Our History
Forestgate Presbyterian Church was a church plant from Village Seven Presbyterian Church, a sister PCA church here in Colorado Springs. We began meeting in early 1986, first in the Briargate area, and later in the Gleneagle area. We gathered in school auditoriums and shopping centers until in 1999, when we built and relocated to our current facility, located at 970 North Gate Blvd.
What is the Gospel?
What is it that Christians believe? What does the word Gospel even mean? Gospel means the "good news." In ancient times, it was a declaration of a great victory. Our church believes that we are messengers of a great victory, the victory of Jesus Christ in defeating sin and restoring all things to himself.
Creation
The Bible tells us that in the beginning, God created all things. He made the world and everything in it, and he made humans, man and woman, in his image. God said that everything was "good." This is why we feel like the world and people around us "ought" to be good. But when you look around, doesn't it feel like the world is a bit broken?
Fall
The first created people, Adam and Eve, lived in the Garden of Eden and walked and talked with God. He commanded them not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, but they rebelled and disobeyed God by doing so. Because of Adam and Eve's sin, the world and all mankind are broken. Sin is the reason we feel shame and fear, why death is a reality we all experience, and why the world is not good as it ought to be. We were made to live in relationship with our Creator, God, but that relationship was severed in the fall. Do you ever feel this brokenness in your own life?
Redemption
Thankfully, God didn't leave us in our helpless state of sin and brokenness. God sent his only son, Jesus Christ, into this world to redeem us, to save us from sin. Our sin against the Creator is deserving of death, but Christ took on the punishment for our sins in his death on the cross. Jesus lived a perfect life; he never sinned or disobeyed God - something we in our brokenness could never do. When we come to faith in Christ, his perfect record of righteousness is given to us, and we are able to be in relationship with the holy God. Jesus offers a solution - the only solution - to our brokenness. Does this resonate with you?
Restoration
God promises that one day all things will be restored. All of the sin, pain, sadness, brokenness, and death of this world will be wiped clean! Not only can we have relationship with God through Christ now, but one day ALL the brokenness of this world will be undone. God will create a New Heaven and a New Earth, and those who believe in him will dwell with him there forever. This is what heaven looks like: creation restored, relationship with God through Christ restored, justice restored. Do you believe this? Do you believe that you are broken and that Christ offers the solution? Do you trust and rely on him to restore you to God? Do you have hope that through Christ all things will be restored one day?
Our Beliefs
Our church is a member of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA)
The Presbyterian Church in America, in setting forth the form of government founded upon and agreeable to the Word of God, reiterates the following great principles which have governed the formation of the plan:
We believe the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, to be the inspired Word of God, without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for the salvation of His people, and the divine and final authority for the Christian faith and life (1 Thessalonians 2:13, 2 Timothy 3:16, 2 Peter 1:20-21).
We believe in one God, Creator of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
We believe that Jesus Christ is true God and true man, having been conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He died on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins according to the Scriptures. Further, He arose bodily from the dead and ascended into heaven, where, at the right hand of the Majesty on High, He is now our High Priest and Advocate.
We believe that the Ministry of the Holy Spirit is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ and, during this age, to convict of sin, to regenerate the human heart which is dead in trespasses and sin, and to indwell, guide, instruct and empower the believer for godly living and service.
We believe that every human being was created in the image of God, but has inherited a sin nature resulting from the fall of Adam into sin. We are spiritually dead and only through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit can we receive salvation and spiritual life
We believe that the shed blood of Jesus Christ and His resurrection provide the only ground for justification and salvation, and that only those who are born of the Holy Spirit and believe in Jesus become the children of God
We believe that the Lord's Supper and Baptism are the only sacraments to be observed by the church during this present age. They are not means of salvation, but rather are signs and seals of the many blessings of the New Covenant
We believe in the bodily resurrection of the dead and look forward to the glorious day when Jesus shall return to judge all mankind and receive His people into heaven
When the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America was formed in 1788, it adopted (with minor revisions) the Westminster Confession of Faith, Larger and Shorter Catechisms (1647), as its secondary standards (the Bible itself being the only infallible rule of faith and practice). Officers in the Presbyterian Church in America take a vow to “sincerely receive and adopt” these confessional documents “as containing the system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures.”