Distinctives

We believe that the Bible is inspired and inerrant, our sole authority and guide for all things

In an era when critics attack the Bible’s authority, inspiration, and inerrancy, we whole-heartedly affirm the verbal, plenary inspiration of all sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments. We believe that together they constitute the authoritative, inerrant Word of God; all that is sufficient for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness.

 

We preach the Gospel of Christ without compromise

There is much confusion in our day about the Gospel. We do not believe the Gospel is simply the news that Christ came to die for sinners. The true Gospel claims the Lordship of Jesus Christ over all realms of society and over the hearts and minds of all men. Thus, responding to the call of the Gospel is not a choice, it is a necessity. The true Gospel impacts not only the eternal destiny of man, but also our civilization. We preach Christ and Him crucified that the nations might become His disciples.

 

We believe that God created the earth and heavens in six days

While secular science and liberalism erode confidence in the first chapters of Genesis, we whole-heartedly affirm that God created the earth and heavens in six consecutive, twenty-four hour periods. Attempts to ignore both the plain meaning of yom, “day,” and the surrounding context reveal a bias of subordinating Scripture to modern culture.

 

We acknowledge God’s plan for church government

While we affirm that there is no difference, qualitatively, between male and female, Scripture clearly teaches that God has preserved the distinction between male and female roles in both the family and in the church. Men are commanded to sacrificially lead their families and the Body of Christ. The Bible also teaches that since men are to lead and federally represent their families before God, they should also represent their families before the Church. Women, in God’s economy, are to respectfully support their husbands in this leadership position. We obey the commands of God, turning a deaf ear to the siren cries of egalitarianism and thus uphold the practice of one vote per household, cast by the male head-of-household. We also affirm that the biblical offices of Elder and Deacon should be held by men.

 

We encourage families to worship together

Wherever we find the family gathered for worship in Scripture, it is the family in its totality: father, mother, and child. The cumulative effect of many modern Sunday school, nursery care, and youth ministry programs has been to eliminate the role of the father and mother in the spiritual training of their children, hampering the family government established by God which often leads to the apostasy of the children later in life. Beyond the recovery of this role, we believe family integration in the life of the church accomplishes the following worthy goals: 1) it provides a model for observation of Biblical interaction, discipline, and training within the family; 2) it allows children to share in and experience the corporate worship of God’s people; 3) it eliminates the artificial “teen culture” which has encouraged such a widespread exodus of young men and women from the church; 4) it most closely matches Biblical patterns of worship and fellowship.

 

We require an educated and qualified Eldership 

Far too many churches appoint men to the Eldership on the basis of their success in the business world or personal charisma, without regard to the Elder qualifications of 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. This leads to Elders who are either deficient in godly character or biblical knowledge. One of the most important traits of an Elder is the ability to live and teach the Word of God aright, protecting the Church from false doctrine and practice. We believe that this ability arises only from a thorough knowledge of Scripture as illuminated by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we require that all Elders of member churches, prior to ordination, have a testimony of godliness and humility, and also possess sufficient biblical knowledge to pass a thorough theological examination by the Presbytery.

 

We promote and support the Christian educational training of children

The Bible gives parents the clear direction in Deuteronomy 6 that they are to train their children in the statutes of the Lord throughout the day. This mandate is compromised when children are sent to public institutions of learning where they are indoctrinated in the principles of secular humanism and influenced by worldly peers and teachers. The result of such secular instruction is a weakened church and divided families. We promote, instead, those educational alternatives which are guided by and serve Biblical principles and purposes. These include Christian homeschooling and biblically regulated covenant schools.