A Confessional Church
Christ Redeemer is a confessional church. Whether it's written down or not, every church has a set of doctrines and convinctions that undergirds the life and ministry of the congregation. CRPC subscribes to the American Westminster Confession of Faith (1788), because we believe this historic confession contains a very accurate and helpful summary of the teachings of Scripture. Acceptance of every confessional distinctive is not required for membership at Christ Redeemer. One may become a member of Christ Redeemer simply by affirming the historically orthodox and evangelical distinctives that salvation is accomplished by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ’s work alone. However, the officers of CRPC must subscribe to the system of doctrine taught in the Confession. The Westminster Standards contain a theology that may be defined as catholic, evangelical, and reformed.
Christ Redeemer’s theology is catholic (literally, "according to the whole") in that we affirm the doctrines of historic Christian orthodoxy such as those defined by the Apostles Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed, and the Symbol of Chalcedon. These catholic doctrines include such affirmations as the Trinity, the eternal deity of Christ, the full humanity of Christ, and other doctrines that are core beliefs to historic Christianity.
This theology is evangelical in that it affirms with historic Christianity the total depravity of all men and the need for all to receive forgiveness of sins and new life in union with Christ. Because the world has been born again in Christ's resurrection, every single person must be born again (Jn. 3:3). Since all people apart from Christ are born spiritually dead in sins and trespasses, all must be born again as a part of God’s new creation in Christ (Eph. 2:1-10). All who have received generation in Adam must be regenerated in Jesus, the new Adam (Jn. 3:4-6). Those who are still in Adam, under Adam’s curse, cannot inherit the kingdom of God (Gal. 5:16-25). Those who are still animated by and under the power of Adam’s flesh, must be born again by the Spirit of God to walk in the newness of Christ’s resurrection life (Rom. 6:1-6).
Christ Redeemer’s theology is reformed in that, the distinctive doctrines taught in the Protestant Reformation. Reformed theology is God-centered. It understands that the structure of the biblical revelation is in the form of covenants by which God forms his relationship with mankind. We also affirm wholeheartedly the Biblical teaching of justification by grace alone through faith alone whereby the believer is justified before God by the free grace of God by which He imputes the righteousness of Christ to the believer (Rom. 5:18-19). Good works flow necessarily from all justified persons, but these works are not the grounds meriting our justification (Eph. 2:8-10).
The Marks of the Church
The Church consists of all those individuals and their children whom God has covenanted with throughout the world. The marks of the Church in her individual congregations are those defining characteristics of the body of Christ throughout history. These marks are, especially, the right preaching of God's Word and the faithful declaration of the Gospel, the administration of the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, the discipline of her members, and her submission to Christ as her only true and rightful head (1 Tim. 3:13; Matt. 28:19; 16:19; 1 Cor. 11:24-26).
Covenant Theology & the Sacraments
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 establishes the terms since after all, He is God.
God established the first covenant, a Covenant of Creation, 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 of redemption (Gen. 3:15). The Old Testament is a continued unveiling of God's character through covenants, which express more fully God's righteous requirements, but also foreshadow and prophecy the coming Messiah. The New Testament is the record of God's fulfillment of all His promises in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Sacraments are holy ordinances instituted by Christ Jesus, which function as signs and seals of the New Covenant, and, thus, they are given for the benefit of God's people. They signify spiritual realities while also confirming participation in what they represent.
There are two sacraments in Scripture: Baptism and the Lord's Supper. Baptism is a rite of initiation, which replaces circumcision (Col. 2:11-12), a sign of the Old Covenant with Israel, as the unique mark placed upon God's people and their children (Acts 2:39). Baptism is a sign and seal of the New Covenant given in Christ Jesus and also of entrance into the visible church. The Lord’s Supper, on the other hand, is a rite of fellowship. The Jewish Passover, as an Old Covenant meal, corresponds to the Lord’s Supper, as is made clear in the Gospel accounts of its institution (Matthew 26; Mark 14; Luke 22). By faith in Christ, the church feeds on Christ by the Spirit and receive spiritual nourishment as we commune with our glorified Savior (John 6:35, 53; 1 Corinthians 11:26).
Council of Elders
Our form of government is presbyterian in nature; or, in other words, elders are elected by the congregation to shepherd and govern the church. Presbyterian comes from the Greek word meaning "overseer". Scripture emphasizes a plurality of elders in the church (Titus 1:5; Acts 20:17) and gives specific qualifications for such men (1 Tim. 3:1-7). An elder is a biblically qualified man who has been nominated, trained, examined, and ordained to oversee the affairs of the church.
Our Governing Documents
Click here to view our Constitution
Click here to view our Relational Commitments
Click here to view our Statement on Marriage and Sexuality