About Christ Fellowship Church

Many Christians today find themselves stuck when it comes to the topic of denominations. Why do they exist? Do they help or hurt? What’s the difference between them all? The short answer to the last question is that denominations agree on the essentials of our Christian faith, but disagree regarding certain other views and beliefs. 

So…what about Presbyterians, specifically? Let’s answer this question from three perspectives: 

1. History (Where we originated)
2. Theology (Our beliefs about God)
3. Government (How we operate)

History

Presbyterianism was an unintentional creation of the Reformation of the 16th Century. Pastors such as Martin Luther and John Calvin saw major issues within the Catholic Church of that time, and sought to reform and repair it. Their battle cry in Latin was “Ad Fontes”, or, “back to the sources”. They didn’t want to invent something new, they simply wanted to get back to the true beliefs of the Bible and the earliest followers of Christ. Ultimately, the Reformers and the Catholic church couldn’t find agreement, so the beliefs of the Reformers became the seeds for what is now called “Protestantism” – which is the non-Catholic branch of Christianity. The Presbyterian denomination was formed out of this conflict, based mostly upon the teachings of John Calvin.

Theology

As previously stated, a Presbyterian believes in all of the essentials of the faith as laid out in the main Creeds of the Church (e.g. Apostles, Nicene, Calcedonian, etc). However, you want to know about the distinctive beliefs that make us unique! Perhaps most importantly, we see the Bible through the lens of “Covenant Theology”. Covenant Theology believes God has always worked among His people through the use of a formalized, covenantal relationship. Think of a Covenant like a marriage contract between us and God, which is initiated, established, and affirmed by God alone. God welcomes us into his Covenantal family through baptism (which includes baptizing the babies of believing parents) and affirms our place in His Covenantal family through the regular meal of the Lord’s Supper (also known as Communion or Eucharist). If you are interested in going deeper in Presbyterian theology, the best place to start is with the Westminster Confession of Faith.

Government

Every denomination structures themselves differently. Some denominations utilize single leaders, like bishops, to oversee churches, while others focus on autonomy and bristle at hierarchy. Presbyterians fall somewhere in the middle. A “Presbyter” is another name for “Elder.” We believe churches should be overseen by a plurality of elders known as a “Session”. The Session is composed of a church’s pastor(s) as well as a certain number of members from the church body who have been elected into the position of Elder. The Session oversees the life of the church, but is also accountable to larger systems of elders above them (known as “Courts”). This allows our denomination to have the hierarchy necessary for proper accountability and oversight, but also protects the church body from being misled by one single individual. This is known as a “Presbyterian” form of Government. 

Now What?

Everything written above is who we are on paper, but the best way to learn more about the Presbyterian denomination is to join our Church body and experience it in person. We welcome all people to visit our Sunday morning worship services and ask questions on what concerns you most. Why not give us a try? Hope to meet you soon! – Pastor Matt Graham