Reformed and Always Reforming...

We now arrive at one of the most distinctive voices in our Book of Confessions: the Brief Statement of Faith. It’s modern—written in the 1980s—and deeply Reformed, echoing centuries of tradition. But it’s also something new: a confession written in a moment of reunion, crafted for a church learning to live together again. It begins: “In life and in death we belong to God.”

That’s not just poetic language. It’s a deliberate beginning. In a denomination that had been divided for over a century, the opening line of this confession roots our shared life not in agreement, but in belonging. We begin not with certainty, but with trust.

Reformed Theology: Rooted and Reframed

The Brief Statement of Faith was written in 1983 as part of the reunion process between the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. and the Presbyterian Church in the U.S., two bodies that had split in the 1800s. It wasn’t meant to replace older confessions. It was created to gather the essentials—a shared expression of faith for a newly united denomination.

In doing so, it affirms the deep themes of the Reformed tradition—God’s sovereignty, salvation by grace, the authority of Scripture, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the call to justice and discipleship. But it also reframes them for the modern church, speaking with poetic clarity and pastoral care. It’s grounded in our theological DNA, but it’s not just a restatement—it’s a response to a new moment:  It names gender equity and racial justice. It speaks plainly about suffering and sin. It calls us to daily faithfulness. And it does all this in the language of we—not abstract theology, but shared conviction.

A Living Confession for a Living Church

This is a confession for today’s church—a church that is still learning, still reforming, still listening for the Spirit. It’s for people who doubt and people who sing. It names sin honestly, and hopes even more boldly.

It doesn’t pretend to close every theological loop. Instead, it gives us a faithful place to begin—a way to speak our trust, together.

Join Us in Worship

We’ll gather around scripture and this modern confession of faith on Sunday morning. Together we’ll remember: even when we can’t see the way forward clearly, even when words fail us, we are not alone.