Mission, Commitments, and Purposes
Our Mission Statement
Resurrection Presbyterian Church exists to glorify the One Triune and living God, by worshiping God in spirit and in truth; by exercising, as God’s restored image bearers, godly dominion in His name; by seeking God’s kingdom and His righteous will to be done on earth as it is in heaven; by discipling our neighbors and the nations to trust in God and obey His will; and by spreading a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all people.
Our Core Commitments
- Embracing Reformation:
We value the foundational and life transforming doctrines of the Reformation which are summed up in the slogans: Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone), Sola Gratia (Grace Alone), Sola Fide (Faith Alone), Solus Christus (Christ Alone), Soli Deo Gloria (To God’s Glory Alone). Holding fast to these biblical doctrines frees churches from man-centered, flesh-driven, ego-inflated ministry. They also guard against self-deception, works-righteousness and pride. - Teaching the Holy Scriptures (Bible):
With Jesus we believe that the Bible is “the key of knowledge” (Luke 11:52) – all knowledge. We follow the teachings of the whole Bible because Jesus commanded us to “live… by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Matt 4:4). Our commitment is to the Holy Bible, the whole Bible (66 books of the Old & New Testaments), and nothing but the Bible. We believe that the Bible, inspired and preserved by God, ‘is’ (not merely ‘contains’) the very Word of God, and as such it is authoritative and without error. And it is fully sufficient for all of life. - Building up Families:
We are passionate about families being restored to their proper and blessed place in church and in society. We believe the family retains all powers not explicitly given to the church or state and that the church and state will function best when families are strong. Thus, equipping the family is a very high priority of this church. - Capturing Minds:
The Bible calls us to love God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind. Until all our thoughts are captured for Jesus (2 Corinth 10:5), we do not love Him fully (Matt 22:37). Until we teach “all things” given in Scripture we have not fulfilled Christ’s Great Commission (Matt 28:20). Christ is Lord over all. Therefore, we must not be satisfied until education, politics, arts, business, medicine, law, science, family, church, evangelism,…every area of life, are claimed for Jesus and governed by the Bible. Jesus is Lord of all! - Confronting Idols and Spiritual Darkness/Wickedness:
To be faithful to Christ we must affirm/proclaim truth and denounce error, compelled by earnest love for God, for saints, and for lost sinners. Such is the biblical pattern for the prophet—to teach the Word and to expose the error of worldly ways. Like our Lord Jesus Christ, we strive to enter boldly in Jesus’ name and authority into territory where the evil one still has illegitimate strongholds (2 Cor 10:4) in the land that is Jesus’ rightful inheritance (Psa 2:8; 22:27-28; 24:1; 72:8; Matt 28:18). We do this by prayerfully and actively confronting unseen spiritual forces of darkness and wickedness in the heavenly places (Eph 6:10-12ff), as well as the idols of men’s hearts, striving with the aid of the Spirit to be “casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor 10:5). Our passionate desire is to proclaim the salvation and kingdom of God in word and deed, and to see our culture conquered by King Jesus in true righteousness and obedience of faith, God’s kingdom come and His will being done on earth as it is in heaven. - Engaging Hearts:
God is not fully glorified in us until our lives are fully engaged. Biblical Christianity should be a heart-engaging reality evidenced by worship. Our desire is to have deep delight in the Triune God through vital God-centered worship “in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24), that is, worship that is consistently Biblical, empowered by the Spirit, and celebrates the pre-eminence and supremacy of Christ with joy, freedom, and awe. - Expanding Missions:
Our church will not rest or be satisfied (Is. 62:6–7) until all human authority submits to the Lord Jesus Christ (Matt. 28:18), all nations are discipled (Matt. 28:19), all Scripture is followed (Matt. 28:20a) and all of Christ’s presence and resources are claimed (Matt. 28:20b). Anything less than an expectation of total victory for King Jesus in history (1 Cor. 15:24–28) fails to fulfill the all-encompassing mandate of His Great Commission (Matt. 28:18–20).
Additionally, we are committed to the following:
- We are committed to Christ Jesus and to historical biblical Christianity. Our distinctives (‘Presbyterian’, ‘Reformed’, ‘covenantal’, etcetera) are very important to us, but they do not represent our fundamental identity. Rather, above all else, we are ‘Christians’, bearing Christ’s name and crucified and risen with Him to newness of life. This excludes all boasting in our selves or our gifts from God, causing us instead to boast only in Jesus’ cross, by which the world is crucified to us and us to the world.
- We are committed to pursuing spiritual unity and cooperation among local Bible-believing, evangelical Christian Churches grounded in a generous orthodoxy. However, we do not pursue unity and/or cooperation with churches that have fundamentally rejected or compromised Biblical essentials of the historic Christian faith, choosing friendship with the world over fidelity to and friendship with the living God, choosing man’s approval/wisdom over God’s ‘wisdom’ manifested through the cross of Christ.
- We are committed to being accessible to the everyday Christian. While we strive to reject all compromise with fleshly practices, worldliness, and spiritual evil/deception in our community life and worship, we nevertheless seek to become all things to all people (1 Corinthians 9:19-23) for the sake of the gospel and kingdom of God, not putting needless stumbling blocks and/or barriers to entry or participation before our Christian brethren in our worship and community life in the Spirit.
- We are committed to addressing the issues of our day. Faithfully confessing our Lord Jesus Christ and seeking first the advance of His righteous kingdom on earth requires that we openly bring the Word of God (truth, law, wisdom) to bear on all areas of life in this world, especially the defining issues of our day. Jesus’ Commission requires us to disciple nations, teaching them to obey His law-word. Jesus is Lord of all people and things. He is not just the Lord of the Church or a purely spiritual/invisible Kingdom.
- We are committed to equipping the saints to be truly “blessed” salt and light to the world for the purpose of zealous and fruitful ministry in Jesus’ name through our good works to others. (Matthew 5:3-16; Ephesians 12-16; Titus 2:14, 3:8, 14). Salt, like fertilizer, prepares the soil of men’s hearts to be ready to receive the good seed of the Word and bring forth good fruit. Light dispels spiritual darkness and deception, exposing things hidden that they may come into the light and be transformed by the glory of God in Christ in us. (John 8:12; Matthew 5:3-15; John 3:18-21; 1 John 1:5,7,9).
Our Foundational Purposes:
Rooted in God – Gospel and Law
- God’s Grace: To know, live and share the Gospel: Purpose statement – “To see our members so secure in God’s grace, so knowledgeable in God’s law, and so confident in His promises, that they are freed from self-doubts & self-seeking to joyful service.”
- God’s Will: To discover the wisdom of God’s blueprints – Purpose Statement: “To press on our hearts the comprehensive claims of God’s Word, the sufficiency of God’s Word and its inerrant authority over all of life, and to be more faith-full in obediently living out that law word.”
Healthy Trunk – Our Body Life
- A family integrated church – Purpose Statement: “To reestablish the family as the core covenantal unit through which vital fellowship, community and love is displayed and enjoyed within the body. To also develop strong family Christ-embodying leadership.”
- Church community – Purpose Statement: “To encourage families to truly enter into and embrace covenant relationship with each other so that vital and committed fellowship, community, and fervent love does indeed characterize this church body. To also develop strong and capable leader-servants within the church.”
Healthy Branches & Leaves – Pressing Into Our Upward Calling
- Christian Life – Purpose Statement: “To bring individuals and families to joy-fully and more faith-fully live their lives coram deo (before God’s face) in the abiding eternal life of Christ ministered by the indwelling Holy Spirit, and to God’s glory.”
- Spiritual Revival and Maturity – Purpose Statement: “To avoid vainly doing ministry in the flesh and grieving/quenching God’s Spirit by instead walking in the Spirit, continually being filled with the Spirit, and living more and more by every spiritual blessing promised to us in the heavenly places, manifesting in spiritual unity, spiritual gifts, spiritual fruits, and spiritual power/authority being exercised righteously in Jesus’ name.”
- Worship – Purpose Statement: “To bring our people to truly delight in God through vital God-centered worship that is consistently Biblical, that is directed and driven by the Spirit, and that celebrates the pre-eminence of Christ with joy, freedom, boldness and awe.”
Healthy Fruit – Bringing God’s Blessing Beyond Our Church
- Relationship to other churches – Purpose Statement: “To cooperate with other local evangelical churches as much as is possible, to promote reform where cooperation is not possible, and to pray for God’s blessings to rest upon His whole glorious bride.”
- Evangelism and Missions – Purpose statement: “To be involved in and support nation-discipling missions efforts that take seriously the greatness of the Great Commission as summarized in its four “alls” (“all authority”, “all nations,” “all things” and “all the days”).”
- Reconstruction and Reformation of families, churches and cultures – Purpose Statement: “To make an enduring difference in the social fabric of our city and county, seeking first God’s kingdom and righteousness by living out God’s biblical blueprints and promoting them at every level.”