Frequently Asked Questions

Our building is kept locked during the week and is open on Sunday mornings. During the week, if you go from the parking lot to the door with the red awning (on Hancock), there is a buzzer and someone will let you in and direct you. You may also enter after being buzzed in at the wood door on Hancock or at the accessible entrance on 16th Street. On Sundays, to reach the Chapel where Adult Education classes are located, you can enter from the awning entrance on Hancock or the 16th Avenue entrance, which is accessible, and go downstairs or take the elevator to the lowest level. To enter the sanctuary, you may use the Oak Door Entrance on Hancock, or the red doors on 17th Avenue, the red doors at the south end of the building (near Schuyler) or the accessible entrance on 16th.

Yes – and no! We have a parking lot on Hancock Street between 16th and 17th . It’s best to provide a little extra time to find a parking space in case the lot is full. We have four accessible parking spaces available at the south end of the parking lot. From the lot, you would enter the door with the red awning and go down the stairs to get to the chapel, or you would enter the building to get to the sanctuary through the Oak Doors on Hancock Street. The accessible entrance is on 16th.

For detailed information, please go to the CONNECT tab and read about our programs for children and youth. During the school year, on Sunday mornings (except communion Sundays), children age five to fifth grade may leave the worship service after the children’s time for Sunday School. Youth (grades 6-12) are invited to worship with their family or friends. At this time we are without nursery workers for babies and toddlers but hope to hire this position in the near future.

We are fearfully and wonderfully made, and sometimes our bodies do things that make worship a bit of a challenge. Our sanctuary is accessible via a ramp from Schuyler Street up to the sanctuary, or using the 16th Avenue entrance, an elevator, and a ramp to the sanctuary. Once inside the sanctuary, near the front off the center aisle is a space for wheelchairs. We provide hearing assistance to those who might need it, although all the speakers use microphones. We also provide large print bulletins. Service dogs are welcomed in all parts of our building.

If you are in a wheelchair, you may be let out at the 16th Street entrance where an usher will direct you to the sanctuary. If you are providing transportation for someone in a wheelchair, you may park in the parking lot and proceed down 16th Avenue to the accessible entrance.

During the school year, we worship at 10:30 a.m. in our sanctuary. We also conduct a Service of Healing and Wholeness, in the Taize style, in our sanctuary on the third Saturday of most months at 5 p.m. In the summer, beginning on Father’s Day and through Labor Day weekend, we also have a shorter, more casual worship service on Sunday morning at 9 a.m. in our chapel (or sometimes the Great Hall).  On Easter Sunday, our services are at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. We also offer two evening Christmas Eve services annually (please check our calendar to confirm the times).

At 10:30 we worship in a more traditional style. Our clergy wear robes (unless it’s too hot) and we sing out of a hymnal, accompanied (usually) by the organ. Twice a year is our Jazz Sunday, when a jazz band provides our musical leadership. While we are traditional in style, we don’t think of ourselves as being stuffy in personality. The service starts on time and usually lasts 60-70 minutes.

There’s a long answer to that question, and our members and pastors would enjoy talking with you about that. For now, we offer you “A Brief Statement of Faith”, a confession of our denomination, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

In life and death we belong to God.
Through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
The love of God,
And the communion of the Holy Spirit,
we trust in the one triune God, the Holy One of Israel,
whom alone we worship and serve.
We trust in Jesus Christ,
Fully human, fully God.
Jesus proclaimed the reign of God:
preaching good news to the poor
and release to the captives,
teaching by word and deed
and blessing the children,
healing the sick
and binding up the brokenhearted,
eating with outcasts,
forgiving sinners,
and calling all to repent and believe the gospel.
Unjustly condemned for blasphemy and sedition,
Jesus was crucified,
suffering the depths of human pain
and giving his life for the sins of the world.
God raised Jesus from the dead,
vindicating his sinless life,
breaking the power of sin and evil,
delivering us from death to life eternal.
We trust in God,
whom Jesus called Abba, Father.
In sovereign love God created the world good
and makes everyone equally in God’s image
male and female, of every race and people,
to live as one community.
But we rebel against God; we hide from our Creator.
Ignoring God’s commandments,
we violate the image of God in others and ourselves,
accept lies as truth,
exploit neighbor and nature,
and threaten death to the planet entrusted to our care.
We deserve God’s condemnation.
Yet God acts with justice and mercy to redeem creation.
In everlasting love,
the God of Abraham and Sarah chose a covenant people
to bless all families of the earth.
Hearing their cry,
God delivered the children of israel
from the house of bondage.
Loving us still,
God makes us heirs with Christ of the covenant.
Like a mother who will not forsake her nursing child,
like a father who runs to welcome the prodigal home,
God is faithful still.
We trust in God the Holy Spirit,
everywhere the giver and renewer of life.
The Spirit justifies us by grace through faith,
sets us free to accept ourselves and to love God and neighbor,
and binds us together with all believers
in the one body of Christ, the church.
The same Spirit
who inspired the prophets and apostles
rules our faith and life in Christ through Scripture,
engages us through the Word proclaimed,
claims us in the waters of baptism,
feeds us with the bread of life and the cup of salvation,
and calls women and men to all ministries of the church.
In a broken and fearful world
the Spirit gives us courage
to pray without ceasing,
to witness among all peoples to Christ as Lord and Savior,
to unmask idolatries in church and culture,
to hear the voices of peoples long silenced,
and to work with others for justice, freedom, and peace.
In gratitude to God, empowered by the Spirit,
we strive to serve Christ in our daily tasks
and to live holy and joyful lives,
even as we watch for God’s new heaven and new earth,
praying, Come, Lord Jesus!
With believers in every time and place,
we rejoice that nothing in life or in death
can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen.

As Presbyterians, we recognize all baptisms in Christian churches, and do not require new members be “baptized Presbyterian.” Baptism is one of our two sacraments, along with the Lord’s Supper, and is an outward and visible sign of the inward and invisible reality that God loves and claims the life of the one being baptized. We baptize infants, children, and adults. If you are interested in baptism, please contact one of the pastors, who would be happy to meet with you and talk some more.

Ours is an open table; anyone who wishes to receive the sacrament may do so. We celebrate communion the first Sunday of every month, and all are invited to share the feast. As a church in the Reformed theological tradition, we believe that Christ is spiritually present in the bread and cup, not physically present. We serve bread and rice cakes (for those with gluten issues) and non-alcoholic grape juice.

Worshippers come on Sunday morning in everything from shorts and Birkenstocks to suits and ties; wear what feels comfortable! We will be glad to see you however you are adorned. We would ask that you refrain from wearing strong perfume or aftershave as many folks have an allergic sensitivity to strong smells.

We love having new people worship with us, but we do not ask them to stand and introduce themselves. During the first part of the 10:30 a.m. service, people new to Westminster are invited to (but do not have to) fill out the “pink cards” (visitor information cards) so the church can include them in various communications. Everyone is invited to coffee hour after worship. While you will not be asked to introduce yourself, we do hope some of our people introduce themselves to you. We also now offer dry-erase, magnetic nametags so visitors can write their names on nametags and wear them if they wish. If you would like a permanent nametag with your name on it, please contact the church office.

We offer our space for weddings and memorials, within certain expectations and guidelines. To inquire about weddings or memorial services at the church, please contact our director of church operations at 503-287-1289, extension 111. Westminster is a welcoming congregation and will perform same-sex weddings.