Christmas Hymn Sing

Photo from:FreeFoto.com

We wanted to invite anyone interested in getting together or interested in meeting us to come over for a Christmas Hymn sing at our home on Saturday, December 15th at 4pm.  Bring a dish to share and we'll share a fellowship meal after the sing.  For more information or directions you can reach me at ServantSteveMorris (at) gmail (dot) com.  I'd love to hear from you, and we'd love to have you.

Church Plant

We are in the first stages of establishing a new church plant. Our hope is to join with other families who desire to covenant together for the advancement of Christ's kingdom by planting a local church west of St Louis county. Our vision is for this church to become affiliated with other like-minded local churches in the Covenant Presbyterian Church denomination. It is our desire to plant a faithful church which will proclaim, honor, & defend the crown rights of Christ our King over the nations, will embrace and nurture the whole Covenant family, and will build up the saints to labor in expectant faith toward the goal of victory over the world, the flesh, & the devil.

Foundational Commitments: Christian

 We are first and foremost “Christians.”

 

 

Although we believe that planting a new local church is desirable for many reasons, we want to be clearly and unequivocally rooted in the historic, orthodox Christian faith, holding fast to the authority of the Holy Scriptures and the fundamental Biblical doctrines & practices which define historic Christianity. These foundational beliefs have been well expressed in the historic creeds of the Church such as the Apostles Creed and the Nicene Creed.

Foundational Commitments: Evangelical

 We are also “Evangelical” . . .

 

 

in that we fully believe that all people are born as sinners in desperate need of being born again by God's sovereign regenerative grace through the power of the Holy Spirit. This new birth results in the sinner believing the gospel, casting themselves on the mercy of God in Christ, repenting of their sins, and turning in sincere faith to Christ as both Savior and Lord. We believe that the gospel must be preached to all peoples and actively lived out by word and deed in our local community with the goal that every individual, family, church, and nation will ultimately confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Triune God.

Foundational Commitments: Biblical Unity

 We are committed to Biblical Unity amongst ALL the saints.

 

 

We hold to our distinctive convictions on several very important matters (see below). However, we also take very seriously the Biblical command to “walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." (Ephesians 4:1b-3) This unity of God's people in the Spirit is grounded in the fact that “there is one body and one Spirit,... one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in all.” (Ephesians 4:4-6) We thus desire to co-labor with, pray for/with, and maintain sincere, earnest, loving, and edifying relationships between ourselves and other Christian churches who hold fast with us to the foundational doctrines of the Christian faith in order to hold forth the light of Christ in our communities through the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ by our words and good works. We are committed to maintaining doctrinal/ethical purity by God's grace, but not by becoming another isolated local church “island” which is useless/tasteless salt trampled underfoot by men or a covered lamp unable/unwilling to shine the light of God's truth, grace, and glory into the darkness of the world around us which so desperately needs to see God's people living in unity (cf. Matthew 5:13-16; Psalm 133; John 17:20-21).

Distinctives: Reformed

 We are “Reformed”.

 

 

We respect the historic Creeds, Confessions, and Catechisms of the church, especially the Westminster Standards, which we believe to represent the most consistently Biblical theology that has been developed up to this point. Although we readily and wholeheartedly acknowledge that the Westminster Standards are neither infallible nor equal in authority to the God-breathed Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments (as the Standards clearly affirm), we do nevertheless believe them to be a very helpful and time-tested guide and anchor to our Christian faith.

Distinctives: Presbyterian

 We are “Presbyterian”.

 

 

We believe in the internal and external accountability that comes with a Biblical church polity of multiple ordained elders. The examples we have in scripture of church government always reference a plurality of elders acting with the authority of Christ as godly undershepherds of Christ for the peace, purity, and edification of local flocks over which they are called to serve. (Titus 1, 1 Timothy 3, 1 Peter 5:1-6; Hebrews 13:7,17, etc.) Having multiple elders also facilitates accountability within our leadership. It is also our goal to join and covenant with a regional, like-minded Presbytery of other like-minded Presbyterian churches. This is needed to keep each local church accountable, offer wisdom in the multitude of counsel, offer courts of appeal in the event of discipline, and work towards a greater unity of the faith. We also believe in the necessity of a vibrant diaconal ministry to faithfully minister to the material/bodily needs that arise amongst the brethren.

Distinctives: Covenantal

 We are “Covenantal”.

 

A fundamental principle to understanding God’s Word in Scripture and his means of communication/communion with His people and with the world is the reality of covenants. Our understanding of God's covenants is that they are tangible or objective relationships (not just a contract) between God and His people and between God and the world he created. A covenant in the Bible is something that can be seen, something which is tangible, made with real flesh-and-blood people, involving real heart passions and binding commitments/obligations. The covenant community is not secret or invisible. There is often confusion between Covenant and Election. While God's sovereign prerogative in his decrees concerning election is certainly a critical Biblical doctrine to affirm, election is not the same as the Covenant. Deut 29:29 says that “ the secret things belong to the Lord, but the things that are revealed are for us, and for our children.” Election is God’s secret plan/purpose, but what is revealed is His Covenant – his relationship to His people and His world, along with the rules/stipulations which govern those covenantal relationships. God's covenants, as revealed in Scripture, inform our understanding of worship, church life, family life, civil life, and our relationships in/to the world at large. For example, God's covenantal ways inform us concerning......

Distinctives: Covenantal Church Life / Community

  Covenantal Church Life/Community

 

 

We genuinely want to relate with other believers in real, meaningful ways. We prefer the term Covenant Community. This can best be understood as living in true transparency and interdependency, with a like-minded goal for spiritual edification and cultural renewal. Creating deep relationships cannot be done in a “programmed” fashion, yet spring up naturally as we live life together while laboring for the gospel. A great first step towards this is respecting the Lord’s Day convocation, followed by time spent together in fellowship.

Distinctives: Covenantal Family Life / Community

  Covenantal Family Life/Community

 

 

Family can quite honestly be described as the glue that holds together the worldview we have presented here. While certainly not central to all of life, family is the primary God-ordained tool to influence the world for righteousness and to grow the church. The family is altogether being destroyed in Western civilization by our neglect of God's clear commands and Biblical patterns/purpose for family life. We will unashamedly stand for Biblical manhood, training men to courageously lead their families as prophets, priests, and kings in the name and pattern of Christ Himself, sacrificially loving their wives and children as Christ loves His Church. We will unashamedly stand for Biblical virtuous womanhood/feminity, teaching women to glory in being faithful help-meets to their husbands and dominion-oriented keepers of the home economy, submitting joyfully to their husbands as the Church does to Christ. We will stand for male headship in the leadership of the local church as clearly taught by Christ's apostles in His name. Our goal is also to have the whole family worship together as a unifying act of glory to God. This draws the family together, strengthening it, and building bridges to future generations for continued covenant faithfulness. The Covenantal family, worshiping together in a Covenantal church, is God's desire for us.  Lastly, we affirm the necessity for distinctively Christian discipleship-based education to be provided for our covenant children by their parents as part of family life in covenant with the Lord our God.

Distinctives: Covenantal Baptism

  Covenantal Baptism

 

 

As Reformed Covenantal Christians, we believe the sign of God's covenant is to be applied to all members of the Christian household upon birth. This “household” approach begins in the Old Testament, and is far from made obsolete in the New Testament! Quite the contrary. The New and Better Covenant shows many example of household baptisms without any explicit mention of the individual faith of each member, but rather focuses on the faith of the Federal head of the household. This pattern of inclusion is quite important. When an adult converts to Christ, we rejoice with the angelic host as they are baptized in the name of the Triune God. Also, we joyfully and regularly celebrate what is commonly known as “infant baptism”, yet we prefer the term “household baptism” or “covenant baptism”. The clear pattern of 1 Corinthians 7:14 tells us that if one parent is a believer, the children are considered “holy” unto God also. This does not negate the vital necessity of the new birth and sincere faith for final salvation, but it does mean that our covenant children are truly loved & accepted by God their Father, are truly disciples of Christ under their parents nurture/training and admonition (Eph 6:1-4), and are truly adopted members of God's household.

Distinctives: Covental Communion

Covenantal Communion

 

While weekly Covenant Communion has a long, rich, historical precedent in the Church since earliest times, it is largely ignored and ridiculed today. But this is a beautiful and powerful practice! We believe that all baptized members of God's covenant who are able to eat and drink are to be freely invited to their Lord's Table to dine with Him and His people. This applies to adults as well as young children. As our Covenant Children are baptized into the church we joyfully receive them at the Lord's Table to dine with their Lord and King – Jesus Christ. Allowing children from a young age to receive the grace and blessing of the Lord's Supper is to communicate to them at an early age that they are indeed part of God's covenant people. To bar them from the table is to intrinsically put a spiritual barrier between them and Christ – an unneeded, unBiblical, and potentially spiritually destructive barrier. Jesus told Peter both to “Feed my sheep” and also to “Feed my lambs” (cf. John 21). Jesus tells his disciples to “let the little children come unto me, and do not forbid them, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt 19:21) Jesus says that if one is not converted to become like a little child, he can in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt 18:3). We want to encourage the simple faith that God has given our children, not cause them to doubt God's love for them.

Distinctives: Covenantal Worship

Covenantal Worship

We are careful to heed Isaiah’s warning that our mouth may honor the Lord, but our heart may be far from him. Thus we rightly abhor rote, dull liturgy. On the flip side of that – nothing presents a more glorious worship experience than heart filled, robust, interactive liturgy. Such liturgy consists of two aspects: [1] the people of God together joyfully exclaiming prayers of praise and confession, hearing the Scriptures read/preached, confessing our faith, and singing “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” in the Spirit; and [2] The Triune God proclaiming words of peace, exhortation, encouragement, warning, comfort, and truth to His covenant people through his ordained ministers/undershepherds. Each Lord's Day is a joyful covenant renewal/reminder between us, the corporate Bride of Christ, and Christ, our covenant Head/Husband. Also, we will not segregate families in worship because God does not do so. Covenantal worship is necessarily family-integrated.

Distinctives: Covenantal Eschatology and Dominion

Covenantal Eschatology and Dominion

We, along with most of the historic Christian church prior to the 20^th century, hold to a victorious view of the future which is firmly rooted in the Scriptures. We believe God's Word teaches a progressively optimistic view of the advance & victory of His kingdom in history prior to His final return. We believe the Genesis mandate to take dominion has not been abrogated & that it is now developed more fully in the Great Commission. We believe the Great Commission will be successful in history. We believe that Jesus is ruling and reigning now at the right hand of God the Father, that His Kingdom, though not fully consummated, has nevertheless arrived in real power from on high. We believe that His kingdom, despite resistance from without and sometime failures from within, will necessarily continue to grow and permeate the whole world until all of His and our enemies are put under His feet. This also drives us to think multi-generationally, seeking by God's prevailing grace to diligently and wisely build our families and our churches for the long haul to overcome and impact the world for Christ's crown and covenant.