1989 issue 9 - a church blazing with vision: the rpcus - counsel of chalcedon

8/12/2019 1989 Issue 9 - A Church Blazing With Vision: The RPCUS - Counsel of Chalcedon

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Many people inquire as to what

we

believe and what

our denomination is doing. Below is a

brief

statement

concerning our distinctives and our labors.

A Church Blazing with Vision

The Reformed Presbyterian Church in the United States

Our Origin

lieve are the system

of

revealed truth tion Mandate of Genesis 1:28 and

to

the

taught in the Bible. We are called

of

Great Commission

of

Matthew 28:18-

The

Reformed Presbyterian Church God to defend, expound, and apply that 20. This mandate and commission

com

-

in the United States, (RPCUS), was system of truth, and the worldview prise a unity. They

must

not be set

born in

1983

out of the continuing based on it, with all of its distinctives, over against each other. The Great Com-

struggle to uphold the all-embracing, in an age

of

synthesis

and

apostasy. mission is Christ 's restatement of the

inerrant authority of the Bible, as the Creation Mandate taking into considera-

Word

of

God,

to

maintain the purity

of

We

emphasize

our

sincere commit- tion fallen man's

need

of

redemption.

the church, and

to

proclaJm the . t h Q.f.

ment

to

the Westminster.Standards? not


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God's praises with psalms, hymns and

spiritual songs, which are expressions

of

biblical truth, with all the musiCal

instruments made available to us. We

place a high value on the singing

of

. he

150 Psalms and other portions

of

the

Bible in our worship serviCes.

We

also

fmnly believe in the Westminster Con

fession's regulative principle of worship

that only what God commands in the

Bible can done in our worship

of

him. Our clturches use such songbooks

as: THE TRINITY HYMNAL, the

Covenanter's TI:IE BOOK OF

PSALMS, and the Christian Reformed

Church's

i ffi

PSALTER-HYMNAL.

We also use music as a medium for the

spread

of

the gospel and the Reformed

Faith. We have several talented and pro

fessional singers and musicians whose

tapes are marketed nationally.

Our

Government

We

believe that Christ is the Head

of

the chrirch.and the state, and that he has

appointed a government in the hands

of

chutch officers, which .government and

jurisdiction are distinct from civil

government He

has called his church to

plant,. nourish, equip and reproduce

presbyterian ,churches, i.e., churches

shepherded by elders elected by the

congregation to represent Chri st and to

administer'His Word. When the elders

of

a local congregation meet oflicially,

they are cal led the Session. When elders

from each chtirch in a certain locality

meet

officially

to

shepherd the churches

committed to their charge, they are

called a Presbytery. And when the elders

from all the churches in a denomination

meet offichilly they are called the

.General Assembly. This connection

between

our churches manifests the

unity .

of

Christ's Body ,in the worid

With

our

common confession

of

faith

~ d

our c.ommon government, Acts

15

.

Our

Discipline .

Our

Book of

Church Order is our

e d i t e ~

versiop

of The Book

o

Church

Order p t

h

Presbyterian

Church

in

America

(Second Edition, 1978), and

our Directory ,

of

Worship

is

the un

edited version

of that same book, which

d i r ~ c t o r y is based.on the Westminster

Directory .

of

Worship. Our manual

of

h ~ h discipline is under review, along

with our present Book

of

Church Order,

in an effort to bring them into greater

conformity to the Word

of

God. We are

considering the manual of church dis

cipline

of

the Orthodox Presbyterian

Church as a guide in our practice of

chUICh

discipline.

Our

EcumeJiicity

We believe in the unity and catholi

city of Christ's Church. Therefore, we

seek to fellowship with all who love

the Lord Jesus Christ and his Bible. We

seek fraternal relations with all

ChUIChes

who sincerely hoid to the historic Re

formed and Presbyterian Confessions

and Catechisms, such as the Reformed

Presbyterian Church in North America,

Covenanter; the Reformed Church

in

the United States, Eureka Cla8sis; the

Presbyterian Church in America; the

Orthodoz Presbyterian Church, the Free

Presbyterian Church; etc.

We

welcome into

our

membership

any church

or

minister who shares our

distinctives and our strict subscription

to the Westminster Standards. We wel

come into our churches all who can

make a credible profession

of

faith in

Jesus Christ, with their children, Acts

16

:31. And we welcome

to

the Lord's

Table with us all who are baptized, who

are members in goOd standing of a

Bibte-beiieving church, who love Jesus

Christ, who discern the Lord's body in

the Supper, who examine themselves,

and who are able to remember the

Lord's death until he comes again.

One of our greatest joys is working

with churches, groups and individuals

who are "on the way"

or

in transition

between synthetic brands

of

Christian

ity and the authentic Christianity

of

the

Reformed Faith.

We

recognize that

there are churches

and

groups

of

fami

lies around the nation, and world, lean

ing, for the first time, in our direction,

.

who

are being attracted by th truth and

power of Reformed Christianity. We

long to be of any assistance possible to

them. Many

of our

strongest members

and churches came out

of

non-calvin

istic backgrounds.

The

Counsel of Chalceclon November 989 page

2

Our

Locations and Ministries

We

have churches, mission

work ;

and schools in Georgia, Virginia, New

Hampshire, Nebraska, Texas, Florida,

Washington, Nicaragua, Surinam, the

Caribbean Basin, and Germany. We are

in contact with interested groups in

Ohio, Louisiana and Canada. Our min

isters have been involved

in

evangel

i.stic endeavors throughout these United

States, and in world missions in

E1

Sal

vador, Chile, Paraquay, Argentina,

So,uth Africa, Germany and Scotland;

We are closely

i d e n ~ f i e d

with White

field Theological Seminary in Lakeland,

Florida. We have a monthly magazine

of

twenty-four

to

forty-eight pages

called

The Counsel of

.

d o n

which goes into homes, chi.Jrcbes,

schools, and businesses

of

thousands

of

people around the world. W.e have an

extensive pro-life ministry through

such projects as the North Georgia

Reformation C e n t ~ r which includes a

home for unwed mothers, and whic,h

offers loving care, discipleship and vo

cational training.

Our particular chqrches and mission

works are involved in a wide-range of

ministries in their efforts . o win the

world for Christ by serving . others,

Mark

10:45. In 1988 our small denom

ination reached over 25 million people

arqund the ~ i t h the Word

of

God

At present our influence far exceeds our

numbers. We praise God for that, while

at the same tiine working, praying, and

strategizing for extensive and intensive

church

growth

spiritually, numerical

ly,

ge

ogiaphically, and h e t e r o g e n e o u s ~

ly. .

Our Make up

Our people m ~ from a variety

of

races and backgrounds, from one end of

t q ~

economic. intellectual, social spec

trum to the other. We are a multiplicity

of

peoples, languages,,and races; woven

by the Holy Spirit into one united

b o


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has promised his church a glorious fu

ture in Jesus Christ, Isaiah 2. We look

forward to

the future, knowing that it,

with all its struggles, afflictions, and

progressive victories, belongs, not to

the humanists, but to the faithful peo

ple of God, I Cor. 3:21-22. We are fu

ture-oriented

in

our present responsibili

ties. Our vision for life and the future

s

determined by the promises

of

God's

covenant and

of

Christ's kingdom. We

pray that God would use us to bring the

covenantal blessings of salvation to all

the families of all the nations

of

the

world, Psalm 22:27f; Galatians 3:7-29.

We believe that the kingdom of

Christ

and the preaching

of

that kingdom will

leaven the whole loaf

of

human life and

society,

as

it advances toward total vic

tory, Mark 4:21-32. We work, pray and

hope for the day when the earth will be

full

of

the knowledge

of

the Lord as the

waters cover the sea, Isaiah

11:9

Your Invitation

f you would like

to

talk to us about

joining with us, or if you have any fur

ther questions about who we are and

what we stand for, we would be more

than glad for you

to

call us at (404) 339-

1162 or (404) 396-0965.

.Q

Jeremiah

Continued from page 16

ashamed

of

the gospel, for

it

is the

power of

God

for salvation

to

everyone

who believes.... or in it the

righteousness of God is revealed from

faith to faith;

as it is

written: 'But the

righteous man shall live by faith. '

(Rom. 1:16-17). But now apart from

the Law the righteousness

of

God has

been manifested, being witnessed by the

Law and the Prophets, even the

righteousness

of

God through faith in

Jesus Christ for all those who be

lieve ... (Rom. 3:21f) He (Jehovah)

made him (Jesus) who knew

no

sin to

be sin on our behalf, that we might

become the righteousness of God in

him.

(II Cor. 5:21)

.Q

The Counsel

o

Chalcedon November, 1989 page 13

1989 issue 9 - a church blazing with vision: the rpcus - counsel of chalcedon

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