Our distinctives
None of these are quirks. Each one comes from Scripture, and each one shapes what you will see on a Sunday morning. Read them before you visit and nothing in the service will surprise you.
We subscribe to the historic creeds of the Christian faith: the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed. We also subscribe to the Westminster Standards, the Confession of Faith, the Shorter Catechism, and the Larger Catechism.
“Unless one is born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God” (John 3:3). While the outward call of gospel proclamation is universal, in order to share in the benefits of Christ’s death and resurrection, you must be born again by the Spirit of the living God.
When we gather for worship on the Lord’s Day, we are renewing our covenant with God. We do this by following the pattern of worship commanded by God in Scripture, summarized in five steps: Call, Confession, Consecration, Communion, and Commission.
The heart of biblical worship is organized around Word and sacrament. As often as we are fed by the Word, we want to be fed from the Lord’s Table. Just as the worshipper in the Old Testament partook of the peace offering, so we partake of Christ’s Table when we gather.
We are convinced that Jesus used wine when He established the Supper, and we lack the authority to alter what He established. The Jews used wine in the Passover meal, and Jesus established this sacrament in that context. When Jesus offers us the cup, we gladly receive it.
Our children participate in the worship service with us as members of the Church. We baptize our children and welcome them into the church. We also welcome them to the Lord’s Table, because His Table is for His people.
The Psalms contain the fullest expression of human emotion, from the highest highs to the lowest lows. They are Holy Spirit inspired prayers, written for us to pray and sing back to God. We sing hymns also, and the Psalms provide the musical backbone of our worship.
When our people gather on the Lord’s Day, we need to hear from God. We need a herald to open the Bible and tell us what God has said. We need preaching, preaching that touches our heads and our hearts.
Simply stated, we baptize our children because they are Christians. They are joined to the Church through the covenantal connection of their believing parents. Throughout the Bible, children are included in God’s covenant people, and this pattern continues into the New Covenant. As Jesus said, “for to such belongs the Kingdom of God” (Luke 18:16).
We believe it is the responsibility of every Christian parent, especially fathers, to provide a distinctly Christian education for their children. The local church should equip Christian parents to provide this education for her covenant children. God gives this responsibility to parents, never to the State.
We hold to a historic and Reformed position on the end times known as Postmillennialism. We believe Christ’s Kingdom was inaugurated at His resurrection and will grow in number and influence until He returns. Christ’s Kingdom will grow until the knowledge of the Lord fills the earth as the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11:9).
We believe Christians and the local church are to have a preserving effect on society (Matthew 5:13). The church also has a prophetic role in society, bringing the Bible to bear on the moral issues of the day, like John the Baptist (Luke 3:19). If God has spoken on an issue, so must the church.
Doctrine on a page is one thing. A room full of families singing psalms and coming to the Table together is another. Come see it.
