ABOUT US

Who we are

We are the first Presbyterian church, established in 2017, in the district and city of Braga, the heart of Portugal's Minho region. We maintain a commitment to the heritage and tradition of the Protestant Reformation of the 16th and 17th centuries and are part of the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing).

We are a small congregation made up of people of all ages and backgrounds, and from many nations. You will meet native Porutuguese speakers from all over the Lusophone world, as well as English, Spanish, and French speakers from a variety of countries. We share a desire to know more about God and His message of grace through Jesus Christ, as revealed in the pages of the Bible.

We meet mainly to worship and praise God. In the service, which usually lasts about an hour and a half, we sing the Psalms, pray, read portions of the Bible and listen to the preaching of God's Word. Our form of worship is simple and dialogical (God speaks, His people respond); singing in unison without musical accompaniment, in the way we believe is biblically justified, according to what is known as the Regulative Principle of Worship.

After the service, we have a brief time of fellowship with coffee, tea, and snacks. Then we gather in classes for Bible study in Sunday School.

We are, of course, Christians. More specifically ...

As Christians, we believe:

In God as the holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:4-6; Matt. 28:19).
In Christ's two natures: Jesus is truly God and truly man (John 1:14).
In Jesus' bodily resurrection, ascension and second coming (1 Cor. 15:3-6; Acts 1:9; Acts 1:10-11).

As Protestant Christians, we believe:

In Sola e Tota Scriptura - Only Scripture and all of Scripture (Isa. 8:20; 2
Tim. 3:16, 17).
In Sola Gratia - Grace alone (Rom. 3:21, 24).
In Sola Fide - Faith alone (Rom. 3:27, 28).
Solus Christus - Christ alone (1 Tim. 2:5; Acts 4:12).
In Soli Deo Gloria - Glory to God alone (Isa. 42:8; John 5:44).

As Reformed Christians, we believe:

In God's absolute sovereignty (Prov. 16:1; 19:21; Ps. 139:15-16).
In the total depravity of man (Rom. 3:10; Eph. 2:1-3).
In unconditional election (Deut. 4:37; Prov. 16:4; Rom. 11:8-10; Eph. 1:4-5).
In limited/definite atonement (1 Sam. 3:14; Isa. 53:11-12; John 10:14-15; Eph. 5:25).
In effectual calling (Jer. 24:7; Matt. 16:17; Acts 16:14; 1 Pet. 5:10).
In the perseverance of the saints/elect (Isa. 54:10; John 6:39; Rom. 8:28-32; Rev. 17:14).

About God and the Scriptures

In this space, we can only present a brief summary of our faith in God and the Scriptures. If you would like more information about what we believe, please visit our Confession of Faith page.

About God

We believe in the one true and living God and in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, the incarnate Son of God, trusting in him for our salvation, because he is the only mediator between God and man (1 Tim. 2:5).

Because we believe in Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, we also hold the following truths:

1. The only God is the Triune God: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

2. The Holy Bible is the written, infallible, and inerrant Word of God, which is our only rule of faith and practice and the final Word, the old way of God revealing His will having ceased.

About the Holy Bible

We believe that the Bible is the written and authoritative revelation of God, inspired verbally and fully in the 66 canonical books that it is comprised of; inerrant in the autographs and faithful in the copies that God Himself has preserved for His church in all times (Ps. 119:152; Matt. 5:18; 24:35, Luke 16:17; 1 Pet. 1:25).

The books generally called Apocrypha, not being of divine inspiration, do not form part of the canon of Scripture; they are therefore not authoritative in the Church of God, nor can they in any way be approved or employed except as human writings (Luke 24:27, 44; Rom. 3:2; 2 Pet. 1:21).

"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Tim. 2:5)

Our mission in the world

According to the answer to the first question of the Westminster Larger Catechism, "the supreme and chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever." As a divine institution established in the world for this supreme end, the church has a mission here on earth and, as such, this mission can be described in three distinct and harmonious ways, as has been well summarized by James Bannerman in the book The Church of Christ: A Treatise on the Nature, Powers, Ordinances, Discipline, and Government of the Christian Church (Vol. 1, Part 1, Chapter 7, ed. Os Puritanos, 2014, Portuguese edition):

Being a witness

The Christian church, with reference to the world in which it finds itself, was designed and prepared to be a witness to Christ, not a substitute for Him.

Instrument of the Holy Spirit

The Christian church here on earth is an external ordinance of God, prepared and appointed to be the instrument of the Spirit, but not a substitute for the Spirit.

Producing fellowship

The Christian church in the world was prepared and appointed to serve as a means of producing the communion of Christians with one another - and not to be a substitute for the communion of Christians with their Savior.

On the law of God and the Gospel

We believe that when God created Adam, he established a covenant of works with him. Because of his disobedience, it pleased God, out of His infinite love and mercy, to proclaim and put into action His covenant of grace. It is only through this covenant of grace made in Jesus Christ, before the foundation of the world, and which will continue until His return, that repentant and faithful man is redeemed from his sins and receives eternal life. This good news is the gospel, and it is through Christ's vicarious work that man is saved. However, God's moral law, summarized in the Ten Commandments, remains a perfect rule of righteousness and reveals our duties towards God. It was not invalidated by the coming of the Savior; on the contrary, it was obeyed by Him and publicly taught to be joyfully obeyed by men through the operation of the Holy Spirit and, by heeding it, demonstrates our true love for God and man. This law is not contrary to the grace of the Gospel, but is consistent with it (see WCF 19).

About the Sabbath and the fourth commandment

We believe that since creation, God has set aside a special day for the cessation of activities common to society, so that men could together bless their creator. In the Old Covenant, this day was the last day of the week. In the New Covenant, from the resurrection of Christ until the end of the world, it is the first day of the week: a day set aside for the worship of God, which is a positive, moral and perpetual precept, obliging everyone to rest and sanctify this day, which Scripture calls Sunday or the Lord's Day (see WCF 21).

Confessional standard

Confessions of faith and catechisms are not infallible documents, and that was never their aim. However, we cannot deny the theological and historical value that they have bequeathed to us. Although their authority is relative, without them the Church is increasingly at the mercy of the errors and heresies of those who despise them because of their subjectivity and aversion to the past. It was not without struggles, failures and victories that they were produced.

Westminster symbols of faith

The Presbyterian Church of Braga upholds a historical and confessional pattern, having as its sole rule of faith and practice the Holy Bible - Old and New Testaments - and adopts as its expository system of doctrine and practice the Westminster Confession of Faith and its Larger and Shorter Catechisms.

"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness"
(2 Tim. 3:16)

On the sacraments

One of the distinctive doctrines of the Reformed and Presbyterian churches is the doctrine of the covenant. This covenant, established in the Old Testament and continued in the New Testament, is signed and sealed through visible signs ordained by God himself. The following is a summary of what we believe about divine ordinances.

The sacraments

The sacraments are holy signs and seals of the covenant of grace, immediately instituted by God to represent Christ and his benefits and to confirm our interest in him, as well as to make a visible difference between those who belong to the Church and the rest of the world, and solemnly oblige them to the service of God in Christ, according to his word (WCF 27.1).

Ref. Rom. 6:11; Gen. 17:7-10; Matt. 28:19; 1 Cor. 11:23, 10:16, 11:25-26; Ex. 12:48; 1 Cor. 10:21; Rom. 6:3-4; 1 Cor. 10:2-16.

In the Old Covenant - Circumcision and Passover

By the sacrament of the Passover, God was declaring that He was not only separating His people from the world, but also declaring that He was washing His people from their sins by the blood of the Lamb of God who was to come. The Lamb of God, Christ, clothes His bride in innocence and righteousness; He nourishes His people in their walk.

Both sacraments spoke of sanctification and justification. If these sacraments were very important in the Old Testament, they are even more so in the New Testament. The Bible makes it clear that baptism now corresponds to circumcision and that the Lord's Supper now corresponds to the Passover.

In the New Covenant - Baptism and the Lord's Supper

Baptism is a sacrament of the New Testament, instituted by Jesus Christ, not only to solemnly admit the baptized person into the Church, but also to serve as a sign and seal of the covenant of grace, of his union with Christ, of regeneration, of remission of sins and of his consecration to God through Jesus Christ, in order to walk in newness of life. This sacrament, according to Christ's ordination, is to continue in his Church until the end of the world (WCF 28.1).

Ref. Matt. 28:19; 1 Cor. 12:13; Rom. 4:11; Col. 2:11-12; Gal. 3:27; Tit. 3:5; Mark 1:4; Acts 2:38; Rom. 6:3-4; Matt. 28:19-20.

It is not necessary to immerse the candidate in water, but baptism is duly administered by effusion or sprinkling (WCF 28.3).

Ref. Acts 2:41; 10:46-47; 16:33; 1 Cor. 10:2.

Not only those who profess their faith in Christ and obedience to Him, but the children of believing parents (even if only one of them is) are to be baptized (WCF 28.4).

Ref. Acts 9:18; Gen. 17:7, 9; Gal. 3:9, 14; Rom. 4:11-12; Acts 2:38-39.

On the night he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus instituted the sacrament of his body and blood, called the Lord's Supper or Holy Communion, to be observed in his Church until the end of the world, in order to perpetually remember the sacrifice he made of himself in his death; to seal to true believers the benefits arising from that of that sacrifice for their spiritual nourishment and growth in him and their obligation to fulfill all their duties toward him; and to be a bond and pledge of their fellowship with him and with one another, as members of his mystical body (WCF 29.1).

Ref. I Cor. 11:23-26; 10:16-17, 21; 12:13.

Those who receive Holy Communion worthily, partaking outwardly of the visible elements of this sacrament, also receive intimately by faith Christ Crucified and all the benefits of his death, and are nourished in him, not carnally or bodily, but really, truly and spiritually, the body and blood of Christ not being bodily or carnally in the elements of bread and wine, nor with them or under them, but spiritually and really present to the faith of believers in this ordinance, as the elements themselves are to their bodily senses.

Ref. 1 Cor. 11:28; 10:16.

"…and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" (Jude 3)

Our doctrine summarized

As Presbyterian Christians, we believe that some historical documents, established and consolidated throughout the history of the church, correctly express and summarize what we believe to be in accordance with biblical revelation. Our doctrine is summarized in:

The Apostles' Creed

We confess the Apostles' Creed, because its teachings are biblical and because and we need to be clear about what the universal Church has confessed sínce the beginning. Here is the creed:

I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit; born of the virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead and buried; rose from the dead on the third day; ascended into heaven; is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from where he is to come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit; in the Holy Universal Church; in the communion of saints; in the remission of sins; in the resurrection of the body; in eternal life. Amen.

The Nicene Creed

We confess the Nicene Creed because its teachings are biblical and because we need to be clear about Scripture's teaching of Trinitarian and Christological truth. Here is the creed:

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all ages, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten not made, of one substance with the Father; by whom all things were made; who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, was made flesh by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified for us under the power of Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried; and on the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures; and he ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of the Father, and will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. And in the Holy Spirit, Lord and Life-giver, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who, together with the Father and the Son, is worshipped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets. I believe in the one, universal and apostolic Church, I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins, and I await the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.

The Westminster Standards

We confess the teachings of the Westminster Standards: the Confession of Faith, Larger Catechism and Shorter Catechism, because they are biblical; and we need to be clear about the doctrine we teach. See the full content by clicking here.