Beliefs

What we believe.

City On A Hill is a church plant of Exilic Presbyterian Church. We belong to the Presbyterian Church in America. The Westminster Confession of Faith, together with the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, is our most comprehensive doctrinal statement.

Our Posture

We are for God, for one another, for the world, and for the city.

This means that as we center Jesus Christ in our community, we will find grace to truly be for one another, find wisdom to be for what God is doing in the world while calling people to new life in Jesus Christ, and see New York City as a place full of divine image bearers who need to be restored and renewed by the power of the gospel.

Below are some implications of what we believe.

  • God is three persons, equal in substance, power, and glory, in eternal loving relationship with each other. This means that love and sociality are eternally present in God. Through the power of the gospel God invites us into fellowship with himself and one another. This is the community that we are created for.

  • God speaks to us clearly through the Holy Scriptures, which have been given to us in 66 books over thousands of years. There is a common thread running through them: our God intends to save his people for relationship to him by his own grace and power. The Scriptures engage us in a rich relationship with God. The more we center his voice in our lives, the more we become our best selves and the more our community becomes its best self.

  • There is widespread recognition that people are longing for more significance and connection in life. Increased uncertainty in geopolitics and the workplace only magnifies this unsettledness. We have more freedom than ever before, but we are also less connected than ever before. We are free to be authentic, but find that we struggle to know ourselves. The good news is that the Bible says we are made in God's image, for relationship to him, to serve him in community with others. God knows us better than we can ever know ourselves. We can entrust ourselves to Jesus who promises rest, renewal, purpose, and direction for us.

  • God is the one to whom we should turn to receive our identity. He gives new life, and new meaning to the work that we do. The first step to settling your calling is to let Jesus define who you are in relationship to him. From there, Jesus will show you a path for your vocation that has more lasting significance than money and fame.

  • Our imaginations are depleted by the saturation of media. We are catechized daily into others’ agendas. The gospel renews our minds, sets us free to think with fresh perspective, and calls us to do new creative work for God.

  • Our primary citizenship is in heaven with Jesus Christ. This means we have an identity, purpose, and loyalty with Jesus that can never be usurped by any earthly power. And yet, God has placed us in this world among societies that he intends for us to serve with humility, faithfulness, and righteousness. Our heavenly citizenship grounds and directs our earthly citizenship. Both are important and part of God’s vision for our flourishing.