Gateshead Presbyterian Church is led by a group of elders (the word 'Presbyterian' comes from the Greek word for 'elder').  As a young congregation not yet established in its own right, this group of elders (called the 'session') consists of the minister and the three elders of its parent church, Durham Presbyterian Church: Rev B. Norton, Mr J. P. Winch, and Dr C. Bowerman.   

Rev W. M. (Bill) Schweitzer is originally from Florida, and came to this country as a US Marine Exchange officer to the Royal Air Force.  After leaving the services in 2005, he trained for the ministry at the Free Church of Scotland College and completed a PhD in systematic theology at Edinburgh University.  Bill is married to Pam, and they have five young children: Mark, Bethany, Mary, Anna and James. 

The Bible is the basis for all our beliefs.  The Bible is the inspired Word of God, and it needs to be the grid through which we view everything else.  Although our observations of the world will always agree with what the Bible teaches, mere observation will never lead to the kind of knowledge about God that can save us.  God is a personal being who delights in communicating with his people through the Scriptures.  This ongoing, personal communication is what our church seeks to facilitate by preaching and teaching the Bible.

Theology is important. Theology is what we believe about God, and it is vitally important to have the right theology for several reasons:

1) We were created for the purpose of knowing and understanding our creator.  Having wrong ideas about God means we cannot fulfill the most basic aspect of life.

2) Similarly, we worship according to what we believe about God.  If we for example believed that God was chaotic, then our worship would no doubt be chaotic.  But we believe that God is three persons existing in beautiful, loving unity, and that he is perfectly holy, just and good.  We therefore worship him in a way we think is fitting.

3) The Bible says that we eventually become like that which we worship.  This means that every aspect of our characters and the actions that result from them have their basis in who we believe God (or some idol that has taken the place of God in our hearts) is.  If we think that God is deceitful, then we will inevitably be deceitful.  But we believe that God is completely true, so we seek to be truthful.

4) Finally, good theology is important is because our spiritual lives depend on it.  Faith in Jesus Christ is the one thing that can save us, and faith comes through knowledge.  You cannot love or have faith in someone you do not even know.  We at GPC want everyone to know Jesus Christ as he really is, so that by knowing him you might love him, and loving him you might enter into his joy forever.

Our theology is summarised by the Westminster Confession of Faith.  Unlike the Bible, the Confession was authored by men, but we (along with countless others throughout three and a half centuries) believe it is an accurate summary of biblical teaching.  It can be found online here.