The Bible is from beginning to end the Good News: God has provided a Savior for helpless people who are, as a result of Adam’s fall, dead in sin. When awakened to who we are before a Holy God, we understand our need to be saved from the due justice our sins deserve from this Holy God. God’s righteous requirements of His law must be met. Jesus – God’s own son, the ‘second Adam’ – lived a sinless, obedient life in our place. Taking our sins upon Himself, He died a cursed death in our stead. His righteousness, upon trusting in His obedience, is imputed to us by faith (faith in His works and His promises) alone.
Through this faith, we become united to Him, having died with Him to sin, and made recipients of eternal life through His resurrection. Because of this, Grace Stuart orders her worship around what the historic church has called, the simple means of grace: The Preaching of the Word of God, Prayer, and the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
We are a Reformed, Evangelical, and Presbyterian (PCA) congregation in Stuart, Florida. “Reformed” as we hold to the tenants of the protestant reformation…that we can have a right standing before God by trusting in the work He has done through the Lord Jesus Christ. We embrace this work and His promises to us by faith and repentance, not penance.
As such, we adhere to the historic creeds and confessions that established the protestant church away from Rome. These include: The Holy Bible, the Apostles Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Heidelberg Catechism, the Canons of Dort, and the Belgic Confession, to name a few.
If you’re not familiar with these historic documents, then take a little time to review them. They are a great help to exalt Christ in our hearts and minds.
The word “Evangelical” comes from the Greek word for “Good News” or simply, the “Gospel.”
As “Presbyterian”, we practice a representative form of church government: local church members elect presbyters (elders) who form a Session at the local church level. These men have been ordained to provide the spiritual oversight of God’s people. Sessions from local PCA churches work together by forming regional Presbyteries to preserve the health and purity of the church as well as for encouragement and accountability to each other. These Presbyteries, formed across the country, gather annually for the further good of the church at the PCA General Assembly. Sessions and Presbyteries of the Presbyterian Church of America are guided by the Holy Scriptures, these principals of church government, and the PCA Book of Church Order.