FIRST
PRESBYTERIAN
CHURCH
BELLEVUE, IA
a member of the PCUSA
While our church was founded in 1858, our roots go back millenia. Like all Christians, we trace our roots to the teachings of the apostles and the early church leaders of the first few centuries. Our distinction as Presbyterian Christians can be traced to the religious reformers John Calvin and John Knox in the 1500s. Coming from the Greek word presbuteros, meaning “Elders.” The governance of the church is managed by a group of Elders, or Presbyters, who are elected by the congregation.
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As a Member Church of the Presbyterian Church USA, we affirm the Bible as the unique Word of God and interpret it in the light of our Confessions, gathered together into our book of Confessions. Gathered together into a brief statement of faith, we affirm as a community of faith that:
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“In life and death we belong to God. Through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, The love of God, And the communion of the Holy Spirit, we trust in the one triune God, the Holy One of Israel, whom alone we worship and serve. We trust in Jesus Christ, Fully human, fully God. Jesus proclaimed the reign of God: preaching good news to the poor and release to the captives, teaching by word and deed and blessing the children, healing the sick and binding up the brokenhearted, eating with outcasts, forgiving sinners, and calling all to repent and believe the gospel.
Unjustly condemned for blasphemy and sedition, Jesus was crucified, suffering the depths of human pain and giving his life for the sins of the world. God raised Jesus from the dead, vindicating his sinless life, breaking the power of sin and evil, delivering us from death to life eternal.We trust in God, whom Jesus called Abba, Father. In sovereign love God created the world good and makes everyone equally in God's image male and female, of every race and people, to live as one community. But we rebel against God; we hide from our Creator. Ignoring God's commandments,b we violate the image of God in others and ourselves, accept lies as truth, exploit neighbor and nature and threaten death to the planet entrusted to our care.
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We deserve God's condemnation. Yet God acts with justice and mercy to redeem creation. In everlasting love, the God of Abraham and Sarah chose a covenant people to bless all families of the earth. Hearing their cry, God delivered the children of israel from the house of bondage. Loving us still, God makes us heirs with Christ of the covenant. Like a mother who will not forsake her nursing child, like a father who runs to welcome the prodigal home, God is faithful still.
We trust in God the Holy Spirit, everywhere the giver and renewer of life. The Spirit justifies us by grace through faith, sets us free to accept ourselves and to love God and neighbor, and binds us together with all believers in the one body of Christ, the church. The same Spirit who inspired the prophets and apostles rules our faith and life in Christ through Scripture, engages us through the Word proclaimed, claims us in the waters of baptism, feeds us with the bread of life and the cup of salvation, and calls women and men to all ministries of the church.
In a broken and fearful world the Spirit gives us courage to pray without ceasing, to witness among all peoples to Christ as Lord and Savior, to unmask idolatries in church and culture, to hear the voices of peoples long silenced, and to work with others for justice, freedom, and peace In gratitude to God, empowered by the Spirit, we strive to serve Christ in our daily tasks and to live holy and joyful lives, even as we watch for God's new heaven and new earth, praying, Come, Lord Jesus!
With believers in every time and place, we rejoice that nothing in life or in death
can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
- Book of Confessions pg. 310-311
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While in our last 160 years, our ministries and life together has looked different in different moments, our commitment to the work of Jesus in our World has not. We pray and hope that our next 160 years will be as fruitful as our last 160 have been and that the Spirit of God will continue to use us in ways that we cannot yet even imagine.
To see what God is up to in our midst, please visit our “News and Events” Page!
Our History and Faith
John Calvin
John Knox
Youth Group Trip 2019
Youth and Children's group 1922