Welcome to the Reformed Presbyterian Church in San Antonio (RPCSA)! We’re a new outreach of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, an old branch of Reformed and Presbyterian Christianity. We aspire to be a vital, growing community of Christian households who love our Lord Jesus Christ and covenant together to live in Biblical fellowship, so that in every relationship and endeavor, we honor him who loved us and gave himself for us. Risen from the dead and ascended on high, he now reigns as mediatorial king over all things. By the proclamation of the gospel he calls men and nations to repent of our lawlessness and trustingly obey him. We live in joyful anticipation of His return in glory.
“Behold, how good a thing it is, and how becoming well
When those that brethren are delight in unity to dwell.”
Psalm 133:1, The Book of Psalms for Singing
Our rule of faith and life
We recognize the Bible to be God’s word written and our only infallible rule for faith and life. When God has spoken plainly, the matter is settled. Human institutions impose upon us laws myriad, tedious, and tiresome, but the law and testimony of the living God is the one clear, refreshing standard by which all other standards of human behavior are to be evaluated.
“Thus says the LORD,
‘Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths,
Where the good way is, and walk in it;
And you shall find rest for your souls.’”
Jeremiah 6:16
The finest systematic summaries (“subordinate standards,” we call them) of the Bible’s doctrine we’ve found are the Westminster Confession of Faith with its Larger and Shorter Catechisms. Cultural changes occurring over the 375+ years since the Westminster Assembly produced those standards in the 1640s have necessitated new applications of old Biblical truth in these later years. Therefore, in order to speak relevantly to the needs of our own generation, the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America has appended to the Westminster Confession of Faith, in parallel columns, our denomination’s own Reformed Presbyterian Testimony. Together with the Confession of Faith, it is a faithful expression of our beliefs and practice. The Confession and Testimony carefully exposit and apply Biblical doctrine to our situation as a church striving to be faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ in the 21st century.
Our covenant of communicant membership
We’re a covenanted community of communicant members along with our baptized households. Here’s the covenant to which communicant members give their assent:
- Do you believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God, the only infallible rule for faith and life?
- Do you believe in the one living and true God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as revealed in the Scriptures?
- Do you repent of your sin; confess your guilt and helplessness as a sinner against God; profess Jesus Christ, Son of God, as your Saviour and Lord; and dedicate yourself to His service: Do you promise that you will endeavor to forsake all sin, and to conform your life to His teaching and example?
- Do you promise to submit in the Lord to the teaching and government of this church as being based upon the Scriptures and described in substance in the Constitution of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America? Do you recognize your responsibility to work with others in the church and do you promise to support and encourage them in their service to the Lord? In case you should need correction in doctrine or life, do you promise to respect the authority and discipline of the church?
- To the end that you may grow in the Christian life, do you promise that you will diligently read the Bible, engage in private prayer, keep the Lord’s Day, regularly attend the worship services, observe the appointed sacraments, and give to the Lord’s work as He shall prosper you?
- Do you purpose to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness in all the relationships of life, faithfully to perform your whole duty as a true servant of Jesus Christ, and seek to win others to Him?
- Do you make this profession of faith and purpose in the presence of God, in humble reliance upon His grace, as you desire to give your account with joy at the Last Great Day?
