Not To Be Confused With
A creed is an ancient, churchwide summary (Apostles', Nicene); a confession is usually a longer, tradition-specific statement (Augsburg, Westminster).
Creeds distill the essentials into words a congregation can confess together. The Nicene Creed is the great ecumenical example, confessed across Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant worship. Creeds are the Church's memory and its boundary markers.