About Us

Faith Presbyterian Church, located in South Austin near the downtown area, is one of nine Presbyterian churches in our city. As an urban, neighborhood church established in 1957, we are becoming an ethnically diverse congregation drawn together by our commitment to creating a faith community of acceptance and working for peace and social justice in God's world. As a small congregation with over 150 members we value our friendships and we share a common belief that "a Faith worth having is a Faith worth sharing." Those who join our church typically share our strong sense of mission to the world and to those in need.  On this website you can find information about our worship life, our education program, and our outreach ministries.

The leadership of our church and our congregation's sense of mission reflect many of the characteristics of the emerging "Progressive Christian movement" that has been taking shape within mainline churches here at the beginning of the 21st Century. Progressive Christian churches are those whose worship liturgy, Christian education, and mission activities are decisively shaped by our:

• Thinking and talking about God as spirit and energy rather than personifying God or thinking of God as existing outside the world.
• Looking for God's presence and activity in this life rather than in an afterlife and seeing discipleship in Jesus' name primarily as an ethical challenge to replicate Christ's ministry of compassion and justice in our relationships.
• Demanding intellectual integrity in our faith which seeks to integrate science with faith and to interpret Scripture metaphorically rather than literally.
• Appreciating the ethical social dimensions of the Gospel as much as the personal value of the Christian faith.
• Claiming allegiance to Jesus as our window into God without claiming the superiority of our faith over other faith traditions.
• Affirming the equal rights of all Christians to be welcomed and included in the full life of the church regardless of their race, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, or economic conditions.
• Valuing participatory worship experiences that lift up the unexpected grace of God, that celebrate the sacred in life, and that appreciate both the variety of Christian rituals and practices handed down to the church through the ages along with non-Christian spiritual practices.
• Interpreting the Bible on the basis of a love/justice perspective rather than literally or in terms of law and grace.