Not only do our doctrinal beliefs make direct contact with the lives of those who worship here, but so do several
key philosophical commitments. Our ministry philosophy is really just the ripening of our reformation doctrine into certain
commitments and patterns that guide the ministry of Apple Valley Church.
We are Theocentric
This means that we are centered on the Triune God - revering him, honoring him, delighting in him, enjoying him,
and knowing him. Always needing a renewal of our love for God and his glory is a basic presumption here. Only loving God first
and afresh will allow us to rightly love man, our neighbor. And we will only love God rightly and afresh by hearing his gospel
again: the divine Son served us in love by being crucified for our sins and raised for our justification.
Thus
we seek to make God’s name famous not our own. We seek to please God in our worship not ourselves. Our worship liturgy
then is centered upon God and derived from his Word. He speaks and we joyfully respond, praying and seeking a renewal of our
love for him.
We are Reformed
“Reformed”
can be defined simply in two ways: 1) It is a reference to our historical link to the Reformation of the 16th century and
intends to describe us as the heirs of that tradition which comes from Luther, Calvin, Knox and other reformers. 2) It is
used most commonly to refer to theological distinctives which have marked reformation believers, particularly those in the
Calvinist tradition.
Reformed distinctives include the sovereignty of God in His creation, providence
and election of believers apart from any merit of their own; the irresistible grace of God provided for and preceding the
faith of the individual; the sufficiency of God’s grace apart from which man is dead in sin and wholly defiled in all
his faculties of soul and body; the efficacy of Christ’s death for all those who believe in Him by grace; the safe-guarding
of all those for whom Christ died for eternal life.
We seek to hold to our reformed convictions
joyfully, yet humbly, recognizing the sincerity and earnestness of Godly men and women who have other positions.
We are Presbyterian
This biblical word refers to our form of government.
We are governed by presbyters (elders) who rule jointly in sessions (single church), presbyteries (collections of local churches
in a region) and the General Assembly (churches across our nation).
We are gladly part of a
Presbyterian denomination because we see in scripture a pattern of church unity and oversight that extends beyond the local congregation (Acts
15). This provides broader care for the believers who worship here and greater accountability for our leadership.
We are Confessional
We have a written confession of faith which we
believe to be a good and accurate summary of the Bible’s teaching. Our confession consists of the
Westminster Confession of Faith and the
Larger and
Shorter Catechisms. These documents do not carry Biblical authority, yet they do contain carefully worded summaries of the Bible’s
content. They also unite us with like-minded churches worldwide.
Every church has a confession,
formal or informal, even though some claim they have “no confession but Christ” or “no creed but the Bible.”
Every church summarizes its convictions in some form in order to distinguish its members from those who are not believers
or those who do not believe in their church’s distinctives.
We are Covenantal
To
say we are covenantal means we believe that the unifying principle of the Scriptures is the one covenant of grace that God
made with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David and finally, and most importantly, fulfilled in Jesus Christ. The covenant is
a pledge or bond of loyalty which God made to his people through each of the above named persons. The covenant is a relationship
of loving loyalty that God has graciously initiated with us as his people throughout human history. To speak of the unity
of the covenants means that there is one way and one way only to salvation in both Old and New Testaments-that is, by faith
alone in our Redeemer Jesus Christ.
God’s covenantal dealings with his people also explains
why we receive the children of believers as members of Christ’s visible church. We baptize the infants of believing
parents (parent) as a sign of the covenant promise of God, praying they will one day make profession of faith having been
converted by the Spirit under the ministry of the Word.
We are Kingdom Focused
We
believe that the kingdom of God is not only a future hope but is also a present reality. We believe that the ascension of
Jesus Christ means that he is presently reigning from heaven and, therefore, we are called upon to honor and obey him in every
area of our personal lives and to reveal Christ’s kingdom rule over us in every human endeavor. Christ’s present
heavenly reign is at the heart of our worship and activity as a Church. Each Lord’s Day we gather together to worship
God in Spirit and truth, as we celebrate the risen and ascended Christ. And all we do in service to God is enabled and empowered
by the Spirit of God who is the gift of the ascended Christ to His Church.
We are Evangelistic
This
means we take seriously the Great Commission, “Go and make disciples of all nations.” Without compromising the
sovereignty of God, we affirm the responsibility of each person to repent and believe in Jesus Christ as savior and Lord and
our responsibility to extend the gospel invitation as a call to salvation to everyone who hears its message. We invite all,
without distinction, to drink freely of the Water of Life and to live eternally. In this way, we seek to extend the transforming
presence of the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Chris to all peoples in all nations, starting right here in the Fox Cities.
We are Evangelical
We take our stand with all those through the history
of the Church who have affirmed the authority of the Word of God and the centrality of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Along with
all Bible-believing Christians, we strongly affirm: the existence of the triune God, the deity of Jesus Christ, the virgin
birth, sinless life, and substitutionary and vicarious atonement of Christ, the physical resurrection of Christ, the sure
return of Christ, and the infallibility and divine authority of the Bible which is a faithful and true guide to what we are
to believe and how we are to live. We joyfully affirm our unity with those from every tradition and denomination who hold
to these fundamentals.
For more information about our beliefs, please see our denomination’s
web page at
www.opc.org.
