What We Believe
Church of the King is a confessionally reformed presbyterian church unlike anything you’ve probably ever heard of before. (Wait, stay with us here.)
1. Presbyterian
We think the crisis in the church in America calls for more accountability, not less. But that accountability has to be good, and real, and not part of some good ol’ boys club. So we’re part of a very small group of churches and church plants that are committed to really holding each other accountable in doctrine (what we believe) and practice. That fellowship of mutually accountable churches is what we call our presbytery.
2. Standards
Being a part of a presbytery means standards, so we have them. That’s where the “confessionally reformed” part comes in. Rather than inventing or writing our own, we chose to unite ourselves with the historical church as much as possible. So we’ve embraced the Westminster Standards. We think it’s a pretty accurate summary of the basic, fundamental things Scripture teaches, starting with the fact that Scripture is the only perfect, unchanging, infallible rule of what we’re to believe and do (not the confession), and that we are saved through faith alone by grace alone in the saving work of Jesus Christ alone, to the glory of God alone.
You can read more here.
3. Different
We are also committed to majoring in majors and minoring in minors. That means our presbytery allows some fairly unconventional exceptions to these doctrinal standards. The main one would be baptism.
The Westminster Confession says that the children of believers ought to be baptized. Some of us believe that’s true. Lots of us believe that baptism should be reserved for those who have made a credible profession of faith. In all cases, we believe that baptism doesn’t do anything magical—it doesn’t make somebody born again. It’s the entry point into the community of the Church. Should children be included? You decide. But we don’t think that is something that ought to keep us from working, fellowshipping, and serving together in the same churches.
4. Even More Different
You’d think our willingness to make some exceptions like this might make us a little loose with Scripture and what it teaches at critical points. But we think the opposite is true. Because we’re willing to band together over what’s essential—baptists and presbyterians alike—we’re able to draw clear, hard lines where the essentials of Scripture are under attack.
Take what it means to be made male and female in God’s image, for example. We draw hard lines on sexuality, because God draws hard, definitive lines both in Scripture and in nature. For more on that, see our presbytery’s Declaration of Doctrine and Policies Concerning Sexuality.
So, yeah. We’re different. We hope you’ll come find out why.
