Organizational Affiliation

Glencairn Museum is part of The Academy of the New Church, which includes Bryn Athyn College of the New Church, The Academy of the New Church Secondary Schools, Glencairn Museum, and Cairnwood Estate.

The mission of The Academy of the New Church is to promote, share, and deepen understanding of the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Church through education, research, publication, and priestly training, guided by the understanding of those Doctrines within the General Church of the New Jerusalem. The Academy seeks to engage students and the broader community of learners in this mission through Bryn Athyn College of the New Church and Theological School, The Academy of the New Church Secondary Schools, Glencairn Museum, Cairnwood Estate, and Swedenborg Library. By means of this mission, the Academy encourages a life according to these Doctrines.

Key to the purpose and mission of Glencairn Museum is its affiliation with the General Church of the New Jerusalem (New Church). Strongly rooted in the teachings of the Old and New Testaments, the New Church also adds the promise of a new level of understanding for all people.

What Does the New Church Believe?
A Brief Summary of Core Beliefs

Who is God?

  • There is one loving, personal God of heaven and earth, who is the Lord Jesus Christ.

How does God reveal Himself?

  • “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). As stated in the Gospel of John, God reveals Himself through the Word of God (Bible).

  • The Word of God contains a deeper, spiritual meaning beyond its literal stories, teaching people how to live a life of spiritual growth and rebirth (regeneration).

  • God revealed this deeper, spiritual meaning within the Word through the theological writings of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772).

What does it mean to live a good life?

  • Living a good life means freely choosing in daily actions to love God and the neighbor, to obey the Ten Commandments, to act honestly and faithfully in daily work, and to reject evils as sins.

  • Loving the neighbor includes living a life of useful service to others.

What happens after death?

  • A spiritual world, including heaven and hell, is real.

  • Every individual continues life in this real and detailed spiritual world as a complete person immediately after the death of their natural body.

How can salvation be achieved?

  • Every person, regardless of their religion in this life, can achieve a life in heaven to eternity through a progressive process of spiritual growth and rebirth (regeneration). This means freely choosing to do what is good from God and rejecting and repenting from what is evil.

  • In this way, every person chooses their own eternal destiny, going either to heaven or to hell according to their choices and actions in this life.

Can marriage continue after death?

  • True marriage love can become spiritual and continue in heaven forever.