WELCOME!
. . . to the Church of the Holy City, a community where people and families come together to experience and to share in God’s love, through worship and prayer, music and laughter, and our caring for one another.

What sort of church is this?
This church is part of a small Christian denomination known as the Church of the New Jerusalem. It is also known as the “Swedenborgian Church”, because its founding was inspired by the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, a servant of God who lived about 250 years ago. It was Swedenborg who showed the world how to understand the Bible more deeply, as a guide to our spiritual growth.

In Canada, our church was first established as early as 1790, in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Here in the West, there have been Swedenborgian churches for well over a hundred years. The Edmonton church was built in 1959 and it has been a spiritual home for many people in our city.

What do you believe?
We believe in the transforming power of God’s love and that this love is the deepest truth of who we are as spiritual beings. When we choose to open ourselves to this love by the way we live, according to His Word, we begin to be changed in wonderful ways. We are led day by day into a new life, one in which we become more awake and alive to who we really are: angels made for heaven!

Of course, along the way, we are tempted to choose wrongly, for our own self-gratification over God's love, and that leads to loneliness and hurt in our lives. However, God is always there for us, if we turn to Him again in repentance and trust. In this way, learning to say no to "me only" and yes to "God and me", our lives are slowly re-made for heaven's joys. This is what God wants for us and this is what we believe.

What is your belief based on?

Personal Experience. . .
We have seen for ourselves how choosing God’s love brings healing and happiness to us and to our families, friends and neighbours. Simply put: God’s love is real.

The Word of God. . .
God’s love for us is shown in the Bible - not only in its literal meaning, but in its deeper, inner meaning that is revealed through study, meditation and prayer. The Bible contains the truth of who we are, and how we are to live in God. We are a Bible-based church.

Signs of the Spirit. . .
Our belief is also based on the many signs of God’s presence, in the wonders of Nature, His beautiful Creation, and in the good lives that are lived by people all over the world. For everyone is a child of God, although each may know God by different names and follow Him in different ways. For us, God is most fully revealed in the way, the truth and the life of our Lord Jesus Christ.

How Can I Find Out More?
For more detailed information about the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg that guide our beliefs, call us or check out these LINKS.



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