Redeemer
PCA Approach to Church Life
We believe God’s goal for His Church,
and this body as one assembly of that broader Church, is to subdue the
world and disciple the nations. Redeemer
is grateful to pursue this as a part of, and in accountability to, the
Presbyterian Church of America as well as in fellowship with other like-minded
assemblies and denominations.
We see two biblical priorities that God has given local
bodies in pursuing these goals, and these are the two priorities that
shape our church life. The first
is worship, and the second is government/shepherding.
Worship
We believe the focus of God’s work in
establishing the church is to have a people who worship Him with purified
and grateful hearts. We want to
faithfully embrace the call of the Psalmist to “Make a joyful shout to
the Lord” and we want to believe with Paul that the true “circumcision”
(covenant people) are those who “worship God in the Spirit.”
Such worship is the goal of our salvation (John 4:23-24; I Peter
2:9); indeed, it is the goal of history.
Hence, we believe corporate public worship is our most important
calling and is the activity from which all other church life should flow.
It is through corporate worship that
·
Our identity
as God’s people is most visibly seen, expressed, and affirmed.
·
We are refreshed
in gospel grace and transformed through His presence as we sing, pray,
confess our sin, confess our faith, hear His Word read and applied, and
participate together in the holy sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s
Supper.
·
We are a “pleasing
aroma” to Him and move Him to saving action on the earth (2
Chronicles 20; Revelation
8:3-5).
·
We are filled
with greater passion to see Christ exalted in our world.
And it is through joyful, Holy Spirit blessed worship
that God’s blessing will flow to other aspects of our lives as individuals,
as families, and as a church, and through us to the world.
For further information:
Understanding
the Lord’s Supper
Reasons
for using wine in communion
Government
The other priority that we see God stressing
in Scripture is faithful government.
Throughout the Old and New Testaments God places great emphasis
on faithful leaders and shepherds. When
such faithful men are present God brings blessings on His people and greater
effectiveness in their mission to be a light to the nations. When such leaders are not present or are unfaithful,
then there are curses and ineffectiveness.
In light of this, our commitment and prayer is for
God to raise up:
Faithful Elder-Shepherds. The scriptures teach that local churches are to be governed by
a plurality of elders (Acts
14:23, Acts 20:17,
1 Tim 5:17, Tit
1:5, Heb 11:2,
Jam 5:14), not
by a single man. This plurality
of elders, which Presbyterians call the “session,” includes the pastor
(or pastors) and the ruling elders. The
scriptures also teach that these elders must be men (1
Tim 3:1,2, Tit 1:5,6).
The qualifications for elders are given in 1 Tim 3 and Titus 1.
Faithful Deacons. The qualifications for deacons are also found in 1 Tim 3. Like elders, they must be men (1
Tim 3:11,12). Deacons
are primarily ministers of mercy and lead the church in reaching out to
those in need. They provide leadership
in the vital task of overseeing the care of physical needs in our body,
needs of believers and churches outside this body, and other needs outside
the household of faith.
Godly men leading their households. Another vital part of God’s church government
is men leading and shepherding those in their households and then ministering
through their households. There
are few things more important for the health of the church and our godly
impact in the culture than men who are walking humbly with God, leading
in the fear of God, shepherding and developing wives and children, taking
others into their homes and lives; all for the sake of the gospel and
the discipling of the nations. The
feminization of the church (Is
3:12) is God’s punishment for men abdicating their responsibility
(Judges 4) and failing
to lead their households. This is the original sin of Adam (Gen
3:6, 12).
But godly heads of households are the ministry staff of our church
(Eph 4:12) which
lead their households in reaching the community and world for Christ.
We have expressed these governmental commitments in
our approach to ministry. To describe
this we will compare our approach with a more conventional approach.
CONVENTIONAL:
REDEEMER:
The
arrows from the bottom of the circle represent ministry that develops
through the household. This ministry
and activity will probably not be on the church “organizational chart”
but would be seen on household organizational charts.
Ministry that develops this way tends to better express God-given
gifts, interests, and opportunities than ministry established and organized
by the church leadership or church staff.
This then frees the church leadership to do their primary biblical
job – shepherd! And ministry that develops naturally in and
through households normally builds the household rather than dividing
it.
For
further information . . .
Summary
notes on Church Government
Catching
God’s Heart and Design
Questions
for Heads of Households
Also see “Biblical
Eldership, An Urgent Call to Restore Biblical Church Leadership,”
by Alexander Strauch,
And “Minister
of Mercy, The New Testament Deacon,” by Alexander Strauch.
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Copyright
© 2003 Redeemer Presbyterian Church |
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