Eternity is Now
Welcome! We are here to assist you in filling your life with heaven. God is a real transforming force at work in your life and in the world. We honor many different approaches to God and we encourage this diversity.
We are an inclusive Christian denomination known as the Swedenborgian Church and member of the National Council of Churches. Our denomination was instrumental in organizing the first Congress of World Religions, held in Chicago in 1893, and one of the first churches in the western world teaching that salvation is an inner experience rather than acceptance of a particular doctrine.
Live Your Love
Who is God? Swedenborg wrote "God never hurts or punishes, for this is as far away from the nature of God as Heaven is from hell." For Swedenborgians, God is the Creator, the source of every positive human quality and the very energy which is slowly leading humanity towards the creation of heaven on earth. The essence of God is perfect love and wisdom which draws all people to heaven so that they would enjoy the fulfillment for which we were created.
Who is Jesus? Jesus was a real person who lived and taught a path we can follow to become whole. In this person, God entered completely into the human experience as the ultimate expression of love and compassion. He knew birth, growth, pain, testing, and fulfillment. In Christ we are given a comprehensible and knowable God. The Second Coming is an active process that is happening within us and the world. As we increase compassion, integrity, understanding, and healing in our lives, we are helping God create a "new Heaven and a new Earth."
Co-Creating Heaven Here On Earth
Heaven and hell are not rewards or punishments distributed on judgment day but the present inner experience we freely choose. We may choose to enjoy peace and openness, or to close ourselves in fear. We can discover the highest joy of a loving life by giving to others, or the loneliness of self-centeredness. Life is an opportunity for learning and spiritual growth. When we "die" we continue to live, creating the Heaven or hell of our choice in the next life. There is no devil tempting us, but there are angels who are always with us, leading us toward the light of heaven.
As we choose between giving and taking, loving and hating, right and wrong, we participate in the creation of our own spiritual character. This spiritual self, or soul, is who we really are, and this is what lives forever.
The Bible is a very complex compilation of books that are far too rich to be limited to literal interpretation. The creation story is not an historical account but a description of our own stages of spiritual growth. The generations of Abraham speak of our growing complexity. The escape from slavery in Egypt, the wandering in the wilderness, and the claiming of the Promised Land recount our own spiritual journey as we truly become ourselves. The descending of the New Jerusalem described in Revelation is the completion of the spiritual evolution of the human race. The Bible is a map of our journey from the Garden of Eden to the Holy City. It is our story!