who we are

We are–against all odds and by grace alone–loved by the living God, saved by Jesus and called to follow him in all things. We are, as we say in our baptism, sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked as Christ’s beloved forever. In following Jesus as our Lord we earnestly seek to do the work of his good Kingdom in our community and around the world.

To be saved by Jesus is to be adopted as God’s beloved children. We are always seeking to live into our identity as the family of God through the ways we love and care for one another in daily life. We gather around the Lord’s Table each month–in the days we feel like it and the days we don’t–as people bonded and committed to one another by Christ’s love.

“Presbuteros” is a New Testament word meaning “elder,” which simply means we are prayerfully governed not by pastors or bishops, but by elders–spiritual leaders–chosen from among and elected by our congregation. This emphasizes the fact that God calls many to lead the church through the gifts of leadership and discernment; pastors and non-pastors alike are equal before God in this calling. While each congregation has a tremendous amount of individual freedom, we’re still accountable and connected to a larger body, called a presbytery, which is the body of churches in a given geographical area. CKPC is a member of the  Seattle Presbytery, a member of the  Presbyterian Church (USA) denomination. We are also a member of the Fellowship Community, a group within our denomination committed to an orthodox interpretation of scripture and expression of our faith.

We take Scripture seriously as an authority for our lives without parallel, and believe that in it God has revealed God’s purpose for humankind. In reading Scripture through the lens of the Reformed theological tradition, we emphasize God’s sovereignty in all things, God’s movement towards us first, and our absolute need of God’s grace as expressed through Jesus Christ.

We lament that in mainstream media this has been co-opted as a political term or voting bloc. But we affirm its original theological meaning which has nothing to do with political allegiances and everything to do with our commitment to the evangel–the Good News of Jesus Christ–and our mandate to go make disciples, proclaiming and working for the Good News of both communal justice and peace through the coming of God’s Kingdom in our world and personal salvation of peace with God, new life and eternity with Christ.