• We endeavor to keep the Word of God pre-eminent in our thinking and our teaching. If we are to reform our thinking and our lives, it can only be by the Word of God. We are dismayed by theological systems constructged over the years that have marginalized the relevancy of the Word of God, and we endeavor in our generation to build up a mature knowledge of and thorough-going application of God's Word in all of life.

• We endeavor to combat a spirit of mediocrity prevalent in our society, by establishing high standards for ourselves in both our understanding and practice of God's Word.

• We are a confessional church. That is, we state what we believe in confessional form. Without the truth stated in clear and concise form, the church is easily taken by every wind of doctrine. The teachers of the church subscribe to the Westminster Confession of Faith in its form of doctrine.

• We believe that God has primarily endowed Christian parents with the responsibility of training their children in the faith (Deut. 6:6-9, 20-22, Deut. 4:9-12, Prov 1:8, 6:20-21, Eph. 6:1,2). Therefore, the church must encourage, equip, and empower parents and especially fathers to perform this God-given mandate. The church must not replace or displace the Christian parents in this task. The function of the church is not to segregate families, but to unify them, respecting the spiritual headship of first the Christian father and then the Christian mother over their home.

• Since God commands Christian parents to teach their children his Word in all aspects of their lives (Deut. 6:6-9), we encourage our member families to provide their children with a Christian education.

• Because our children are members of the convenant community of God, we encourage children to remain with their parents during the worship services. A place for nursing (crying or sleeping) children will be provided during the services.

• We believe that we must bring God our very best in worship. Our culture represents a decline in morality and maturity. The music and language of this culture does not necessarily represent the very best. Therefore we do not strive after the lowest and most simple forms of music or expression in worship. We avoid vainly repetitious and overly-simplistic music.

• We believe that we must worship God on his terms. We believe that the highest priority in worship is that it be pleasing to God, even though it might not be comfortable or pleasing to us at all times. This means we will not bring novel elements of worship into his sanctuary such as drama or puppet shows.

• We believe that our worship should be characterized as a two-way communication with our God. God speaks to his people through his word and we respond in confession, praise, and thanksgiving.

• We believe that our worship must center on God and not the worship leader or any other man. Worship should not be used as a vehicle to draw the congregation to the preacher or to the church, but to draw them to God.

We want this church to be characterized by warm fellowship and vibrant outreach to our community and beyond. We encourage hospitality and our members care for one another when they are going through difficult and trying situations.

We lament that the church and the family have been marginalized, slowly replaced by the state over the last 150 years. According to the Bible, the care of the poor is first and foremost under the responsibility of the family and private individuals. Nevertheless, the church is also so called. James defines "true religion" as taking care of the fatherless and the widows. Therefore this church takes this responsibility seriously and will ensure the Christian education of the children of widows and orphans in our midst. Special oversite of widows is provided by the diaconate of the church. This church also encourages adoptions for orphans.

SERVICE TIMES  •  Reformation Church, OPC