Visitor Information

Everyone is welcome at St. Giles. Members and visitors include persons of all ages, races, and relationship status.

Worship Schedule
9am - Contemporary Worship - Sanctuary

9:45am Christian Education - throughout campus

11am - Traditional Worship - Sanctuary

1:30pm - Congolese Worship Service - Fellowship Hall

Click here for directions to St. Giles.

Informational brochures of many of the various programs offered here at St. Giles can be found in the church sanctuary narthex.

Worship

We gather to worship God every Sunday morning at 9:00am (our contemporary "EPIC" service ) and 11:00am (our traditional service). At both services we enter into worship with praise and confession; we continue with scripture readings and preaching; and we conclude by responding to the Good News with service, prayer, and celebrating the sacraments.

Special worship services are held throughout the year, including (but not limited to) a Maundy Thursday Communion service, Good Friday service, Youth Sunday, Ecumenical Thanksgiving service, Christmas Joy service, and two Christmas Eve services.

As God's people, created in God's image and saved by God's grace, worship is our highest priority and our greatest joy! Jesus reminds us to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matthew 22.37). Worship is what we were made for, and God is the One whom we were made to worship!

Children

Children are encouraged to worship with their families; however, there are other options for young children. Child care is available in the Children's Center for children, birth through age 2 all morning.

More information about our children's programs can be found here.

Presbyterian Beliefs St. Giles Presbyterian Church is a part of the Presbytery of New Hope, the Synod of the Mid-Atlantic, and the Presbyterian Church (U. S. A.). More information about the Presbyterian Church (U. S. A.) is available at their web site.

This is a brief summary of the Presbyterian beliefs:

Like other Christians, Presbyterians believe in:

	God – the Creator of the universe.
	Christ – the incarnation of God on Earth.
	Holy Spirit – the presence of God in the world and in the believer.
	The Church – a universal company of Christ’s followers.
	Forgiveness of Sin – made possible by the crucifixion of Jesus.
	Life Everlasting – shown by the resurrection of Jesus.
	Bible – the inspired word of God.

Presbyterians recognize two Sacraments as described in the Bible – Baptism and the Lord’s Supper or Communion.

We believe that Jesus Christ is present with us in worship, and that we encounter Christ’s Spirit in a number of different ways. We experience Christ through our prayers, our music, in drama and dance, through the written and preached Word of God, and in the fellowship we have with one another. We also meet Christ in the Sacraments.

In Baptism, we acknowledge that we and our children belong to God. The water of Baptism marks us with God’s signature, and cleanses us from sin. The Lord’s Supper, or Communion, recalls how Jesus’ gave his life on a Cross to open the way to eternal life for those who live as his followers.

Presbyterians celebrate "open communion," offering this sacrificial meal to all who are baptized Christians, regardless of denominational affiliation. The sacrament of Baptism is celebrated with infants, children, youth or adults, but is not "re-administered" to persons who have received baptism in other Christian churches.

Presbyterians are called "Reformed" Christians, meaning they trace their roots to the Great Reformation of the Sixteenth Century, and specifically to the reformer, John Calvin. Some of the principles of the Reformation include the Authority of Scripture (the Bible) for decision-making, the "priesthood of all believers," meaning we all have equal access to God, and the belief that God alone is Lord of a person’s conscience.