Statement of Faith

What We Believe & Teach

We believe that God, as Creator, is the ultimate Owner of all possessions on earth. God has given people the authority to be stewards of those possessions and the responsibility to faithfully manage them according to the principles in the Word of God.

Primacy of Beliefs

 A.  We, the CSF, are a covenant-reformed family exalting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior through relevant witness in truth and life.

B.   Our blessed Savior, for the edification of the visible Church, which is His body, has appointed officers to preach the gospel, administer the Sacraments, and exercise discipline for preserving both truth and duty. It is incumbent upon these officers and the whole Church in whose name they act to censure or cast out the erroneous and scandalous, observing the rules contained in the Word of God in all cases.

C.  Godliness is founded on truth. A test of truth is its power to promote holiness according to our Savior's rule, "By their fruits, ye shall know them" (Matthew 7:20). No opinion can be more pernicious or more absurd than that which brings truth and falsehood upon the same level. On the contrary, there is an inseparable connection between faith and practice, truth and duty. Otherwise, it would be of no consequence either to discover the truth or to embrace it.

D.  While, under the conviction of the above principle, it is necessary to make adequate provision that all admitted as teachers be sound in the faith, there are truths and forms concerning which men of good character and principles may differ. In all these, it is the duty of both private Christians and societies to exercise mutual forbearance toward each other.

 E.  Though the character, qualifications, and authority of church officers are laid down in the Holy Scriptures, as well as the proper method of officer investiture (refer to the offices of the church), the power to elect persons to the exercise of authority in any particular society resides in that society.

 F.   All church power, whether exercised by the body in general or by representation, is only ministerial and declarative since the Holy Scriptures are the only rule of faith and practice. The Council of Elders, acting as the interim judicial body, may err through human frailty. Yet, it rests upon them to uphold primarily the laws of Scripture and the governing rules of Christ Stewards Fellowship.

G.  The Scripture is the final authority in Reformed church polity. The true church governs itself according to the pure Word of God, rejecting all things contrary to it and holding Jesus Christ as the only head. 

H.  We affirm the following standards as secondary to the Scriptures. We believe the Reformed creeds, to the best ability of the writers, are true interpretations of the Word. The creeds are themselves subject to the word and are subordinate to it.
             •Three Forms of Unity:
                    ⎯Belgic Confession
                    ⎯Canons of Dordt
                    ⎯Heidelberg Catechism
              ●Apostles Creed
              ●Nicene Creed

I.  As our church distinctive, we affirm the following as the clear teaching of Scripture and, therefore, a part of our governing rules as secondary standards.

 

1) Universal Glory and Wisdom of God in His Word and Law.
●We believe that the Law of God reflects His loving and holy character, and therefore, God’s Law is good and delightful, being graciously given to mankind for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness, and godly wisdom.
●We believe that there is no authority except from God, and all governing authorities that He has put in place are subject to Him and His standards of justice and righteousness. As such, we believe that the civil statutes of the Old Testament, though given in the context of a particular time in redemptive history and cultural development, and while not being a precise blueprint, ought to inform and instruct governing authorities regarding perfect social justice for all cultures, including the protection of victims and the punishment of criminals. Because God is all-good and all-wise, to the extent societies conform to His will, they will thrive, and to the extent they disregard Him, societies will wither.
 

2) Continuity of the Dominion Mandate in the Great Commission
●We believe that God originally commanded man to be fruitful and multiply, and to exercise dominion over God’s creation by filling and subduing the earth. With the fall of man, this cultural mandate was not removed but was made more difficult. However, by regeneration in Christ, man is able to walk in obedience to this calling, being renewed and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
●Jesus’s command for the Church to go into all the world, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that He commanded does not nullify the dominion mandate of Genesis but instead establishes the authority by which men are able rightly to obey God and grants them the promise of Christ’s power as an assurance His will be accomplished.
                          

3) Certain Victory of the Gospel
●We believe that as the Church fulfills Christ’s commission, by the grace and power of the Holy Spirit, the knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea and that the gates of hell shall not withstand the earthly advance of the Church.
                      

4) Continuity of God’s Grace toward Covenant Children
•As the grace of God in the Old Testament was to baptize and commune believers and their children, so do we affirm that God’s grace in the New Testament is just as gracious. Therefore, children of at least one believing parent are to be baptized into Christ, worship Him as Lord, and commune with Him at His Table as His covenant people.
•As a church, we extend the testimony of Christian education to the community as a whole by offering a Christian school to serve members of the church as well as the whole community as a ministry and testimony of Christian faith.
                         

5) Covenantal renewal in corporate worship with special emphasis on Communion. 

●Commitment to the covenant and sacrament.
We believe that along with works of piety, necessity, and mercy, the command also calls us to rest our bodies on the Sabbath (Gen. 2:2-3; Ex. 16:30; 31:15-17). We do not believe Scripture intended to exclude recreation, especially in the context of the fellowship of God's people.
Every person must remember the Lord’s Day and prepare for it before it approaches. All worldly business should be so ordered and seasonably laid aside, so they may not be hindered from sanctifying the Lord’s Day, as the Holy Scriptures require.
Ministers should ordinarily lead in the administration of the Sacraments, yet we believe that it is permissible for the Sacraments to be administered with the oversight of any ordained elder.
We believe that the proper modes of baptism include sprinkling, pouring, and immersion.
We would clarify that "worthy receivers" of the Lord's Supper should include all baptized covenant members who are able to physically eat and drink the elements, including very young children being raised in the discipline and admonition of the Lord (provided that they are not under discipline). We deny that an artificial standard of age or mental capacity is consistent with the Biblical basis for partaking in the Supper. 
●Covenantal Tithe.
We believe that Christians, in thankful response to God for his covenant promises and blessings, are to bring tribute to Him through His tithe cheerfully. We believe that the tithe is to be primarily directed to the local church for the support of her ministers and other church ministries.
                         

6) Primacy of Pastoral Soul Care According to the Word of God
●As God gave his people, in His Word, everything needed for life and godliness. While there may be common grace observations made by ungodly systems, rather than help the saints grow in godliness, the ungodly systems suppress the truth in unrighteousness and thereby do more harm than good to the people of God.
●We believe there is no extra-biblical system necessary for the people of God to grow in godliness other than the word of God faithfully applied to life.
●We believe that the primary means by which God instituted care for His people is by and through the family of God, especially pastors, deacons, and godly men and women in the faith (Titus 2).
●We affirm the extended body of Christ is an additional blessing God has given for the care of His Church insofar as their teachings are in accordance with the Word of God.
 
We have fellowshipped and shared the same principles and practices with CREC. Here are the following statements:
By Reformed, we testify that we stand in the stream of historic Protestant orthodoxy and call to mind the importance of continual reformation and sanctification for the Church of Jesus Christ in light of Holy Scripture, which is the only infallible rule of faith and practice.
By Evangelical, we confess that the Gospel of the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ is the power of God unto salvation, and the Church’s calling is to proclaim it with love and doctrinal integrity.
The nature of our affiliation is one of confederation; that is, we have formed a broad connection between churches, which, concerning polity, is representative, being neither hierarchical nor autonomous. Our gathering of churches is not intended as a separation from other orthodox believers who confess the name of Christ but rather as a gathering within that broader church to work together effectively for reformation.
With patterns of church order and confessional standards, one of the fundamental requirements of Scripture is honesty (Ex. 20:16). Consequently, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we charge you, the generations who will follow us in this confederation, to submit to the Scriptures with sincere and honest hearts, and to the standards of this confederation as consistent with the teaching of Scripture. When a portion of our order and confession is out of conformity to Scripture, we charge you to amend it honestly, openly, and constitutionally, as men who must give an account to the God who searches the hearts of men. We charge you in the name of the Lord to abhor all forms of ignoring our intentions in what we have set down through dissembling, reinterpretation, dishonesty, relativism, pretended explanations, presumed spiritual maturity, assumed scholarly sophistication, compromise with any forms of sexual and gender-related activism, or outright lying, so that the living God will not strike you and your children with a curse. We charge you to serve Him in all diligence and honesty so that the blessings of the covenant may extend to your children for a thousand generations.
We desire to acknowledge, preserve, and manifest unity, preserve purity, and advance Christ’s kingdom in an orderly and reasonable way, resulting in mutual edification, accountability, and spiritual discipline. Membership in this confederation is not meant to exclude warm relations with other faithful Christian bodies. Therefore, we welcome and encourage any relations with like-minded churches, presbyteries, and denominations consistent with this Constitution.