Mission and Distinctives

Mission

God is the only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, and we recognize our existence is to bring glory to God the Father through Jesus Christ our Lord by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Distinctives

Reformed

We subscribe to the Reformed tradition of the Protestant Christian faith. We affirm vital doctrines within this tradition, such as Sola Scriptura and Sola Fide. Sola Scriptura refers to the teaching that the Bible is the inspired, infallible, and inerrant Word of God and is the sole infallible revelation that rules the faith and practice of the Christian community and alone can bind the conscience. Sola Fide refers to the doctrine of justification by faith alone, whereby the believer is justified before God by the free grace of God, receiving the imputed righteousness of Christ (Rom. 5:18-19). The sole ground of our justification is the merit of Jesus, which is imputed to all who put their trust in Him. Although good works flow necessarily and immediately from all justified persons, these works are not the meritorious grounds of our justification (Eph. 2:8-10).

We also place great emphasis on the doctrine of God, which is central to the whole of Reformed Theology. In a word, Reformed Theology is God-centered. The absolute sovereignty of God over all things, including salvation, is foundational to the Reformed tradition. The structure of the biblical Covenant of Grace is the framework for understanding the theology of our salvation. The belief that salvation is by God's grace alone is at the core of this theology.

We adhere to the Five Solas of the Reformation. We also believe in the Doctrines of Grace, commonly known as Calvinism and summarized by the acronym "TULIP":

The Five Solas

Sola Scriptura- The Bible is the sole written divine revelation and alone can bind the conscience of believers absolutely.

Sola Fide- Justification is by faith alone. The merit of Christ, imputed to us by faith, is the sole ground of our acceptance by God, by which our sins are remitted and imputed to Christ.

Sola Gratia- Justification is by faith alone. The merit of Christ, imputed to us by faith, is the sole ground of our acceptance by God, by which our sins are remitted and imputed to Christ.

Sola Christus- Jesus Christ is the only mediator through Whose work we are redeemed.

Soli Deo Gloria- To God alone belongs the glory.

The Doctrines of Grace (TULIP)

Total Depravity (T)- Man in his natural state has no power in and of himself to please or put his faith in God. Sin affects every part of his being.

Unconditional Election (U)- God, before the world was created, graciously elected certain people for salvation according to His own completely free and sovereign choice. Nothing that man does affects God's election.

Limited Atonement (L)- While Christ's death was of infinite value to save sinners, He only died to atone for the sins of His elect people.

Irresistible Grace (I)- The Holy Spirit effectively regenerates the hearts and minds of the Elect and brings them to faith and repentance, and nothing can thwart His regeneration.

Perserverance of the Saints (P)- By His grace, God preserves the faith of every person who comes to Him, ensuring they can never lose their salvation but will always remain in Him.

Confessional

We adhere to a written confession of faith that we believe to be a good and accurate summary of the Bible's teachings. Our official confessional standards consist of the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechisms. While Scripture alone is to be the sole arbiter of our beliefs, we regard these standards as containing carefully worded summaries of the contents of sacred Scripture. Reformed Bible Church’s theology is “catholic” in that it reaffirms the doctrines of historic Christian orthodoxy such as defined by the Apostles Creed, and ecumenical councils of Nicea, Chalcedon, and others. These catholic doctrines include such affirmations as the Trinity, the deity of Christ, the atoning work of Christ, and other doctrines that are integral to historic Christianity. Acceptance of every confessional distinctive is not required for membership at Reformed Bible Church. An individual may be a participating member by affirming the evangelical distinctive that salvation is accomplished by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

Covenental

As Scripture indicates, God interacts with His people by means of covenant. A covenant is simply a legal agreement, or a binding contract, between two parties. Each party agrees to take upon him or herself the obligations of the covenant based upon the terms of the covenant. When God makes a covenant, He is the One Who delineates the terms since, after all, He is God. The Westminster Confession (7.1) states,

The distance between God and the creature is so great, that although reasonable creatures do owe obedience unto Him as their Creator, yet they could never have any fruition of Him as their blessedness and reward, but by some voluntary condescension on God's part, which He hath been pleased to express by way of covenant.

God established the first covenant, the Covenant of Works, with Adam (Gen. 2:4-25). When Adam broke the covenant and fell out of fellowship with God, God promised to Adam a New Covenant—a covenant not based upon our own works but upon the work of another (Gen. 3:15). The Old Testament is a continued unveiling of God's character through covenants that more fully express God's righteous requirements, but also foreshadow and prophesy the coming Messiah. As one reads the pages of the Old Testament, one comes to the realization again and again that God keeps His covenant promises, while His people do not. The New Testament is the record of God's fulfillment of His promise given in Genesis—to provide a New Covenant for His people that is not based upon our own works but upon the work of a savior.

Jesus Christ is this Savior. He is the ultimate revelation of God's character because He is God Himself; and so, He perfectly fulfills the requirements of the Old Covenant, the Covenant of Works. To put it another way, God keeps His promises made to His people by means of Himself. The work of Christ Jesus satisfied the justice of God and ushered in the New Covenant, the covenant in which God's grace is poured out upon sinners who could not keep the Covenant of Works. Rather than seeing His people stand condemned, God has saved His people unto Himself by the finished work of Jesus Christ. The New Covenant is based upon faith in the work of Christ rather than our own meritorious works (Jer. 31:31-34).

Participatory Liturgical Worship

In every worship service, we seek to make God the center of our worship, renew our covenant with Him, and join together as one body to praise Him and grow closer to Him. However, if we are to truly focus our worship on God, we must do so according to how He wants us to worship. This idea is the core of one of the most important teachings that came out of the Reformation, which is the Regulative Principle of Worship. There are differences among reformed believers as to how far we should take the Regulative Principle, with some saying it means we must reject any element of corporate worship that is not an express command in the New Testament. But at Reformed Bible Church, we believe the Regulative Principle should simply mean that we are to worship according to the Bible. The biblical commands, principles, and themes relevant to corporate worship are the basis for our order of worship, known as a liturgy. Our Sunday morning liturgy follows the basic structure of what some have called “The Five C’s”: Call to Worship, Confession, Consecration, Communion, and Commission. These five parts correspond to the basic structure of temple worship in the Old Testament (Leviticus 9). In the service we start by inviting one another to worship God, and then we have a time for silent confession of sin and prayer. We then dedicate ourselves to serving God and learning about His Word through Old and New Testament Scripture readings, prayer, a responsive catechism or creed reading, and a sermon. This is followed by observing Communion and singing a congregational Psalm, and then we end with a benediction and song, understanding our commission to go out and serve the Lord the following week. While our evening service is not quite as long or formal, we still seek to worship God in a biblical and structured manner.

Throughout each service, we sing music relevant to the respective “C’s.” The music at Reformed Bible Church consists of Psalms, traditional hymns, and modern hymns. Our belief is that the music of corporate worship should be reverent, theologically rich, and beautifully expressive. We also firmly believe that the music we sing should be appropriate for congregational singing, with the whole church participating in addressing one another in song (Ephesians 5:19). We do have instruments that supplement our singing, but they are mere accompaniment for the main focus, which is the unified singing of the people of God in true worship.

Ordinary Means of Grace

God sovereignly establishes and increases faith through His ordained means, often called ordinary means of grace, which are vital for believers’ spiritual nourishment and growth. God’s people are therefore commanded to participate regularly in Lord’s Day corporate worship, in dependence upon God’s Spirit Who applies Christ’s benefits through His Word and sacraments. We therefore practice systematic expository preaching of God’s Word, recognize spoken and sung prayer as the chief means of gratitude and praise to God, and administer the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. We celebrate the Lord's Supper every Lord's Day during the morning service. As such, we are a church governed by the ordinary means of grace. Although various ministries and fellowship opportunities certainly exist within our church community, we are not a program-driven church but an ordinary-means-of-grace-driven church.

Family Integrated Worship

We believe in intergenerational discipleship as a core value, which means that we seek the biblical model where the responsibility for disciple-making within the family relies primarily upon the parents, and particularly fathers, rather than on church programs. We do not have a segregated youth ministry, or children’s ministry. Children attend all of the corporate worship gatherings with their parents rather than attending a separate children’s ministry. Segregated children’s or youth ministries can work against God’s design. Parents relieved of their discipleship duties may become dependent on those who have taken over the job.

We teach parents to evangelize and disciple their children and their neighbors. We emphasize the ministry of hospitality, family worship, catechism, and family discipleship. Instead of placing the burden on paid professionals to “do the work of the ministry,” we equip the saints to do it.