What We Believe

We are a church that is Evangelical.

First Reformed holds to the Bible as the inspired word of God as the only rule for faith and practice. Scripture is a holy book that we receive as having authority for regulating, founding, and establishing our faith.

As a Christian church, we confess and hold to the historical ecumenical creeds. These are the Apostles’ Creed, Nicene Creed, and Athanasian Creed.

As a congregation in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church we also hold the “The Essentials of our Faith”.

All Scripture is self-attesting, and being Truth requires our unreserved submission in all areas of life. The infallible Word of God—the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments—is a complete and unified witness to God’s redemptive acts culminating in the incarnation of the Living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible, uniquely and fully inspired by the Holy Spirit, is the supreme and final authority on all matters on which it speaks. On this sure foundation, we affirm these additional essentials of our faith.

  1. We believe in one God, the sovereign Creator and Sustainer of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. To Him be all honor, glory, and praise forever!

  2. Jesus Christ, the living Word, became flesh through His miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit and His virgin birth. He who is true God became true man united in one Person forever. He died on the cross a sacrifice for our sins according to the Scriptures. On the third day He arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven where, at the right hand of the Majesty on High, He now is our High Priest and Mediator.

  3. The Holy Spirit has come to glorify Christ and to apply the saving work of Christ to our hearts. He convicts us of sin and draws us to the Savior, indwelling our hearts. He gives new life to us, empowers and imparts gifts to us for service. He instructs and guides us into all truth, and seals us for the day of redemption.

  4. Being estranged from God and condemned by our sinfulness, our salvation is wholly dependent upon the work of God’s free grace. God credits His righteousness to those who put their faith in Christ alone for their salvation, and thereby justifies them in His sight. Only such as are born of the Holy Spirit and receive Jesus Christ become children of God and heirs of eternal life.

  5. The true Church is composed of all persons who through saving faith in Jesus Christ and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit are united together in the body of Christ. The Church finds her visible yet imperfect expression in local congregations where the Word of God is preached in its purity and the sacraments are administered in their integrity, where scriptural discipline is practiced, and where loving fellowship is maintained. For her perfecting she awaits the return of her Lord.

  6. Jesus Christ will come again to the earth personally, visibly, and bodily—to judge the living and the dead, and to consummate history and the eternal plan of God. “Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20).

  7. The Lord Jesus Christ commands all believers to proclaim the gospel throughout the world and to make disciples of all nations. Obedience to the Great Commission requires total commitment to “Him who loved us and gave Himself for us.” He calls us to a life of self-denying love and service. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).

    The Essentials are set forth in greater detail in the Westminster Confession of Faith.

We are a church that is Reformed.

We are a confessional Reformed church. That means that we hold to the historic Reformed Confession as a faithful witness to what the word of God teaches. We subscribe to the Westminster Confession of Faith, Westminster Larger Catechism, and Westminster Shorter Catechism. In keeping with our congregation's Dutch Reformed heritage, we also teach the Three Forms of Unity, which are the Heidelberg Catechism, Canons of Dort, and Belgic Confession.

You can learn more about the Reformed “Doctrines of Grace” from Pastor Mark’s sermon series: “Understanding Grace.”

We are a church that is Presbyterian.

The system of church government our congregation has used since its founding in 1906 is a Presbyterian system. The church is governed by elders and deacons. Our congregation is connected to other congregations in this system to be held accountable in matters of practice and doctrine. This plurality of elders is known as a presbytery and, at the national level, is called the General Assembly. At the local level, the congregation has freedom and control over their ministry and property, but the Presbyterian system creates important checks and balances that ensure ministry is done faithfully and in line with what we believe and confess in the Reformed Confession. You can learn more about our system of church government from Pastor Mark’s sermons on the subject: Well Ordered and The Officers of the Church.