Reformed Presbyterian Church of Central and Eastern Europe

Our Statement of Faith

1. We believe that the Bible is holy, inspired in every word, altogether without error in the original manuscripts and our only authority in matters of faith and practice.  We reject all teaching which denies the Bible to be the very Word of God or says it is only a witness to the Word and, therefore, may have mistakes or contradictions.

2. We believe that the Gospel of Jesus Christ must be understood in a Reformed, Calvinistic sense and is well summarized in the Helvetic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism and the Westminster Confession of Faith.  Therefore, we reject Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and all other sects, which deny that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone and in Christ alone.  We also reject the Charismatic movement for its Arminianism, mysticism and false views of holiness and Christian worship.

3. We believe that a true church is distinguished from a false system of religion by the following marks:

    a. The true preaching of the Word.

    b. The proper administration of the Sacraments according to the Institution of Christ.  Therefore, those who do not give evidence of true faith in Christ may not, under any condition, be allowed to take the Lord's Supper or have their children baptized.

    c. The faithful exercise of discipline including the discipline of those who fail to fulfill the obligations of church membership.

4. We believe that God’s Word must be followed exactly with regard to church government. Therefore, we reject the ordination of women to the ministry of preaching, ruling over the church and administering the Sacraments and, indeed, condemn this practice as a perversion of God’s order and an offense to Christ, the King of His Church.

5. We believe that the office of minister and bishop is one and the same (Titus 1:5–7). All ministers of the Gospel are bishops. We further believe that prelacy, the idea that some bishops are endowed with a higher authority than ministers or elders, creates a false and unbiblical hierarchy in the rule of Christ's Church and rejects Christ's own order for the rule of His Church. A truly Reformed church must be Presbyterian in government.

6. We believe in the spiritual unity of all believers and, for this very reason, reject the false unity of the World Council of Churches. For unity must be based on the Word of God, and the World Council of Churches rejects that kind of unity by including many bodies within it, which are not Christian at all, but liberal and apostate from the faith.