Reformed Presbyterian Church
Of North America
Fulton, NY
Who We Are
We at the Reformed Presbyterian Church believe in the vital doctrines of
the Reformation period of the sixteenth century, namely, "Scripture alone",
"Christ alone", "Grace alone", "Faith alone", and " to God alone be the glory".
It was the word "alone" that brought Rome and the Reformers into conflict.
The Reformers emphasized that the Scriptures are the only ultimate authority
in faith and practice. When it came to the foundational doctrine of
Justification, the Reformers placed great stress on the gift of faith
through which the sinner would be found righteous. The central message
of the Bible is that we are saved from God's wrath by grace alone through
faith alone because of Christ alone to the glory of God alone.
Our Doctrinal Standard is the Westminster Confession Of Faith adopted
in 1648. We are a confessional church and therefore know what it is that
we believe and need not have any debate with our peers as to what we should
believe. The Westminster Confession is a comprehensive, systematic, and
detailed summary of what the Bible teaches us about God, Man's need of
salvation and what is God's Plan of Salvation. The Confession starts with
Holy Scriptures and recognizes that "the supreme judge" in matters of
religion is "the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scriptures". Therefore the
Confession itself is subordinate to the Bible.
Our worship practices are rooted in the Apostolic Church as rediscovered
during the Reformation. The God-given Manual of Praise for the Christian
Church is the inspired Book of Psalms. We believe in the regulative
principle of worship, which stated positively is every element of public
worship must have a warrant from Scripture. It can be stated in another
way, what God has not commanded in worship is forbidden. Human worship
as found in the Scriptures is repugnant to God (Gen.4:1-5, Lev.10:1-3,
Num.16; I Sam.13). The Westminster Assembly framed a directory for worship
in light of this principle to which we subscribe. The Assembly concurred
that as the saints engage in the singing of Psalms, without instrumental
music, they are offering acceptable praise to the Triune God as mediated
through our Lord Jesus Christ. The saints, by faith, pluck the 'strings'
of their hearts and do sing and make melody with their hearts to the Lord,
offering Him in thanksgiving the "fruit of their lips" for His Gift of
Salvation (Eph.5:19; Heb.13:15).
Finally, we fully acknowledge that the Lord Jesus Christ rules over all
things for the sake of His Church (Eph. 1:22).