God is Here
We believe that God is a living Presence and a loving Presence. God is here, waiting to be encountered, waiting for us to show up.
Beliefs
We don’t all believe alike. But love holds us all together.
The people who regularly walk through our doors (literally or virtually) come from many backgrounds and hold many beliefs about religion and social issues. What holds us together? Our love for one another and our community. And that, for us, is God. Indeed, this is the God of Jesus who was pure sacrificial love in human form. It is the Holy Spirit – present in all people, all religions, all cultures, all places, and all situations.
We joyfully celebrate the God of inclusive community in Sunday worship. Not a God who decides who’s acceptable and who isn’t, or who is distant and “hands off,” or who has a favorite religion, but a God who is intimately present and active in all people and all things.
Every human being is spiritual, whether they hold conventional beliefs and go to church or not. Every human being is divine, reflecting the love, compassion, and goodness of God (whether they use that word or not!).
At Winnetka Congregational Church, we eagerly embrace the vision of human unity and peace at the heart of all world religions. We also welcome the insights of science, the inspiration of the arts, and humanity’s eternal search for truth, beauty, connection, meaning, and purpose.
We find the Christian faith, broadly understood and interpreted, to be a wise and enduring source of wisdom. Our commitment to LGBTQ+ inclusion, anti-racism, and environmental advocacy shows how we apply the best of the Christian tradition to life today.
At WCC…
We take the Bible seriously, but not literally.
You don’t have to check your brain at the door.
We receive the faith of our ancestors and make it ours today.
The past has a voice but no veto as we discern how to live faithfully in our present context.
Christianity is relationships – with the Sacred, with each other, with our community, with the planet. Nothing is possible without relationships. Anything is possible with relationships!
We honor everyone’s journey and seek to be a place where you’ll find acceptance, support, encouragement, and resources for your journey.
We sing, laugh, and play a lot because this is who God is.
And in all things – all things – we love one another fiercely.
The Living Word
We believe the Bible is a living text, a living, breathing word from God that is truthful and to be taken seriously, but not always literally.
Follow Jesus
Our faith is rooted in Jesus Christ and we endeavor to follow his life and teaching in every aspect of our lives.
Value Other Paths
We can wholeheartedly walk in the way of Jesus, while still fully respecting and valuing other paths to God. And we can stand firmly in Jesus while still standing by, with and for our sisters, brothers, and friends of other faiths.
Love God
A great summary of Jesus’ teaching can be found in the words of Matthew 22: love God and love your neighbor as yourself. To love God includes loving God’s creation - and caring for all life on earth as well as the earth itself.
Love Others
To love others means we not only love those closest to us and most like us, we love those we may not know or understand. And there’s room at God’s table for all of us. We take seriously the words of Paul who taught us in 1 Corinthians 12 how interconnected we all are and how “If one part is hurt, all parts share in the pain. If one part is honored, all the parts share in the joy.”
Love Yourself
To love ourselves means we trust that God loves us as we are, and loves us into who we can be. To love ourselves means we take time for worship; prayer; Bible study; spiritual, intellectual and personal growth; for rest and friendship and community. It means we try to feed our souls as well as our bodies with good things.