Our Beliefs
At Southfield Reformed Presbyterian Church (among other teachings
of Scripture) we confess these things
together:
- The One true God, consisting of three persons—Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit—in perfect unity and in all their attributes equally
God.
- The Bible as entirely God-given and, therefore without any faults
or errors. That the Bible is the only Word of God and that it alone
is the absolute and final authority in all matters of faith and
life.
- The sinfulness and guilt of all men before God—as a result of
Adam’s fall—and their total inability to please God, of themselves,
or to meet the demands of His Holy Law, leaving them justly liable
to everlasting punishment in hell.
- The choice of all those whom God would save before the creation
of the world. That God the Father gave them to His Son eternally,
the Son lived and died for them all, and only for them, to take
away their sins, securing their eternal salvation, and the Holy
Spirit infallibly brings that salvation to them by raising them
from death to life and granting them saving faith in Christ.
- The righteousness of Jesus Christ—God in our nature—as the only
righteousness which met the demands of God’s law for all who believe
in Him. That salvation is the gracious gift of God by which He alone
imputes that righteousness of Christ to men, through the sole instrument
of faith in Christ, which is also a gracious gift
- The necessity of being born again by the Holy Spirit, enabling
us to believe in Christ and to have His righteousness credited to
our account.
- The eternal security of those who are true believers.
- The necessity of personal holiness as defined only by the commandments
of God. The commandments of God are the outworking of the principles
found in all of the Ten Commandments (and are further summarized
by our Lord in the requirements to love God with our whole
hearts and to love our neighbors as ourselves).
- The physical resurrection of Christ from the dead, His ascension
into heaven and His future physical return to judge the world. That all those
who are Christ's will, in that final day, be raised from the
grave to be with Him forever, and the others will be consigned
under the wrath of God in hell for eternity.
- The principle that nothing should be introduced into the public
worship of God except what is commanded by God in His Word.
- The necessity of freely proclaiming to all men the Gospel of Jesus Christ
as the only hope for a lost world.
- That Jesus Christ is Covenant Lord in every area of life, individual,
family and state, and that all are responsible before Him to submit
to Him and together to advance His Kingdom on earth.
Vision
The Southfield Reformed Presbyterian Church strives to always preach
the whole counsel of God’s Word, teach the historic Christian truth
presented in the Bible and proclaimed by the Reformation, worship God
according to His Word, grow in holiness, love and fellowship together,
serve His people as individuals and families, as well as the greater
community, and seek the growth, prosperity and unity of the Church of
Christ around the world by bearing witness to the Him as the only Lord
and Savior.
Standards
We believe that God desires His Church to set forth clear statements
of her system of doctrine that can be supported from Scripture. We therefore
accept as our creed, or subordinate standards, the Westminster Confession
of Faith and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms. In addition
to these doctrinal statements, we adhere to the Testimony of the
Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, which is our continuing
application of God’s written word to the world and the church of today.
Reformed Theology and Worship
We believe that God’s Word clearly sets forth how He is to be worshiped.
The reading and exposition of the Word of God are the central focus
of our worship. Our musical praise employs God’s Word only, making use
of only the divinely inspired Book of Psalms of the Bible. The Book
of Psalms for Singing is the Psalter we use in worship. It is a
translation of the book of Psalms, based on the original languages,
and set to tunes suitable for congregational singing. In keeping with
the New Testament Church’s directive for heart worship and
simplicity, we sing
a capella—that is, without the aid of any musical instruments.