The Gospel is the good news that the God who created everything became a man, lived a perfect life, and died on a Roman cross to pay the penalty for sin and anyone who turns from their sin and accepts Christ as their Savior and Lord will be forgiven of their sins and receive eternal life. (Genesis 1, John 1, John 3:16, Romans 3:23)
Reformed means that we trace our theological roots to the protestant reformation in the 1500’s and figures like Zwingli, Luther, and Calvin. Reformed theology can be summarized as a high view of scripture, a high view of God’s sovereignty, and a low or realistic view of mankind as being corrupted by the Fall. (Genesis 3, Romans 1, Romans 9)
The PCA or Presbyterian Church in America is a denomination that left the mainline presbyterian church (PCUSA) in 1973 due to liberal drift in the denomination over issues like the inerrancy of scripture, abortion, the reality of miracles, and the ordination of women. Here is the 1973 letter that explains the reasons for that departure. The Motto of the PCA is “Faithful to the Scriptures, True to the Reformed faith, Obedient to the great commission of Jesus Christ.”
Like circumcision in the Old Testament (Genesis 17), we understand baptism as a sign of initiation into the people of God and we believe that Christians and their children are rightly included among the people of God (The Church). This does not mean we think baptized infants are automatically saved or that their original sin is washed away. It does mean that we treat our children as those who are numbered among God’s people, teaching them to pray “Our Father who art in heaven…” They are not outsiders, but rightly belong in the Church. Their baptism is a sign that points not to them, but to something outside of them, namely that Christ washes away sins for all those who repent and believe in him as their Savior and Lord. This is the pattern we see in the New Testament as well, when someone is saved their entire household was baptized with them (Acts 16:33, 18:8) Infant baptism is often difficult for Americans to understand since it cuts against the individualism of our age.
Human beings and our sexuality did not spring into existence by accident, God created humanity very intentionally as male and female, in His image, to glorify and enjoy Him forever and called us very good (Gen. 1-2) Likewise, our sexuality is designed by God for His glory and our enjoyment. God designed sex to be a life-long act of self-giving commitment between one man and one woman in order to procreate, foster marital unity, and bring pleasure. Our sexuality is one of God’s most lavish gifts.
Sadly, humanity rebelled against God in the Fall (Gen. 3) and since then, our sexuality has been broken to the core as we have perverted God’s good design in order to do things our own way. This has led to every form of sexual deviancy (masturbation, adultery, polygamy, homosexuality, pedophilia, bestiality, etc.) all of which reject God’s design and attempt to use sex selfishly (Rom. 1:24-32). This has led to much guilt, shame, and pain which we have all contributed to and been the victims of. But God sent his son into the world to die for our sins and redeem us from slavery to sin and sexual sin. Therefore, all those who follow Christ are called to strive by the power of the Holy Spirit to repent from all forms of sexual immorality by putting to death our fleshly desires and striving for God’s original design (1 Cor. 6:9-11). We wholeheartedly believe that our Creator’s vision for human sexuality will lead to the most flourishing society, the most personal fulfillment, and the most life-giving joy.
As Christians, when we discuss men and women’s roles in the church our goal is simply to understand and apply scripture’s teaching on the matter. Our goal is not to adopt what we think makes sense or what is acceptable in our cultural moment. God’s word teaches that both men and women are created in God’s image and that He created us with different and complementary roles (Gen. 2). We believe that God’s word teaches that men alone are called to rule and teach in the church. Women are called to serve the church in non-ruling and teaching positions (Eph. 5:22, I Tim. 2: 12, Titus l, 1 Cor 14:34). Both the offices of Elder and Deacon are reserved for qualified men based on the specifications laid down in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus I. Our position is commonly called complementarianism.
With so many churches in Stephens County, why start another one? Statistically, in the last 25 years the number of churches in North America has decreased at an unprecedented rate and we would like to see that reversed by the development of healthy, thriving churches in every town in NE GA. In Matthew 16:18 Jesus says, “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” We believe God is expanding his kingdom and is pleased to do that through the planting of churches that make and mature disciples of Christ through the proclamation of His word, sacraments, and biblical church discipline. We believe that as we plant churches, we are being faithful to Christ’s great commission to “go therefore and make disciples…” We have the instruction of the apostle Paul who told Titus to organize local churches saying, “This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you.” We are eager to see the Lord work in Toccoa and Stephens as we work to plant Providence Presbyterian Church.
Presbyterian simply means “ruled by elders.” Everyone in a presbyterian church is accountable to someone whether you are in leadership, or a member. It also means we are accountable to other churches in our denomination (Acts 15, 1 Timothy 3). We practice this form of church government because the New Testament describes it in the early church.
Our worship service is more reverent and structured than most people raised in NE GA are accustomed to. This is not by accident, and it is not because we are not enthusiastic about worshipping Jesus. In fact, it is our zeal for the Lord that leads us to structure our worship the way we do. We believe that God only wants us to worship Him in the ways that he tells us to (Deut. 12:32, Leviticus 10, John 4). This includes singing to him, confessing our faith and our sins, praying to him, preaching His word, among other things that we see commanded in scripture.
No. Our culture began to view alcohol as evil in the 1800’s when it lost touch with the doctrine of original sin and began to view mankind as basically good and alcohol as a corrupting force coming in from outside of us. It is a sin to get drunk (Ephesians 5:18), but the Bible clearly says that wine is a gift from God. God gives wine “to gladden the heart of man.” (Psalm 104:15). Likewise Jesus says that it is not what goes into our bodies that defiles us (food or drink), but what comes out of our hearts and mouths that defiles us (Matthew 15:11). Christ also clearly commands us to drink wine in the sacrament of Communion. For Christians who are tempted to abuse alcohol it is good for them to abstain from alcohol in their personal life, as Christ says, we are not to trifle with temptation, but to flee from it, “if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.” (Matt 5:30).
The Bible teaches that God created all humans in his image (Gen 1-2) and therefore all humans have intrinsic God-given worth that is not based on their location, development, consciousness or usefulness. The Bible also teaches that personhood begins at conception (Psalm 139:13-16, Exodus 21:22-24). The Bible also teaches that murder is a great sin (Genesis 9:5-9, Exodus 20:13). Therefore, God’s view from heaven is that abortion is the murder of a person created in His image and is therefore a great moral evil in His eyes. We recognize that this is a deeply inconvenient truth because it means the abortion industry is murderous, but this is the clear testimony of Scripture. As Christians, we are called to fight for justice for those who cannot defend themselves and to care for those who our society says are not-worthy. We have a heart for adoption, helping single parents, and proclaiming the truth that unborn humans are humans (Mark 10:13-15, Luke 1:41).
The gifts of the Spirit are often understood in three categories; speaking in tongues, prophecy, and healing. The question is, were these gifts uniquely given to the apostles or should Christians today still expect to receive them? Our denomination is generally cessationist (with some exceptions) meaning that we believe these miraculous gifts ceased after the apostles. While we believe God certainly has the power to do whatever he pleases, these miraculous gifts are no longer normative for Christians today, but were uniquely distributed for the founding of the church. God still gives us spiritual gifts, but we would not expect them to be miraculous or revelatory (new prophecy). We believe that the Holy Spirit is still very much at work in this world, not to draw attention to himself, or us, but to exalt the name of Christ. We believe Christians are called to walk by the Spirit daily, being filled with his fruit (love, joy, peace…)