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The Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church (CRPC) is a small conservative Reformed denomination, consisting of 4 congregations, three in the United States and one in Suriname.

History

The Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church ( CRPC) was formed in 1998, from churches and ministers that were looking for an ecclesiastical home. "The larger conservative bodies (such as the PCA and OPC) did not look promising; and there were concerns about some of the smaller conservative bodies, which, at least from the outside, seemed perhaps at times to be driven by powerful personalities. Hence the desire to form a new affiliation, yet one which also was willing to unite with people of like faith, as opportunity would present itself."

Distinctives

Regarding its doctrine, the CRPC:

• Holds to the original Confessional Standards as formulated at the Westminster Assembly and accepted by various churches in England and Scotland in the 1640’s, accurately summarize the Bible’s teaching. It also recognizes that other confessional standards (such as the Belgic Confession, Heidelberg Catechism and Canons of Dordt) likewise represent the biblical foundation
• Teaches that “higher critical” teaching which denies the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch, denies the inerrancy of the Scripture or postulates any position which makes any portion of Scripture the product of evolutionary development or redaction, and/or teaches that any portion of Scripture is “not profitable” for the church to teach, use or expound today; is out of accord with Scripture.
• Believes that the Canon of Scripture has been providentially preserved in the original languages via the Byzantine Majority Family of Greek texts (especially the Textus Receptus), and the Massoretic text of the Old Testament Hebrew. Such was the position of the Westminster Assembly. We therefore reject texts that omit passages from the canonical books of the Bible in the same way that we would reject the omission from or addition to the canonical books as asserted by the Roman Catholic Church’s addition of the Apocrypha and other attempts to rethink the canonicity of the historically accepted canon of Scripture. The churches uses the King James Version during services.
• Believes that true science will never contradict what the Bible teaches and holds to the biblical account of creation as six normal and literal contiguous days.
• Acknowledge and confess that the love of God which is demonstrated in the sending and sacrifice of Jesus Christ is unmerited, discriminating, purposeful, covenantal, effectual, and exclusive to His elect people, and that no power in heaven or earth can separate them from it.
• Teaches that one man and one woman are the only rightful persons in a biblical marriage.
• Teaches that life begins at conception, and that it is sinful to destroy human life once conceived and that all reasonable measures should be made both to preserve and protect it.
• Believes only men may be ordained to ecclesiastical office.
• Teaches that civil magistrates are instituted by God for the good of both mankind and the church, that God’s establishment of the family and the church as legitimate governments are distinct from the civil magistrate and that God’s work at the Tower of Babel and His gathering of men into distinct tribes, nations, cultures, races and language groups has its divine purpose in hindering the growth of ungodliness.
• Teaches that it is the biblical duty of all believers to evaluate all political parties and candidates in light of biblical law.
• Adhers to Presbyterial church government and has no standing comitees. Ministers are members of the local church.
• Believes missions, their agencies and bodies are to be undertaken by local churches who may invite participation of other local churches.
• Churches practice, in some manner, a guarding (“fencing”) of the Lord’s Table.

The CRPC allows diversity on the following issues:

• Use of biblically-based or biblically consistent hymns, singing from portions of the canon of Scripture other than the Book of Psalms, and modest use of musical accompaniment for the purpose of assisting congregational singing, are considered allowable practices in worship services. However, every church should agree that Psalms have been set forth in God’s word to be sung by His people and therefore, it is most desirable that they should be incorporated into worship in the churches. Only psalms are sung at regional presbytery meetings.
• Specific age of communication at the Lord’s Supper with the proviso that all communicants must pass examination by the congregational presbytery (also known as a “Session”) for a credible profession of faith before admittance be allowed.
• Various interpretations of confessional Sabbath practices.
• Women teaching children in appropriate settings.

References

1. http://www.covref.org/pages/introduction.htm
2. http://www.covref.org/pages/distinctives.htm

External links

• The Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church, the official website

• Presbyterian denominations in North America
• Reformed denominations in North America