About
Us
Who are Cumberland Presbyterians?
Roots
We are a member of the Presbyterian
and Reformed family of churches. Our roots go back to the
Presbyterian beginnings in Switzerland and Scotland.
Distinct Accent
We have a distinct accent,
life and ministry; and though similar, we differ from the
Christian Reform Church, Presbyterian Church USA, the Reformed
Church of America, the Presbyterian Church of America,
the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church and like denominations.
We are Presbyterian in government rather than Congregational,
or Episcopal. Our units of government are: session, presbytery,
synod, and general assembly. We are a connectional Church,
related on all levels. As congregations we are related
to the whole.
We were the first Presbyterian body to ordain women for
the ministry. This began in the late 1800s. We also ordain
women as church officers.
Background
Cumberland Presbyterians
came out of the old Presbyterian Church, February 4, 1810,
on the American frontier, as the result of differences
over theology, ministerial education, methods of ministry,
and the Great Revival of 1800.
Practically 100 years later (1906), a union with the Presbyterian
Church USA was consummated. The majority of our congregations,
institutions, missions, and ministers conformed to this
action. At the time, we were the third largest Presbyterian
body in the nation.
A sizeable minority took action to continue our identity
as Cumberland Presbyterians. The Church went through a
long period of rebuilding.
Size
We are a denomination with less
than 100,000 members, serving in 19 states, with a concentration
of congregations in Kentucky and Tennessee. We have congregations
in Hong Kong, Columbia, Japan, and Liberia. We have 784
congregations.
The majority of parishes are small and medium membership
churches. We have fewer large congregations.
Big Program
The denomination, though
small, has become a vital, creative, outreaching, and loyal
steward of its mission. We maintain a program far out of
proportion to our size.
Ministerial Education
We hold and insist
upon adherence to a high standard of education for ministers,
though careful exemptions are made for practical purposes.
Ecumenical
We are ecumenical, relating
to and working with other communions in the local community
and beyond; such as: World Alliance of Reformed Churches,
Cooperative Publication Assoc., The Association of Presbyterian
Church Educators, World Vision, Coalition for Appalachian
Ministry (CAM), and Commission on Religion in America (CORA).
We maintain a significant communication and working relationship
with the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in America (Afro-American).
Worship
We are non-liturgical, with
no officially prescribed liturgy. This freedom of worship
allows for a variety of patterns and practices, both formal
and informal. A Directory for Worship is provided in the
Confession of Faith as resource. (See below for Sacraments).
The Book of Common Worship was jointly produced by our
Church and the PCUSA.
Social Concerns
The Cumberland Presbyterian
faith has implications for works. There is a growing sense
of environmental and social responsibility in the denomination.
This is reflected in the 1984 Confession of Faith, and
the General Assembly's Commission on Theology and
Social Concerns. The Church attempts to speak to changing
needs and problems related to society.
Theological Position
Modified Calvinism
Our theology has
been referred to as "Medium" - somewhere
between Calvinism and Armenianism.
Moderate to Middle-of-the-Road
We do not run to extremes,
nor are we fanatic in
theology, attitudes, or practices.
Diversity
Members reflect many denominational
and theological backgrounds and concepts. We are tolerant
and acceptive of different notions. We are not dogmatic.
However, we have an official creed in our Confession of
Faith to which we require loyalty on the part of ministers
and church officers. It is a guide for instruction and
for publications.
Evangelical
We are evangelical. We believe
salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ and that
we have been commissioned to preach this good news to all
the world.
A Mixture of Traditionalism and Openness
We attempt
to conserve established traditions while at the same time
we try to adapt our methods and message to the present
day.
Some Basic Beliefs
The Trinity
We believe in God as Creator
and Caretaker; in Jesus Christ as divine Savior and Lord;
and in the Holy Spirit as God present and work everywhere
in creation.
Sin and Salvation
Human beings disobey
God, like Adam and Eve, and are in need of spiritual rebirth.
God initiates salvation, sending the Holy Spirit to all
persons, calling them to repentance and faith. They have
a choice of acceptance or rejection. "Whoever believes" is
redeemed. We are not, nor have we ever been, Predestinarian.
Persons are set into right relations with God by faith,
and not by works. Salvation is a gift of God's grace,
not something earned or merited.
Once God makes a covenant with persons, and they with
God, they will never totally fall away from the state of
grace, nor withdraw permanently from God. God never forsakes
them, and continually works to maintain the relationship.
Christian Growth
Beginning Christians
are like babes in Christ - they have only just been born.
All Christians need to grow continually throughout their
years in the capacity to receive God's grace, and
in the ability to live the Christian life.
The Bible
The holy scriptures are the
infallible rule of faith and practice, the authoritative
guide for Christian living. The holy scriptures are the
sixty-six books contained in the Old and New Testaments.
The Church
The Cumberland Presbyterian
Church considers itself to be a part of the Holy Universal
Church, consisting of all who have made covenant with God
through Jesus Christ. We are not sectarian. We are one
of many communions who belong to God.
The Sacraments
The Sacraments are celebrations
of the covenant in which Christ mysteriously is present
and active. We accept two sacraments: Baptism and the Lord's
Supper. Through God's presence, work and will, they
are made effective. The elements of water, fruit of the
vine and the bread are only signs and symbols and remain
what they are. The sacraments are not essential to salvation,
but are necessary means of grace. The Sacraments are central
to Christian worship.
Baptism symbolizes the outpouring of the Holy Sprit. It
marks membership in the church. It is administered to infants
whose parent(s) are members of the covenant community.
It is also administered to those who affirm personal faith
in Jesus Christ and have not received the sacrament. Pouring
or sprinkling are generally accepted modes of baptism;
however, the validity of this Sacrament does not depend
on the mode. We accept baptism of those who have been immersed.
The Lord's Supper is celebrated frequently but not
every Sunday. Bread (leavened or unleavened) and the fruit
of the vine are usually used. Some congregations use wine.
All believers are welcomed at the Table. In some congregations
the children partake of this sacrament.
Death and Resurrection
We do not believe
in the natural immortality of the soul. Eternal life is
a gift from God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead. We are raised with him through our conversion.
Eternal life is a living relation with God (John 17:3)
which continues more completely after death when full redemption
shall be ours in the resurrection of the body.
Last Things
The Cumberland Presbyterian
Church accepts what the Bible says about heaven and
hell, though the Confession of Faith speaks but briefly
about them. There is a divergence of opinions concerning
these concepts.
There is no full statement in the Confession of Faith
about the Last Days and the Second Coming of Christ. No
speculation is done about the time and manner of these
events.
However, Cumberland Presbyterians declare in the final
words of the Confession of Faith. "In the consummation
of history, at the coming of Jesus Christ, the kingdoms
of the world shall become the kingdom of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever."
- Morris Pepper
The Faith of Cumberland Presbyterians
We believe and therefore we speak – 2 Cor. 4:13
The Bible
Cumberland Presbyterians accept the Bible as the only infallible
rule of faith and practice. We believe that the Holy
Scriptures comprise the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments,
and that the best rule of interpretation of the Scriptures
is the comparison of Scripture to Scripture. This means
that we not depend upon a particular verse as literal
proof of all beliefs and practices, but we do seek the
whole teaching and spirit of the Bible as our guide.
The Godhead
We believe in the divinity of Jesus and the Holy Spirit
as well as in God the Father; the three persons making
up the Trinity.
The Church
We believe in our denomination as a part of the Church
of which Christ is the head and all believers in Christ
are a part. We believe in cooperation with all who accept
Jesus as Christ and Lord.
Salvation
We believe that every person needs regeneration and must
make a personal commitment of his life in Christ in order
to be saved. We do not believe that any are saved or
lost regardless of their own will. All infants dying
in infancy and all persons who have never had the faculty
of reason are regenerated and saved through Christ.
Preservation of Believers
We believe that a person who is truly regenerated will
not totally fall away from a state of grace, but will
be preserved to everlasting life. Christ is as interested
in keeping us saved as he is in saving us. This does
not mean that one can "do as he pleases" after
he accepts Christ, but that if he is truly regenerated,
he will not be satisfied with less than a life which
is pleasing to Christ.
We do not believe that good works will save our souls,
but that good deeds are the result of a regenerated life.
Sanctification
We believe that every child of God will use every means
possible to grow in grace. We do not believe that a state
of sinless perfection is possible in this life. Sanctification
does not mean sinless perfection, but it does mean a
setting apart of life for sacred use, similar to the
idea of consecration.
The Sabbath
We believe that after the resurrection of Christ the Sabbath
was changed to the first day of the week, and that the
same principles apply to the keeping of this day as were
set forth in the Bible concerning the original Sabbath.
The Sacraments
We believe that there are just two sacraments of the Church.
Water Baptism is one sacrament. It is a sign or symbol
of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and a seal of the covenant
of Grace. Since the Holy Spirit is always represented in
the Scriptures as being poured out on a person, its renewal
and cleansing is best symbolized by pouring or sprinkling
water upon the head of the one being baptized. We believe
that infant children of Christians should be given the
seal of the covenant just as Hebrew children were in the
Old Testament days. Infant baptism is now that seal, and
represents an act of faith on the part of the parents and
the Church as the child is dedicated to the Lord. Infant
baptism is not an evidence of salvation but is an evidence
of non-communicant church membership. Those who have been
baptized in infancy must make a personal acceptance of
Christ and concur in the prior act of their baptism before
sharing in the full fellowship of the Church.
There is no saving power in water baptism, yet it is the
duty of all believers not previously baptized to confess
Christ in this solemn ordinance and present their infant
children for baptism.
The Lord's Supper is the second
sacrament. The symbols to be used are bread and grape juice,
which remain after consecration literal bread and juice.
Since it is the Lord's
Supper and not an ordinance of a particular church, all
who acknowledge Jesus as Christ and who have faith to understand
the significant of this sacrament are invited to partake
of it with us, regardless of their denominational affiliation.
Marriage and Divorce
We believe that although marriage is not a sacrament of
the Church, yet it is a very sacred institution and should
be so regarded by all people. The marriage relation should
not be dissolved for any cause not justified by the teachings
of the word of God. The question of marrying divorced
people is left to the judgment of the individual pastors.
Things to Come
We believe that the bodies of men after death return to
dust; but their spirits return to God who gave them.
The spirits of the righteous are received into heaven,
and the spirits of the wicked are cast into hell. The
Scriptures speak of no other place for the departed spirits.
We believe that God has appointed a time for the resurrection
of the just and unjust when he will judge the world in
righteousness by Christ. Our Church has no statement in
its doctrines concerning the Second Coming of Christ or
the Millennium. Various ideas on this subject are held
by individual members.
Church Attendance
We believe that Christians should take advantage of the
opportunities provided for regular worship in the church.
Church attendance is given special emphasis in the vows
taken by members because it is regarded as a means of
spiritual growth as well as a means of Christian witness.
Form of Government
Individual congregations are governed by elders who are elected
by the people. Each congregation, through its elders,
calls its pastor. Pastors and elders of an area are formed
into presbyteries. Ministers are received and ordained
by presbyteries. Standards for ordination are established
by the General Assembly and include educational requirements
of a least a college education or its equivalent. Only
ordained ministers receive members by profession of faith
and baptism, conduct the communion and officiate at the
marriage ceremony. Ruling elders may receive members
by letter.
The official statement of doctrine of the Cumberland Presbyterian
Church is called The Confession of Faith,
which the reader is invited to consult for a more complete
statement and the Scriptural supporting texts. The above
statements are partly in the words of The Confession
of Faith and are a part an interpretation of it.
The denominational headquarters are located in the Cumberland
Presbyterian Center at 1978 Union Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee.
So You're Going to Church
Next Sunday!
An Invitation to Worship
Going to Church should be more than a habit or duty.
It can be:
- interesting and stimulating
- assuring and
disturbing
- challenging and inspiring
- celebrative and
dynamic
Is This Really Possible?
Jesus Said – "God is spirit and they that
worship him must worship in spirit and truth"
- John
4:24
Worship in Spirit
Although we may meet God in some place, at some time,
and in some ceremony, worship is not limited to times,
places, or ceremonies.
- God cannot be limited to a time, for God is timeless.
- Beauty of setting or form may contribute to worship,
but it is not dependent on either.
- Orderly ritual has a place in worship but it is only
a means and not the substance.
- We can worship God without a prescribed form, though
worship takes shape of its own nature.
Worship is a spiritual experience having to do with a
deep sense of God's presence in which we humbly praise
and thank God, make confession of sin and receive forgiveness,
pray for self and others, bear the Word and respond with
commitment.
- It has to do more with inward mood, attitude and experience
than with outward order.
"Christian worship is the affirmation of God's
living presence and the celebration of God's mighty
acts." (Cumberland Presbyterian Confession of Faith,
1984, page 13.)
Worship in Truth
Truth is reality as opposed to fantasy – sincerity
as opposed to hypocrisy – and actuality as opposed
to form or movement.
- To worship in truth is to seek sincerely to experience
God in reality.
"Christian worship is the deliberate act of seeking
to approach reality at the deepest level by becoming aware
of God in and through Jesus Christ and by responding to
this awareness." (New Forms of Worship, James F.
White, 1971, page 40.)
- "You will seek the Lord your God, and you will find
him, if you search after him with all your heart and
with all your soul." Deuteronomy 4:29
- "Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon
him while he is near." Isaiah 55:6
- "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see
God." Matthew 5:8 "To be pure is to: will one thing." (Kierkegaard).
- "As the deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul
longs for you, O God." Psalms 42:1
- "Today, if you would hear his voice, harden not
your heart." Psalms 95:7,8
- "To worship God in truth is to seek to think God's
thoughts."
- "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous
man his thought, let him return to the Lord, that he may
have mercy on him, and to our God for he will abundantly
pardon." Isaiah 55:7
- "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your
ways my ways, says the Lord." Isaiah 55:8
In real worship we pray:
- "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and
know my thoughts. See if there is any wicked way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting." Psalms 139:23,24
An old woman was going down the road with a bucket of
water in one hand and a torch in the other. When asked "Old
Woman, where are you going?" she replied, "With
the water I am going to put out the fires of hell and with
the torch I am going to burn up heaven. The people will
love God for himself, and not for fear of hell or love
of heaven."
Worship in Inclusive Love
We cannot worship in spirit and in truth unless we also
worship in inclusive love.
- He who taught us to love our neighbor as ourselves,
showed love and concern for a Samaritan woman. John 4:1-26
- He crossed three barriers: the ethnic barrier, the
religious barrier, and the gender barrier. He ignored
the custom forbidding him to relate to or associate with
Samaritans, women and those of different religion in
a personal way.
- The God who calls all of us to worship, reminds us
that people of other ethnic groups are God's people also.
- "Are you not like the Egyptians to me, O people
of Israel?" says the Lord. Did I not bring up Israel
from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines form Caphtor
and the Syrians from Kir? Amos 9:7
- When Joseph was helping his brothers during a famine,
he wanted to see his younger brother, Benjamin, who had
been born after Joseph had come to Egypt. He said: "Ye
shall not see my face except your brother be with you." Genesis
43:3 KJ
- God says to us in many ways: "You cannot see my
face unless your brothers and sisters are with you."
- "There is no longer a Jew or Greek, there is no
longer slave or free, there are no longer male or female
for all of you are one in Christ Jesus." Galatians
3:28
- Although we have separate denominational and ethnic
churches, God's word leads us to be open and inclusive
of each other and willing to come before God together
in worship.
- "Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets
and teachers, Barnabas, Symeon who was called Niger, Lucius
of Cyrene, Manaen a member of the court of Herod the tetrarch,
and Saul." (A variety of backgrounds.) Acts 13:1
"Whether we worship separately or at the same place,
our worship becomes real, true and complete, when we share
our common concerns and needs and love for all God's
people, remembering that he created us all in the same
image, and calls us all into the same covenant through
Jesus Christ, the Savior of the whole world."
Worship in Faith
- God is not a game of hide and seek in which God is
hiding from us and we have to do all the seeking.
- Although God calls us to seek, the initiative in worship
is not ours but God's. It is God who calls us to
worship and invites us into a relationship. It is God
who sent Jesus to find us and who sends us the Holy Spirit
to woo us.
- "The hour is coming and now is here, when the true
worshippers will worship in spirit and truth, for the Father
seeks such as these to worship him." John 4:23
- There is a double search in worship, God seeks us and
we seek God.
- God seeks us before we are even aware that we need
God. As God sent Jesus Christ to find the lost, strayed
and outcast, so does God send the Holy Spirit to find
us right now, wherever we are and whoever we are.
- God's intention of revelation in worship is expressed
in these words:
- "I was ready to be sought by those who did not
ask for me, I was ready to be found by those who
did not seek me. I said, here am I, here am I, to
a nation that did not call on my name." Isaiah 65:1
- "Before they call I will answer, while they are
yet speaking I will hear." Isaiah 65:24
To worship in faith is to worship in expectation. Expectation
is faith in action, looking forward to something about
to happen.
- "My soul, wait thou only upon God, for my expectation
is from him." Psalms 62:5 KJ
- "I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in
his word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord more
than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than
they that watch the morning."
- "Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run
and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." Isaiah
40:31
Our Response to God
- It is ours to respond to a seeking God. We usually
respond through Liturgy. This word comes from Greek meaning "the
work of the people." A liturgy is a form, or order,
of worship. It is like a dialogue in which God converses
with us and we with God.
- A liturgy which will enable us to make an adequate
and meaningful response to God will provide a means for
our:
- Sensing God's presence
- Praising God
- Recognizing and confessing our sins
- Receiving forgiveness
- Thanking God for blessings
- Praying for self and others
- Listening to the Word
- Committing or recommitting ourselves to God
- Going out into to the world to witness our faith
in word and deed (Romans 12:1 NRSV)
- "O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel
before the Lord our Maker! For he is our God, and we are
the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand." Psalms
95:6,7
(The scriptures used are taken form the
RSV or the NSV unless otherwise noted.)
Mission Statement
The Mission Statement of our church is to Glorify
God and to Proclaim His Kingdom through
worship, prayer, love, education, evangelism, and service
to our fellow man.
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