Who We Are
What is Faith Reformed Baptist Church?
FAITH REFORMED BAPTIST CHURCH is a community of believers in the Triune God, who created the world, set His steadfast love on His people, and has brought us into fellowship with Him and one another through the work of His Son. While we were dead in our trespasses in sin, God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, has made us alive by the Holy Spirit; we are saved by grace through FAITH in the person and work of Jesus Christ, and we now live to love, serve, and enjoy Him.
We are REFORMED BAPTISTS, holding to the historic truths of the universal church, the commitments of the Reformation – “Christians are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, as revealed by Scripture alone, to the glory of God alone,” and the doctrinal distinctives of the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith.
We are not a building or a collection of programs; more than a gathering of separate individuals, we are a CHURCH, a body of believers, a covenanted community, a people set apart by God unto Himself, committed to love God, one another, and the world through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Four Imperatives of Church Life
We believe that healthy church life entails four Imperatives or Commitments:
The Word of God, Worship, Fellowship, and Outreach
The Word of God
1) A Commitment to the Word of God, the Gospel. The message of the Bible is the good news of God the Creator revealing Himself to us and doing everything necessary to bring us into relationship with Him. He does this through the final revelation of Himself in Jesus Christ who bore the penalty for our sin and failure on the cross, and now lives to transform our lives by His Spirit.
Recognizing that people aren’t able to come to a knowledge of truth by themselves and interpret the world rightly, we need God’s interpretation and truth in the Bible to direct our lives.
Worship
2) A Commitment to Worship. Humans are the only creatures on the face of the earth who are religious creatures, who are ‘meaning’ seekers. This is because we were created for worship and all our lives are spent worshipping something.
We believe that ultimate ‘meaning’ however is to be found in relationship with God, finding satisfaction and fulfillment in exalting who He is and what He has done for us. Mankind is corrupted directly proportionate to its false worship and elevated directly proportionate to its worship of the true God. We want all our lives to be lived conscious of God’s presence and giving Him the honor He is due.
Fellowship
3) A Commitment to Fellowship. God doesn’t intend us to live our lives as independent, isolated individuals. He tells us he is making us into a Building and into a Body, with all parts intricately connected and dependent on each other.
His church is universally diverse: made up of people from every nation, tribe and tongue. He Himself however forms its unity. He intends for us to reflect His love and commitment to us in our love and commitment to one another, living in unity and fellowship that is a foretaste of heaven.
Outreach
4) A Commitment to Outreach. We believe that God has placed us in Media, PA as part of His plan to bring the powerful message of good news to a world in need of hope and transformation. An essential part of our purpose is to serve the suburbs; to be a church that understands the needs of the suburbs, that challenges and changes the suburbs through word and action.
Church Covenant
Members of Faith Reformed Baptist Church affirm the following "Corporate Covenant of Membership":
Having been brought by the grace of God to embrace the Lord Jesus Christ and give ourselves wholly to Him and, on profession of our faith, having been baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we solemnly and joyfully covenant with each other to walk together in Him in brotherly love and to His glory. Therefore, in His strength, we promise:
- To pursue growth in the understanding and application of God’s holy Word, both in our homes and in our gatherings as a Body.
- To worship God in Spirit and in truth in our individual lives and as we gather on a regular basis, both informally and formally, through the public worship and ordinances of this. We will also worship God by cheerful, systematic, proportionate giving for the sustaining of the ministry of this church, which includes the support of the poor and the spread of the Gospel, both in this community and throughout the world.
- To manifest visibly His life and love in us as a Body of believers by exercising Christian care and watchfulness over each other, and faithfully warning, exhorting, and admonishing one another in love, and receiving such admonition from others as occasion may require. We thus pledge not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, but to promote the unity of the church and encourage one another through regular prayers for the members of the Body, through the use of our God-given gifts to edify one another, and through the meeting of material needs as circumstances may necessitate. We also pledge to be slow to take offense and quick to seek reconciliation.
- To bring the power of His Gospel to our families, community, and world by prayer, word, and action, living in accordance with the precepts of Scripture, so that Christ may be glorified through the conversion of unbelievers and through the upright lives of those who profess His name. We will also pray for and support those who minister the Gospel in other nations.