to Jesus' commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves—and we want to do it in an extravagant and exuberant way.
Whoever you are, wherever you are on life's journey, YOU are welcome here.
The Open & Affirming designation means the church now openly welcomes persons of every gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression to participate in all aspects of worship and church life.
As an Open & Affirming church, Parkview joins a small by growing number of churches in the Twin Cities metro and throughout the nation, that openly welcome the LGBTQ+ community.
Achieving the Open & Affirming designation was very important to Parkview. We wanted to send a message to everyone in White Bear Lake and the surrounding areas that they are loved and valued as a child of God. We are living up to Jesus' commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves—and we want to do it in an extravagant and exuberant way.
Whoever you are, wherever you are on life's journey, YOU are welcome here.
BASIC BELIEFS OF THE UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST
1. God is still speaking.
“Never put a period where God has put a comma.” - Gracie Allen
We believe that our faith is based on a biblical interpretation that includes new revelations and learning in science, art, music, literature, psychology and the social sciences, and other sources of knowledge that continue to evolve and change over time.
2. Church of the Extravagant Welcome.
We are a church that seeks to be an inclusive church, beginning with the practice of open communion. We value diversity and are committed to being a multiracial, multicultural church. MOST UCC churches are Open and Affirming, extending a welcome to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered individuals. We believe that each person is a beloved child of God. “Who ever you are, wherever you are on life's journey, you are welcome here.”
3. Testimonies of faith, not tests of faith.
We are a non-doctrinal church, not requiring acceptance of a specific set of beliefs in order to be in fellowship with a congregation. We choose to tell each other our faith stories, and to share our struggles, believing that God is moving in each of our lives.
4. Congregational Polity and the Autonomy of the Local Church.
Ours is a grass roots method of church governance with the ultimate authority for practices of faith, positions on social issues, and pastoral leadership lying in the local church. Our Conference (regional body) and General Synod (national body) offer us guidance, theological positions, and recommendations for political and social policy, which each local congregation is able to accept or reject, but is called by covenant to consider.
5. We take the Bible too seriously to take it literally.
We believe that scripture is to be continually interpreted across time, based on the always evolving scholarship in biblical criticism and the unfolding knowledge of the relationship between culture, revelation, experience, and tradition.
6. The priesthood of all believers.
Paul taught that we must each work out our own faith “in fear and trembling.” Each of us is on a spiritual journey to understand the mystery we call God, and to better understand what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. The journey of faith is a practice in developing an open heart, a listening spirit, and a sense of mystery and awe.
7. To Believe is to Care, to Care is to Do.
In the United Church of Christ, we are a people who are engaged in continuing mission to transform the world into a place of justice and peace. We stand in sacred trust before God for the gift of our earth and the condition of all its inhabitants. Our faith demands action.
“Never put a period where God has put a comma.” - Gracie Allen
We believe that our faith is based on a biblical interpretation that includes new revelations and learning in science, art, music, literature, psychology and the social sciences, and other sources of knowledge that continue to evolve and change over time.
2. Church of the Extravagant Welcome.
We are a church that seeks to be an inclusive church, beginning with the practice of open communion. We value diversity and are committed to being a multiracial, multicultural church. MOST UCC churches are Open and Affirming, extending a welcome to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered individuals. We believe that each person is a beloved child of God. “Who ever you are, wherever you are on life's journey, you are welcome here.”
3. Testimonies of faith, not tests of faith.
We are a non-doctrinal church, not requiring acceptance of a specific set of beliefs in order to be in fellowship with a congregation. We choose to tell each other our faith stories, and to share our struggles, believing that God is moving in each of our lives.
4. Congregational Polity and the Autonomy of the Local Church.
Ours is a grass roots method of church governance with the ultimate authority for practices of faith, positions on social issues, and pastoral leadership lying in the local church. Our Conference (regional body) and General Synod (national body) offer us guidance, theological positions, and recommendations for political and social policy, which each local congregation is able to accept or reject, but is called by covenant to consider.
5. We take the Bible too seriously to take it literally.
We believe that scripture is to be continually interpreted across time, based on the always evolving scholarship in biblical criticism and the unfolding knowledge of the relationship between culture, revelation, experience, and tradition.
6. The priesthood of all believers.
Paul taught that we must each work out our own faith “in fear and trembling.” Each of us is on a spiritual journey to understand the mystery we call God, and to better understand what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. The journey of faith is a practice in developing an open heart, a listening spirit, and a sense of mystery and awe.
7. To Believe is to Care, to Care is to Do.
In the United Church of Christ, we are a people who are engaged in continuing mission to transform the world into a place of justice and peace. We stand in sacred trust before God for the gift of our earth and the condition of all its inhabitants. Our faith demands action.
STATEMENT OF INCLUSIVITY
We believe that each person is a child of God, and we invite and welcome into our community persons of every gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression, mental and physical ability, age, race, ethnicity, economic and social background, marital status, and family structure. Our faith leads us to welcome all who wish to share their God-given gifts to participate fully in the life, leadership, ministry, fellowship, worship, sacraments, responsibilities, and blessings of our congregation. As an open and affirming congregation and followers of Jesus, Parkview United Church of Christ relies on and is inspired by God's love that is beyond all human understanding as we continue to strive for justice, acceptance, inclusivity, and love in our congregation and in the world.
what is progressive christianity?
We like to say that we are “spiritual and religious”. We follow in the way of Jesus – loving God and loving our neighbors as we love ourselves. We take the Bible seriously but not literally. We embrace its timeless teachings and stories that bring us closer to God. We like questions as much as answers. We hold that to believe is to care, to care is to do. We reach out to help others with human hands and sincere generosity. We intentionally create a warm community where everyone is welcome. Our doors are open, our minds are open, our hearts are open. We’d like to learn more about you—your beliefs and your doubts and your values, the story that brought you to visit our church.