What is a Reformed Church

Welcome to the Reformed Presbyterian Church! What kind of a church is this? We hope that this explanation will help to answer this question.

This is a Reformed Christian church. The term "Reformed" confuses many people, especially those from any "Orthodox" faith. For example, from the viewpoint of an orthodox Jew, the most liberal and unacceptable form of Judaism is Reformed Judaism. One would be inclined to think that a Reformed Christian must be a liberal Christian. This is not so! Within Christianity, the term "Reformed" has deep historical significance and does not indicate liberalism.

Reformed Christianity has its root in the Protestant Reformation. Reformed Christianity is evangelical Christianity. The early teachers of the Protestant Reformation were evangelical. They taught that sinners were saved from death, and given the gift of eternal life, through faith in the work of Jesus Christ; His life, death, and resurrection. Nothing other than faith was necessary for salvation. This teaching was in opposition to the doctrine of the Roman Catholic church, and was the leading doctrine of the Protestant, or Reformed, churches.

The Reformed Presbyterian Church continues to believe and teach the historic evangelical way of salvation which the Protestant Reformers left as their legacy for Christ's Reformed church. Liberal denominations have departed from the evangelical faith of the Reformation. It is dishonest for any church to call itself "Reformed" if it is not evangelical.

Another belief which is characteristic of a true church of the Reformation is that the Bible is true, and that it is the only authority for religious faith. Today, the liberal churches no longer accept the infallibility and absolute authority of the Bible. A few years ago, for example, Time Magazine ran a story concerning a candidate for the ministry in the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. This church is still sometimes called a Reformed church. The candidate denied the virgin birth of Christ, the substitutionary atonement, and the resurrection. Yet this man was accepted into the ministry. Today, in many liberal churches which once accepted the authority of Scripture, we find practicing homosexuals and lesbians in their ministry. None of the great Reformed leaders would have tolerated, or even believed, that such a thing was possible in a church of Jesus Christ.

If nothing else is understood, let it be clear that the Reformed Presbyterian Church has no affiliation whatsoever with any liberal church, even if it is Presbyterian, or is still known as Reformed. Our common Presbyterianism cannot bridge the gap which opened when the liberal churches departed from the authority of Scripture and the doctrines of the Protestant Reformation. The Reformed Presbyterian Church is "Reformed" not just in name but in fact.

While once all Protestant churches may have been generally called "Reformed", today the term is usually applied to those churches which have followed the Calvinistic branch of the Protestant Reformation. Reformed churches are Calvinistic in doctrine. Calvinistic doctrine places a Biblical emphasis on the majesty and sovereignty of God. Especially, it calls attention to the sovereign or electing grace for sinners. This is the doctrine which most decisively distinguishes Reformed churches from other evangelical churches.

This does not mean that true Reformed churches lack zeal for the preaching of the gospel and the conversion of the lost to Christ. Any Christian who has come to understand God's central place in redemption should abound in zeal for the lost and passion for Christ. If you look at the men who followed the Calvinistic doctrine in the past, you will see that this is so.

Calvin, Whitefield, Edwards, Spurgeon, and Machen all burned for the salvation of the lost. More recently, men such as Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Francis Schaeffer, D. James Kennedy, and R.C. Sproul have continued the historic preaching and missionary tradition of the Reformed church.

The Reformed church is not liberalism, nor is it dead orthodoxy. It is alive and well, flourishing and living for Christ the King. It is only when the doctrine and life of the true, historic Reformed church is lost that it becomes deformed and spiritually dead. When the Holy Spirit once again revives Christ's church, then the Biblical religion of the Reformed churches is bound to be rediscovered and applied.

Before specifying the main teachings of the historical Reformed faith (and also the Reformed Presbyterian Church), we should mention those areas of agreement which we have with all evangelical churches which have continued to follow the religion of the Bible, but do not believe that the Bible teaches Calvinism.

• We all wholeheartedly accept the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, as the Word of God (Psalm 119:160, II Timothy 3:16-17).
• We all preach the necessity of regeneration, or the new birth, for every human being who is justified before God (John 3:7).
• We all agree and proclaim that Jesus is the only Saviour (Acts 4:12). He is the God/man who was punished for us that our sins might be forgiven and His righteousness written to our account so that for His sake we have eternal life.
• We all agree on the virgin birth, and believe in both the natural and the supernatural (Luke 1:34-35, John 1:14).
• We all believe that Christ rose from the dead, and that, in due time, all of His disciples will be raised from physical death to life and glory evermore (Luke 24:1-8).
• We all believe in the visible return of Jesus to this earth for final judgment (Acts 17:31).

These are great areas of agreement shared by Reformed Christians and evangelical Christians in general. Honesty requires that we mention some differences which we have. We sometimes speak of the five points of Calvinism as summarizing the distinctive principles of the Reformed faith. Calvinism is much more than these five points, but they do bring out major differences especially as they apply to the Biblical doctrine of salvation.

• Total Depravity means that every part of man has been polluted by sin, does not function as it should to lead men to God, and is under the curse for sin. This does not mean that everyone is actually as wicked as he might be, but that no man without can please God with his good works unless he is born again by the Spirit of God (Jeremiah 17:9-10, Romans 3:10-18).
• Unconditional Election is the teaching that God has selected those who are to be saved in an eternal decree before the worlds were made. Salvation is from God, and it is from all eternity (Ephesians 1:4).
• Limited Atonement is the teaching that Christ did not die indiscriminately for all mankind but for His people known to God from eternity according to His decree. His death was sufficient for all mankind, but efficient for His people, providing a real and complete redemption from all sin (Matthew 20:28, John 10:15, John 10:26, John 17:9).
• Irresistible Grace means that all whom God has included in His decree of salvation, given to Christ as His people, and for whom Christ died, will be saved through faith (John 6:44).
• Perserverance of the Saints follows what we have already outlined about the doctrine of salvation. It means that all for whom Christ died, and who have been called to faith, and saved, cannot be lost again. Those who truly accept God's salvation in Christ are preserved in faith and will persevere to the end (John 10:27-29).

These are the points of the Calvinistic or Reformed doctrine of salvation. The Reformed attitude towards God controls all of our thinking and living. God is sovereign in all things. We and the world are His creation. Calvinism rejoices in a God who is wholly and absolutely sovereign. Even the grace of God is a sovereign grace. As Scripture says,

He bestows mercy on whom He bestows mercy, and withholds it from those whom He will withhold it.

(Romans 9:18). As Jesus said,

You did not choose me. I chose you.

(John 15:16). The Reformed Christian does not believe that the intention of God can fail. God succeeds in saving those whom He has purposed to save.

The God-centeredness of the Reformed Christian extends to our worship as well. What has God commanded our worship to be? Many Christians have not answered that question or even thought about it. Reformed Christians hold to what is called the Regulative Principle of Worship. The principle is that whatever is not commanded by God for worship is forbidden (Deuteronomy 12:32, Luke 15:9, I Corinthians 14:26, I Corinthians 14:40, Hebrews 9:1).

As you worship with us, you may notice that we sing the Psalms of the Bible without the use of musical instruments. This practice reflects our understanding of what God has commanded for His worship. Until late in the last century, most Reformed Christians shared this view, and Psalm-singing was widespread in their churches. Even though many Reformed churches no longer believe that the regulative principle requires the exclusive singing of Psalms, they still adhere to the principle.

Reformed Christians, unlike many evangelical Christians today, believe in the legitimacy and usefulness of creeds. We are a creedal church. We have a published confession of faith. Our creed is subordinate to the Bible, and we pray that we will not confess anything which is not taught in Scripture. However, not all Christians understand the Bible in the same way. We believe that it is honest for us to say openly what we believe God's Word teaches rather than retreat into some ambiguous statement such as, "We have no creed but the Bible." Reformed Christians never place their creeds and confessions above the Bible, and they recognize that creeds are man-produced documents which need to be changed when it is shown that the Bible teaches otherwise. Nevertheless, every Christian believes and lives according to some understanding of the doctrine of Scripture. Is it not honest to say what that understanding is?

Reformed Christians believe that the Holy Spirit has led and enlightened the church throughout the centuries as it has studied and reflected upon God's Word and how that Word applies to all of our beliefs and duties as redeemed people. We believe that there have been many mistakes but also much worthwhile progress. In our modern understanding of Scripture we are standing on the shoulders of the brave and earnest men and women who have preceded our generation. Their studies and conclusions are included in the great historic confessions which we gratefully use to help us on the path of Christian faith and service. Out of the doctrinal and creedal struggles of the past have come to us a developed doctrine of belief and Christian ethics. We are the beneficiaries of a mature faith.

What this means is that the Reformed faith has a well understood doctrine of the Christian life. It is a view which strikes the balance between false mysticism, pietism, and asceticism on the one side, and bankrupt worldliness on the other. This world and life view engages the totality of the believer - his heart, his soul, his strength, and his mind. This view takes seriously the commands to "Love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength" (Mark 12:30). Our view takes up all of God's creation and the totality of man in a grand endeavor to live for the glory of God in every possible way. All of man, all of life, all of creation groans to be free. The Reformed believer exerts an influence in arts, in politics, in business, in medicine, in education, in science, in every honest work found in the world.

While we believe that bringing the lost to Christ is our priority, we also believe that God continues to command men and women to subdue this world to God. For example, there are no "holy orders" in the Reformed churches. All believers, in our view, are called to "full-time Christian service" in their various vocations. The popular sermon illustration which says that Christians should not be polishing brass on a sinking ship does not appeal to us. We are engaged in the building of culture out of our faith. Since it is, in fact, impossible not to be engaged in the world while we are in the world, we think our calling is to do so as believers in Jesus.

When God's people of the Old Testament were sent into Babylonian exile, they were told to seek the welfare of the city where God had sent them, and pray to God on its behalf. God tied the welfare of His people to the welfare of the city in an explicit way (Jeremiah 19:7). Reformed Christians are not merely polishing brass on a sinking ship. They are following God's command to exercise dominion over the creation even though the creation is not forever. We are seeking the welfare of the world and not incidentally seeking the welfare of our families and neighbors whom we love while we are in residence here.

Our motto is "Reformed according to God's Word and ever reforming." This side of glory we can never be satisfied with the status quo for ourselves, our church, or our society. We expect struggle. We expect conflict in the pursuit of the goals God has given us (John 7:7, John 16:33, II Timothy 3:12). We also expect such success as God plans to give us as we walk in the path of obedience.

Much has been covered, but not every point has been made in this brief essay on what a Reformed Church is today. Perhaps this can be a starting point for further conversations. We cordially invite you to worship and fellowship with us in the Reformed Presbyterian Church. Bring your questions and we will learn together.

Let us summarize in two sentences the Reformed Faith: We say with Paul (when he spoke of Christ),

For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him alone belongs the glory forever and ever. Amen.

(Romans 11:36). This church unashamedly and unswervingly seeks to be Christ-centered in all things.