The Presbyterian Church is a reformed church, which means that it developed out of the Protestant Reformation of the Church in Europe in the 16th century. The Presbyterian Church in Canada has its roots in the Church of Scotland, which sent ministers to serve 18th and 19th century immigrants to Canada. The Presbyterian Church in Canada was formed in 1875. In 1925, a large portion of the Presbyterian Church joined with Methodists and Congregationalists to form the United Church of Canada. Today, there are almost 1000 Presbyterian congregations right across Canada, drawn from a variety of racial backgrounds and worshipping in various languages including English, French, Hungarian, Korean, Chinese, Taiwanese, and Arabic. Our reformed, protestant tradition believes:
- that God exists as Father, Son and Holy Spirit;
- that God loved us before we ever loved God;
- that we receive God’s grace by faith, not because of anything that we must do;
- that all people have access to God through scripture and prayer;
- that all followers of Jesus Christ are ‘ministers’ of God’s church, called to share the Good News of Jesus Christ through our action in the world;
- that Scripture is central to our life and our worship (there is almost always a sermon in a Presbyterian worship service!) and following Scripture, we celebrate two sacraments, Baptism and Communion;
- that the church must be constantly reforming under the guidance of the Holy Spirit;
- that though we are proud of our reformed, protestant heritage, with Christians of all denominations we are part of the one church that is the body of Christ in heaven and on earth;
- that we may have a variety of beliefs about many things, but the one thing that we have in common is our commitment to Jesus Christ as our Saviour and Lord.
Read more about what Presbyterians believe in Living Faith.