Who We Are ~ What We Believe
Who We Are
A People: Disciples of Christ in community, seeking God in this place for our own lives, for our children, for the world. Founded as a mission chapel in 1964, formed as a parish in 1968, St Timothy’s is a member of the Episcopal Church, part of the Anglican Communion of churches. Some of us have been here from the beginning, some of us started coming last week; some are testing the waters of belief in God and Christ, some are diving into the deep end of a commitment to a life of holiness and service. Whoever you are, young or old, single or married with family, whatever the color of your skin, size of your house, native language, place on a political or theological spectrum or sexual orientation, you welcome here to worship and fellowship and service with us, where we follow St Benedict’s rule, All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ. For more on who we are see our ministry profiles or come visit! For more on what we believe and what we stand for go to "What We Believe" or explore though our Links page resources on the wider church.
A Place: of beauty, serenity, friendship, joy. Nine acres in a woodland setting, with a beautiful Sanctuary seating over 200, a tranquil Memorial Garden, contemplative Prayer Walk and Labyrinth, and ever popular Playground with paths leading to the trails of the Larsen Nature Preserve and Audubon Center. We have received this beautiful property as a gift from the Stewart and Lucy McKinley family. It has been enhanced through a legacy of generous donations and maintained through prudent stewardship and loving care. We host a Preschool (Small to Tall Scholars) and our Sanctuary, Memorial Garden, Prayer Grove and Playground are always open to the community. We welcome groups for retreats or classes that resonant with our mission of learning, love and service. Come and walk around; there is beauty in every season.
A Purpose: Our mission statement is: "To know and to love Jesus Christ and to share him with others."
To Know: We understand by that a lifelong call to learn about what it means to be a Christian, a disciple of Christ, to discover who Jesus was and is, to make a personal relationship with him and to walk with him in a path of peace and personal transformation. In keeping with our mission we offer Christian formation programs for all ages (page link).
To Love: We are called to love Christ, to worship God the Father through the Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit. So we worship and pray and sing together on Sunday mornings and at other times in small groups. We are a community of friends of God and of each other, bound by love and shared purpose.
To Share: And we are called to share that love and knowledge of God with the world, through personal witness, the example of our lives at work, school, home, and service through care for the needy and poor, those we know personally in need of prayer and care, those in our region, especially in the city of Bridgeport, and in the world, especially through mutual relationship with Colombia, Tanzania and the Philippines.
Our doors are always open. Come visit, come worship, come join, come serve.
What We Believe
We believe in God, the Trinity in Unity of Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Our core beliefs are expressed in the Nicene and Apostles Creeds, which we affirm within our Divine Liturgy every Sunday following the Book of Common Prayer (authorized 1979), and which we accept as a sufficient statement of orthodox Christian belief. Other doctrinal matters, important and controversial as they may be, are considered "adiaphora" or indifferent as to one’s standing as a Christian. Therefore: "In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, diversity; in all things, charity."
We believe that all who have been duly baptized with water in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are members of the Holy Catholic Church and may be offered Holy Communion during worship and received as members upon application and instruction.
We believe in the Bible as Holy Scripture, the Word of God, containing all things necessary for salvation, and as being the rule and ultimate standard of faith, and the primary witness to the incarnate Word, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. However we do not believe in the "inerrancy of scripture" nor literal readings of creation accounts nor a single church authority or magisterium with the authority to pronounce definitive interpretations of scripture. Accordingly, we allow a diversity of theological positions and biblical interpretations" reflecting the witness of scripture itself "provided they remain faithful to the text and within the rule of faith set out in the Creeds. After all, God gave each of us a mind to use, experience through which we gain wisdom, and a unique gift and call to offer the whole body of Christ.
We believe the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Eucharist, ordained by Christ himself through his own baptism at the hand of John the Baptist and through the Last Supper with his disciples, are a special means of grace, to be unfailingly preserved and offered by the church and accepted by all as part of membership. Other sacraments, such as confirmation, ordination, marriage, reconciliation and unction we extend to those who seek and are called to receive them.
We accept "the ministry of all the baptized," though we have preserved the distinctive ministries of the three Holy Orders (bishops, priests and deacons). We allow priests to marry and encourage committed lay members to consider ministry through becoming a deacon, eucharistic minister or through participation in any number of ministries—and especially through the personal witness of a Christian life ("they will know we are Christians by our love"). For more about our church identity, see below.
Our Church Identity or Denomination
We belong to the Connecticut diocese (www.ctdiocese.org) of the Episcopal Church (www.ecusa.org), a member of the worldwide Anglican Communion (www.anglicancommunion.org) "a Church both Catholic and Reformed. We are Catholic in the sense of universal" we accept as duly baptized and fully members of the One Holy Catholic Church anyone who has been baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit,and welcome all baptized Christians to receive Holy Communion. We are universal in the sense that we welcome without exception all who seek salvation and a closer relation with God through the Way of Christ. We are also Catholic in the technical sense of preserving the apostolic succession of bishops from Samuel Seabury, first Bishop of Connecticut and the post revolutionary Episcopal Church (consecrated 1784), back through Augustine of Canterbury, the first archbishop of the Church of England (ordained bishop in 601; the current Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, is the 104th in succession since), and back from Augustine to St Peter and the original disciples of Christ, whose witness is preserved in the New Testament. We are Reformed in that we reject the sole authority of the Bishop of Rome (the Pope) to issue definitive teachings, though we honor him as the heir of Peter and first among equals in the council of bishops. We accept the Reformation principle of scripture above tradition and church decreed teachings (dogmas). But we do not believe scripture is self-interpreting (we do not accept the principle of some Reformed churches about "the perspicuity of scripture"). Therefore we also do not accept scripture as the sole authority in determining doctrine and practice (the principle of "sola scriptura"); rather the Anglican tradition is to interpret the unchanging canon of scripture in the light of reason and tradition. Reason here includes scientific understanding, logical reason, and well formed conscience and conviction. Tradition includes not only the accepted formularies of the church but the whole rich tradition of our fathers and mothers in faith, the developing consensus and debate of scholarship and a wide range of experience, personal and cultural. No wonder we have a rather broad range of theological perspectives represented in our church!
