What We Believe

What We Believe

Burke Presbyterian Church proclaims the Lordship of Jesus Christ, the authority of the Scripture, and the priesthood of all believers. We are a family of faith that believes in the sovereignty of God and that Jesus Christ is lord of the conscience of each member. We come together to worship and to learn to live our lives acting upon the imperatives of the Gospel.

We are:

Biblically based: Scripture is the authoritative witness to the God we know in Jesus Christ and our “rule for faith and life.” The Holy Spirit enlivens our hearing of scripture. Through the work of the Spirit, the written word in scripture becomes the living Word of God.

Historically informed: As Presbyterians, we are Reformed Christians-descendants of the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century. As such, we are “reformed, yet always being reformed according to the word of God.” We are guided by the confessions of the church-historical statements of faith written for particular times and places. We celebrate our Presbyterian heritage, even as we acknowledge that God is not finished with us.

Socially engaged: Christians are called to live with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other. We seek to live out our faith through active engagement with the world in which we live. We pray for God’s liberating and transforming presence to intercede in places of despair, and we strive to be bearers of God’s Good News in word and in deed.

Ecumenically involved: We are enriched by relationships with Christians of other denominations. We are blessed by our relationship with Roman Catholic and Baptist “sister” congregations, and we are committed to ongoing dialogue with Jewish and Muslim people of faith.

Communally nurtured: Our faith does not exist in a vacuum. God calls us to love one another, to pray for one another, and to bear one another’s burdens. We gather as a community to worship, play, study, and serve those in need. We also participate in Stephen Ministry, a national program of pastoral care.

Burke Presbyterian Church is part of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and a member of the National Capital Presbytery.