Communities of Faith

From the first group of disciples, Christians have been together in communities. Jesus, as a Jewish person, found identity in his close knit family and in the spiritual communities of Nazareth and Jerusalem. Then came the 12 disciples. And when Jesus was no longer physically present, his friends immediately formed communities that  spread across the earth.

Communities of Christian came to be known as "churches". Today there are individual congregations.  Denominations are groups of churches that express their unique experience of the presence of Jesus. Even larger gatherings of churches are traditions such as Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Protestant, and Pentecostal.

In order to maintain some consistency in the belief system, certain creeds or statements of faith have been developed over the centuries. The most used are The Apostles Creed and The Nicene Creed.   The Athanasian Creed also holds an important place among historic creeds.
     
For a survey of many Christian groups across North America go to: 
 Christian Churches of North America  

The world Christian community is presented in this World Council of Churches web site.  However, there are many more groups of worshipping believers who exalt Jesus and look to a world now and in the beyond where righteousness, justice and peace prevail. 

Religion-online is a site offering full text of many books written by Christian scholars and writers. 

The Center for Parish Development offers services for congregations and denominations who wish to explore transformation and the missional church character of Christian witness in the 21st century.

The Ecole Initiative   Early church history up to the Reformation.

Ecumenical Councils and Fathers of the Church  A listing of these primary sources of faith development for Christianity.

Celtic Christian Tradition - A brief introduction. Includes an invitation to the Synod of Whitby Reserve. 

Pitts Theology Library Digital Image Archive   A collection of digitized artistic images. 

Alcoholics Anonymous  An organization rooted in Christian experience that continues a healing outreach to all people. A history of Christian connections is at http://www.dickb.com/index.shtml