FROM THE PASTOR
Along with our welcome to our church's new website, we have decided that this electronic information page would be a good place for me to introduce you to our congregation and its mission here in South Austin. In many ways our church looks like a fairly typical Presbyterian congregation with a wide range of older members, young families, and a multigenerational group of folks who have felt disenfranchised in one way or another by traditional churches. What is distinctive about Faith Presbyterian Church, however, is the sense of acceptance that exists within our congregation and the non-traditional ways we express our faith together. In a day and age when many churches are seeking to develop their ministries around personal and family spiritual needs, our church is seeking to address the broader social implications of the Gospel that impact our lives, our community, and the larger world. Here are a few examples of the kind of issues and challenges that our church has been addressing:
- A recognition that Jesus' vision of the Kingdom of God contains a critique of America's culture of domination, consumerism, and greed, and confronts us with an ethical challenge to work for economic justice and the well-being of all people.
- An appreciation for the inclusive nature of God's love revealed in Jesus Christ which calls us to move beyond our fears and prejudices to break down the barriers created by racism, sexism, nationalism, and sexual preferences.
- A struggle to find contemporary ways of professing that Jesus is the unique revelation of God for us as Christians, without denigrating the faith claims of other religious traditions that exist in the world.
- Finding the courage to face the pain and suffering of God's people in the world and to use our gifts and blessings in uplifting the weak and the vulnerable among us.
- A commitment to raise our voices on behalf of peace amid the warring madness of the world and to seek the common good of our communities in ways that provide all people with dignity and respect.
- An awareness that we live under the grace and mysteries of God where our understandings of Truth, along with our attempts to follow Christ, are always limited and imperfect.
The mission and ministries of our church, including our worship services, our educational programs, our social outreach programs, and the allocation of our church's resources, are reflective of these issues and challenges that we find in the Biblical witness to the Gospel. I invite you to come join us for worship or for any of the other programs and activities you learn about from this website.
Lou Snead
Pastor
