OUR MISSION
To follow Christ and share his grace
OUR VISION
Individuals, families, and communities thriving in God’s grace
OUR VALUES
People Over Traditions: People matter to God so they matter to us!
Christ-Centered Growth: Teaching & study rooted in the Gospel!
Shared Leadership: Every member is a minister!
Emotional Health: Emotional health fuels spiritual growth!
People of Grace: Grace leads our relationships!
Every Generation Matters: Leave no one behind!
Disciples Making Disciples: A heart for Christ and for all people!
Service Not Serve-Us: Difference-makers for others!
THE STUART CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH STORY
More than a quarter century ago, Stuart Congregational Church was born in a diner. It was called Flashback Diner, and beer had to be cleaned up from Saturday night patrons before the gospel could be preached on Sunday mornings. Our church structures were eventually built on the current property site at the corner of Ruhnke and Aster.
Our church charter calls our original congregation Christ Church, Stuart. As part of the United Church of Christ, we later assumed the name Stuart United Church of Christ. In recent years, we have joined the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches. Our current name, Stuart Congregational Church, reflects where we are on our spiritual journey. We are now a non-denominational, independent church.
Long before the founding of our congregation, a band of Christians in England sought to reform the Church of England from within. These Christians were labeled “Puritans.” Another group left the Church of England, seceding to a foreign land to worship in freedom from the state or monarchy. These were “separatists.” The Puritans and Separatists were originally inspired by the church and state reformers in the Church of Scotland and by the example of John Calvin in Geneva and Ulrich Zwingli in Zurich. When Puritans and Separatists arrived on the shores of America, they were disestablishing themselves from British rule and law and basically mimicking the Reformation movements of 16th-century Europe. They were the first Congregationalists in America.
Stuart Congregational Church has a rich, varied, and telling history. Our roots can be traced from John Calvin to Jonathan Edwards to John Cotton to “Johnny Be Good” in a local diner. Join our vibrant congregation as we continue to make history!
WHAT WE BELIEVE
We believe in one eternal God who exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Together, our triune God created, redeemed, and sustained the creation. The love of the Father is made incarnate through the God-man Jesus, who entered our world to become its savior.
We believe that it is only through the atoning death of Jesus on the cross and His liberating resurrection that we gain access to the Father, having been separated by a spiritually self-focused condition called sin. In the sinless life Jesus lived on earth, we see our potential for an abundant life through living obediently before God.
We believe God gives us the provision to live for God through God’s present power in the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit that brings regeneration and sanctifies us for living a God-centered life. Through the Holy Spirit, our lives are made into a new creation. Out of the Holy Spirit is the Church of Jesus Christ, born and empowered to witness.
We believe life apart from God is no life at all; it is, in fact, to choose death. We were created to live in relationship with a loving, grace-filled, and merciful God. We were created to live as children of God, which means we belong to the family of God, the Church. It is in the local congregation that Christians can best discern and live out the purposes of God for their individual and communal lives. The church is God’s strategy for continuing God’s mission to redeem a fallen creation. The church takes its identity from the triune God of mission, who exists in a perfect loving community and who sends the church into the world to demonstrate God’s peace, justice, mercy, and grace.
We believe the Old and New Testament scriptures are the unique, authoritative, and binding word of God. The Bible is without error in all that it affirms and is the only infallible rule of faith and practice.
We believe that Jesus Christ will return to consummate the redemption of God’s creation and that every person shall stand before the throne of God to account for their life. We believe that God’s redeemed shall dwell with God in the eternal heavens and that we shall be transformed in God’s presence for an eternity of worship, wonder, and amazement.
SIGN UP FOR THE STUART CHURCH NEWSLETTER
Stay informed. Subscribe to our monthly e-newsletter.