Welcome
Welcome to the First Reformed Church. Sound Boring?
Perhaps you may want to think of it this way. Nothing can be more dynamic
than something that is changing all the time. The word reform means to
be changing constantly for the purpose of adapting to the world around
us. First means to be there ahead of the rest. Church is just another
word for family. Now let's try that welcome again. Welcome to the family
who desires to be the first to help you negotiate your changing world.
Statement of Belief
We believe everyone is constantly adapting to the world
around him or her. We believe that an old spiritual book, the Bible, is
the only source for determining how we can do this well and accomplish
our purpose for life.
We believe that life consists of both a present life and
a life after death. The after life is composed of two different places,
an eternal heaven and an eternal hell. Where a person will spend the after
life is not determined by how well that person lived this present life,
but the condition of his or her relationship with Jesus.
We believe that the power to which some people ascribe
the general name of god is a personal deity, which cares intimately for
everything that exists. We understand this deity in three ways. We use
the name Father to personalize the one who brought into existence all
that is simply by speaking. We use the name Jesus to acknowledge the one
who came to us in the middle of our mess and cleaned it up for us. We
use the words Holy Spirit to remind us that the one who cleaned up our
mess hasn't abandoned us because we keep messing up. An easy way for us
to combine these appreciations of God is to say "Trinity" or
"Triune God."
We believe that life is a series of relationships. It
is a relationship with the Triune God, a relationship with others, a relationship
with creation, and a relationship with yourself (You know, you and that
little person inside you who you are always talking to when no one else
is around). Doing these relationships well is the purpose of life.
--Pastor Kent Vant Hul
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