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Please select below The Churches of Columbia Presbytery Youth Files and Activities Calendar ________________________ History of Columbia Presbytery History of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church ________________________ Important Cumberland Presbyterian Links Current Officers:
Contact Us: Website Maintained by: Rev. Scott Yates, 615-274-3199 Computer Things You Should Know
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The Next Frontier A Visitor’s Guide To Cumberland Presbyterian Worship By Rev. Scott Yates A brief summary of what a Cumberland Presbyterian believes BACKGROUND The Cumberland Presbyterian Church, compared to many, is a relatively young denomination. It is truly a frontier church, founded by a small group of ministers in a log cabin in Dickson County, Tennessee, on February 4th, 1810. They were already ordained Presbyterian ministers, but they had problems with the way the big-city churches seemed unwilling to accommodate believers and ministers in what was then regarded as the “Frontier”. Reluctantly, they formed their own Presbytery, the governing body of the church. It was a time of religious reawakening, and anyone who arranged a church service was treated to a packed house. THEOLOGY The theology of the Cumberlands was simple, and well-founded in scripture: They said that God loved all of mankind. They said that because of God’s Grace, which was undeserved and unearned, not a single person was doomed and beyond God’s saving. They also said that through God’s Grace, Jesus, the Christ, the Anointed One of God, was sent to earth to be born as a baby in a manger, so that He might experience what humanity was truly about, and so that He could teach us those things that we should know, and finally, in the last blood sacrifice ever required to cleanse humankind from sin, Jesus would die on a cross. This final sacrifice would demonstrate that Jesus had been given power to lay down His life for His brothers…US….and that He could take His life back up, and rise from the tomb. This incredible final proof would show that just as He had promised to die for the sins of mankind and be resurrected (brought back to life) on the third day, all His other promises were just as true. THE BIBLE Cumberland Presbyterians believe that not just the New Testament of the Bible, but the Old Testament as well, all point to the Kingship of Jesus Christ. Jesus was someone totally different; He was fully a human being, and at the same time fully a part of God. We, as Christians, believe that the sacrifice made by Jesus on the Cross, to atone (make clean of) the sins of mankind is available to every human being. Once a person comes to that point in their lives, and it is a different point for everyone, where they come to Christ, and ask His forgiveness, and accept Him as their personal Savior, they are saved, and born again as a new person. Our old sinful nature will still rear its ugly head, but we are now creatures of God, and we try our best to resist. But we all still sin. THE GOSPEL The Great Good News (Gospel means Good News) is that once you are saved by faith in Jesus, you are saved forever. Once saved, always saved. You can never “backslide” out of your Salvation. It is yours, forever. WORKS – WHAT MUST I DO? You may think, I am just not good enough to be saved by Christ. I don’t deserve it, I don’t read my Bible, I don’t go to church enough, I don’t pray enough, I just feel that I fall too far short to deserve being saved. That is wrong! You could never be good enough, pray enough, or do any of the other things you might think to be saved, simply because you cannot earn your way into heaven. That is where the Cumberlands differ from many other denominations. Many people feel that they must take mission trips, read the Bible, pray fervently, or do certain “things” in order to be saved. That also is completely wrong. Once you are a Christian, you will want to do good things, but that will come naturally, not because you are required to do so
GRACE WHAT’S THE RUSH? The bottom line is….do not wait. Do not try to be good enough…You cannot. Do not wait until you have more time to get involved in a church….you could die tomorrow. Good intentions will not get you saved and forgiven…Only Jesus can do that. You have, in any Cumberland Presbyterian Church, a family of Christ-Centered, truly welcoming friends. You can truly be at home, be yourself, among these people. You don’t have to dress up, you don’t have to put large bills in the offering plate. What you will gain, in church, is a sense of being a part of the Community of Faith. Everyone has life crises, everyone of us sins, no one is perfect, and no one is in a position to judge you. Everyone you see is a sinner, in church and out of church, but all can be forgiven. God’s Grace is there for the taking, you must only accept it. JUDGMENT God will, one day, judge mankind. Christians, believers in Jesus, have their name written in the Book of Life, and get to bypass that judgment phase altogether. That is not an opinion, it is written in the scriptures. COMFORT Once saved, you will be comforted by knowing that when you die, you’ll go directly to heaven. You don’t wait around, you’re not a ghostly “spirit” , your soul goes straight to heaven. And you get assurance, from Christ, that you are forgiven. All that can by yours….It takes only one simple thing, one simple act… Just ask Jesus Christ to come into your heart, and to forgive you of your sins… And you are saved, forever. No conditions, no special requirements, no secret handshake, just membership in a new family, and acceptance for who you are. God Loves you, and we will too. WELCOME HOME, FRIEND! If you have other questions, please come back to a Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Our denominational website is located at www.cumberland.org . We are here to help answer your questions. You have only to ask.
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Copyright Columbia Presbytery & Scott Yates, 2005-2013 |