About Us

We the members of Parkview Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, declare ourselves to be an inclusive and affirming congregation, welcoming all persons unconditionally as full members of our fellowship. We do not wish to discriminate against any person, whatever his or her status in life (race, ethnic identity, age, gender, sexual orientation, economic circumstances, physical and mental ability or impairment, or theological perspective) might be.

We declare Parkview Church to be a Whole Earth Church affirming our ongoing concern for conservation of our resources, educating its members in conservation methods, and participating in programs aimed at health and wholeness of our planet and its creatures. We commit ourselves to honoring God’s creation by seeking way to help educate others, practicing wise stewardship of God’s earth, providing outreach in the community for Whole Earth concerns and giving thanks to God in worship. We covenant with God and with one another to live as a people of God’s creation and to work to restore balance and beauty to this planet.

We declare Parkview Congregational Church to be a Just Peace Church. We affirm our concern for diversity, community, respect for persons, and the right use of resources. We commit ourselves to seeking non-violent ways to deal with conflict, providing a healthy environment for the nurture of children, and advocating for justice. We covenant with God and with one another to live as a people of hope and compassion in our homes, our congregation, our community, our nation, and the world.

We the members of Parkview Congregational Church affirm these Eight Points of Progressive Christianity. Progressive Christians are believers who:

• Have found an approach to God through the life and teachings of Jesus;
• Recognize the faithfulness of other people who have other names for the way to God’s realm, and acknowledge that their ways are true for them, as our ways are true for us;
• Understand the sharing of bread and wine in Jesus’ name to be a representation of an ancient vision of God’s feast for all people;
• Invite all people to participate in our community and worship life without insisting that they become like us in order to be acceptable (including but not limited to):
  • Believers and agnostics, conventional Christians and questioning skeptics
  • Women and men, those of all sexual orientations and gender identities
  • Those of all races and cultures
  • Those of all classes and abilities
  • Those who hope for a better world and those who have lost hope;
• Know that the way we behave toward one another and toward other people is the fullest expression of what we believe;
• Find more grace in the search for understanding than we do in dogmatic certainty – more value in questioning than in absolutes;
• Form ourselves into communities dedicated to equipping one another for the work we feel called to do: striving for peace and justice among all people, protecting and restoring the integrity of all God’s creation, and bringing hope to those Jesus called the least of his sisters and brothers;
• Recognize that being followers of Jesus is costly, and entails selfless love, conscientious resistance to evil, and renunciation of privilege.

Having freely united in the fellowship of Christ’s Church, and acknowledging our need for the continuing guidance of the Holy Spirit, we covenant with God and with one another, binding ourselves in the promise, whatsoever it shall cost us, to conduct our lives according to the precepts revealed in the Holy Scripture, entering into Christ’s Mission, sharing in the worship of Our Lord and striving to make God’s will dominant in the lives of all people.