OUR BELIEFS:
Providence Reformed Church loves, teaches and preaches the Bible.
We do this because we believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and free from all errors. We believe that the entire Bible is authoritative and binding on our lives because of its divine origins. God’s Word revealed in Scripture is the final court of appeals in all questions that pertain to truth. Church tradition, teachers, preachers and other sources are helpful guides and voices that teach Christians many good things but their voices must always be weighed against God’s infallible written Word found in the Bible. Tradition, confessions, preachers and other modern guides can and do err; God’s Word is the only sure guide and reliable source of truth, the only unfailing means of discerning truth from error, light from darkness and life from death. God says, “The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God will stand forever” (Isaiah 40:8).
Providence Reformed Church embraces catholic Christianity.
Our church holds to the catholic faith. The word “catholic” comes from a word that means “with respect to the whole.” Catholic Christianity in this sense doesn’t refer to the Roman Catholic Church, but the universal, ancient, orthodox Christian faith that has been held by churches and Christians over the whole world for the last two thousand years. A good summary of catholic Christianity can be found in the historic creeds of the church such as the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds. Providence Reformed Church believes that all churches that hold to catholic Christianity should labor together with one voice and one mission in order to proclaim the hope of the gospel, that Jesus Christ has died, risen and will come again to save His people and judge the world. Providence Reformed Church, although connected to Jesus’ universal body, is formally connected to the CREC denomination (Communion of Reformed and Evangelical Churches).
Providence Reformed Church is rooted in the Reformed Tradition.
Our church has been strongly formed and shaped by the Reformation tradition. No tradition is infallible, but we believe that much of the theology and practice in the 16th century reformation of the Church represents the best of biblical Christianity. Our church holds many of the same beliefs as the Reformers who sought to call the church back to its ancient and biblical understanding of salvation coming to God’s people by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Our church subscribes to the Westminster Confession of Faith and Larger and Shorter Catechisms, an important set of documents written in the English Reformation in the 17th century. We believe these documents are a good summary of the basics of biblical teaching.