Doctrinal Distinctives
Doctrinal distinctives can also sometimes be called “core convictions”. These statements below have been carefully considered and weighed by the Session of River Community Church against the foundation of Scripture. These statements as are all confessional statements, subordinate to Scripture, our final authority in all matters of faith and practice.
The Westminster Confession of Faith
River Community Church is a confessional church in the Reformed and Presbyterian tradition, fully committed to living out the rich theology, piety, and practice of the historic Christian faith. This faith is best summarized in the Westminster Confession of Faith, to which we subscribe as the confessional statement of our own faith. The Westminster Confession of Faith was completed in 1646 by the Westminster Assembly as a systematic exposition of Scripture on matters of doctrine, church government, and worship. The Confession, along with its Larger and Shorter Catechisms (often referred to as the “Westminster Standards”), has largely defined Reformed and Presbyterian churches to this day.
Adopted Statements and Distinctives
Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy
Drafted by the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy in 1978 to affirm both the inspiration, authority, and inerrancy of God’s Word. They sought to affirm the inerrancy of Scripture afresh, to make clear our understanding of it, and warn against its denial. It consists of a short summary statement, articles of affirmation and denial, and an accompanying exposition.
Summary Statement
God, who is Himself Truth and speaks truth only, has inspired Holy Scripture in order thereby to reveal Himself to lost mankind through Jesus Christ as Creator and Lord, Redeemer and Judge. Holy Scripture is God’s witness to Himself.
Holy Scripture, being God’s own Word, written by men prepared and superintended by His Spirit, is of infallible divine authority in all matters upon which it touches: It is to be believed, as God’s instruction, in all that it affirms; obeyed, as God’s command, in all that it requires; embraced, as God’s pledge, in all that it promises.
The Holy Spirit, Scripture’s divine Author, both authenticates it to us by His inward witness and opens our minds to understand its meaning.
Being wholly and verbally God-given, Scripture is without error or fault in all its teaching, no less in what it states about God’s acts in creation, about the events of world history, and about its own literary origins under God, than in its witness to God’s saving grace in individual lives.
The authority of Scripture is inescapably impaired if this total divine inerrancy is in any way limited of disregarded, or made relative to a view of truth contrary to the Bible’s own; and such lapses bring serious loss to both the individual and the Church.
The Danvers Statement
The Danvers Statement summarizes the need for a proper view on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. It was drafted in 1987 and ratified by the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood in 1988 as a response to the widespread confusion and uncertainty within our culture regarding the complementary differences between masculinity and femininity. They sought to set forth in this statement a biblical view on what it means to be men and women as defined by God and how relationship must be to one another particularly in the home and in the church.
Based on our understanding of Biblical teachings, we affirm the following:
Both Adam and Eve were created in God’s image, equal before God as persons and distinct in their manhood and womanhood (Gen 1:26-27, 2:18).
Distinctions in masculine and feminine roles are ordained by God as part of the created order, and should find an echo in every human heart (Gen 2:18, 21-24; 1 Cor 11:7-9; 1 Tim 2:12-14).
Adam’s headship in marriage was established by God before the Fall, and was not a result of sin (Gen 2:16-18, 21-24, 3:1-13; 1 Cor 11:7-9).
The Fall introduced distortions into the relationships between men and women (Gen 3:1-7, 12, 16).
In the home, the husband’s loving, humble headship tends to be replaced by domination or passivity; the wife’s intelligent, willing submission tends to be replaced by usurpation or servility.
In the church, sin inclines men toward a worldly love of power or an abdication of spiritual responsibility, and inclines women to resist limitations on their roles or to neglect the use of their gifts in appropriate ministries.
The Old Testament, as well as the New Testament, manifests the equally high value and dignity which God attached to the roles of both men and women (Gen 1:26-27, 2:18; Gal 3:28). Both Old and New Testaments also affirm the principle of male headship in the family and in the covenant community (Gen 2:18; Eph 5:21-33; Col 3:18-19; 1 Tim 2:11-15).
Redemption in Christ aims at removing the distortions introduced by the curse.
In the family, husbands should forsake harsh or selfish leadership and grow in love and care for their wives; wives should forsake resistance to their husbands’ authority and grow in willing, joyful submission to their husbands’ leadership (Eph 5:21-33; Col 3:18-19; Tit 2:3-5; 1 Pet 3:1-7).
In the church, redemption in Christ gives men and women an equal share in the blessings of salvation; nevertheless, some governing and teaching roles within the church are restricted to men (Gal 3:28; 1 Cor 11:2-16; 1 Tim 2:11-15).
In all of life Christ is the supreme authority and guide for men and women, so that no earthly submission-domestic, religious, or civil-ever implies a mandate to follow a human authority into sin (Dan 3:10-18; Acts 4:19-20, 5:27-29; 1 Pet 3:1-2).
In both men and women a heartfelt sense of call to ministry should never be used to set aside Biblical criteria for particular ministries (1 Tim 2:11-15, 3:1-13; Tit 1:5-9). Rather, Biblical teaching should remain the authority for testing our subjective discernment of God’s will.
With half the world’s population outside the reach of indigenous evangelism; with countless other lost people in those societies that have heard the gospel; with the stresses and miseries of sickness, malnutrition, homelessness, illiteracy, ignorance, aging, addiction, crime, incarceration, neuroses, and loneliness, no man or woman who feels a passion from God to make His grace known in word and deed need ever live without a fulfilling ministry for the glory of Christ and the good of this fallen world (1 Cor 12:7-21).
We are convinced that a denial or neglect of these principles will lead to increasingly destructive consequences in our families, our churches, and the culture at large.
The Nashville Statement
The Nashville Statement was drafted by the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW) and signed in late August 2017 to affirm a Biblical view of marriage, sexuality and gender. It is meant to provide clarity on more relevant issues regarding gender and sexuality while emphasizing the beauty of marriage as all part of God’s beautiful design.
This statement affirms that marriage is a covenantal, lifelong relationship between one man and one woman who were created in God’s own image as persons distinctly male and female. It continues to affirm that self-conception as male and female should be defined by God’s holy purposes and redemption as revealed in Scripture. This statement affirms hope for those who experience same-sex sexual attraction by asserting that no person is outside the hope of the gospel and, just like all Christians, those who experience same-sex attraction may still live a rich and fruitful life pleasing to God through faith in Jesus Christ as they walk in purity of life.
You can read the full Nashville statement by clicking the button below.
The Statement on Social Justice & the Gospel
This statement was drafted on June of 2018 in view of questionable sociological, psychological, and political theories presently permeating our culture and making inroads into the church. They sought to clarify certain key doctrines and ethical principles prescribed in God’s Word. Clarity on these issues will fortify believers and churches to withstand an onslaught of dangerous and false teachings that threaten the gospel, misrepresent Scripture, and lead people away from the grace of God in Jesus Christ.
Specifically, they were deeply concerned that the values borrowed from secular culture are currently undermining Scripture in the areas of race and ethnicity, manhood and womanhood, and human sexuality.
You can read the full statement by clicking the button below.