United in Missionpdf download
download this document We are followers of Christ and heirs to Presbyterian and Reformed traditions, particularly as embodied in historic confessional standards. As such, we are committed to our Reformational heritage and believe it has an indispensable role in the mission of the Triune God, alongside and in cooperation with other churches, in our local communities, in North America, and throughout the world.

We embrace the highest view of Scripture's absolute authority and trustworthiness and a fidelity to the Reformed theology of our doctrinal standards. These commitments are in no tension with the church's missional calling to function, by Christ's Spirit, as an alternative society within our dominant cultures. These commitments do not undermine, but support the larger shape of that calling:

  • worshipping our God who meets us in Christ through Word and Sacrament.
  • proclaiming his Gospel of grace to the ends of the earth.
  • serving others in deeds of love and mercy, embodying God's justice and peace.
  • engaging and countering our cultures with the renewing power of Christ.
  • nurturing healthy, growing, and reproducing churches.
  • developing gifts the Spirit has granted to men and women among God's people.
  • uniting with other Christians in mission as an expression of Reformed catholicity.

In these areas God calls us in Christ, empowered by his Spirit, and guided by his Word, to proclaim and be a sign of the reign of God to the eyes of a watching world.

To remain faithful to this calling, we must not allow legitimate differences and diversity within our own tradition to become obstacles to witness or to obscure the Gospel's power in forming a new humanity around the person of Jesus Christ.

Together in Diversity The Reformed tradition, particularly as expressed confessionally, represents a definite set of dogmatic contours, doctrinal boundaries, and exegetical trajectories. And that is a tradition we happily and warmly embrace as our own, in conformity with Holy Scripture.

Nevertheless, the Reformed tradition itself has evolved, and even in its formative years, always included differing perspectives on matters of theological detail. Moreover, our tradition typically allows those submitting to its fundamental system of doctrine nonetheless to dissent conscientiously from specific confessional expressions and propositions where such dissent is neither hostile to the system as a whole nor strikes at the vitals of religion, as determined by the judgment of our gathered presbyters.

There are numerous areas in which acceptable differences historically exist. Among others, these include:

  • how we interpret the biblical doctrine of creation as to chronology, timing, and process
  • how we characterize the pre-lapsarian covenant, particularly as to probation, grace, merit, and reward, and its relationship to and distinction from the covenant of grace
  • the way we prioritize and integrate the tasks of biblical theology, historical-grammatical exegesis, apostolic typology, redemptive historical thinking, and study of ancient contexts
  • the relative role we grant to specific experiences of conversion in relation to practices of Christian nurture and the ordinary means of grace within the covenant life of God's people
  • how we best characterize the spiritual life of covenant children prior to their coming to a maturing faith through the ministry of the Word
  • whether we regard sacraments truly to offer Christ and whether, when effectual, they confer grace instrumentally or are only occasions for the imparting or promise of grace
  • how we interpret and enact biblical teaching on worthy participation in the Lord's Supper
  • how we apply the regulative principle of worship practically to worship style and order, frequency of communion, the church year, and the like.
  • how we translate scriptural teaching on the Jewish Sabbath into a new covenant understanding of resting upon Christ and celebrating the Lord's Day.
  • how we construe and implement biblical principles of church polity in accordance with our respective church orders
  • how the church rightly relates to the civil magistrate and wider culture while maintaining her proper spiritual identity and mission.
  • the way we apply Scriptural teaching on election to the lived experience of God's people as the church visible.
  • how we confess the return of our Lord and the final judgment in relation to the millennium and progress of the Gospel.

Of these differences, some are more matters of doctrinal content, emphasis, or articulation, while others are more matters of pastoral application or expression of our doctrine.

Such diversity, we believe, is healthy and welcome as part of the ongoing life of God's people as we seek to grow up into unity of faith and live together in the peace of Christ. John Calvin himself writes,

For not all articles of true doctrine are of the same sort. Some are so necessary to know that they should be certain and unquestioned by all men as the proper principles of religion...Among the churches there are other articles of doctrine disputed which still do not break the unity of faith...Does this not sufficiently indicate that a difference of opinion over nonessential matters should in nowise be the basis of schism among Christians? (Institutes 4.1.12)

We lament our past failures to love our brothers and sisters as we ought, the ways we have broken the unity of faith over inessentials, and how we have countenanced foolish controversies, strife, and disputes within God's church.

In virtue of the church's mission, we purpose together to seek truth, all the while bearing patiently with and listening carefully to one another. We thereby seek to resolve our differences in the bonds of peace and unity, as is befitting those who confess the name of Jesus Christ, seek to live the Christian story, and work to advance his kingdom.