The Christian church is “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone” (Eph. 2:20). Since the Lord Jesus promised that the gates of hell would never prevail against His church (Matt. 16:18), we can rest assured that it can never be totally defeated. But through many centuries of human invention and expanding tradition the church was seriously deformed.
In the sixteenth-century God graciously raised up a number protestants, not to start a new church, but to reform His one church according to the Bible, which is God's very word. "Reformed" especially refers to our intention as a Christian church to be biblical in everything we believe and in everything we practice. At the heart of Reformed Christianity is our commitment to the five “solas” of the Reformation:
SCRIPTURE ALONE ~ We hold to the Holy Scriptures (all 66 books of the Bible) as the only infallible, all-sufficient rule for faith and life.
GRACE ALONE ~ We find the Bible's grand narrative clearly to reveal this good news: that guilty sinners can receive salvation only as a gift of God's grace.
CHRIST ALONE ~ While sinners can do nothing to earn this salvation, it has been earned for us by the perfect obedience and sacrificial death of Christ Jesus.
FAITH ALONE ~ Good works are necessary, but contribute nothing to our standing with God. Only by faith can we receive Christ and His merits for our righteousness.
GLORY TO GOD ALONE ~ In light of the above, the Christian now seeks to glorify our God and Savior not only in worship but also in a whole life of grateful obedience.
You can find a summary of our core beliefs and practices here.
We identify ourselves as Reformed not because we prefer this flavor of Christianity over others, and not because we follow those men called Reformers, but because we regularly use the Ecumenical Creeds and Reformed Confessions to help us maintain faithfulness to God's Word and a constant focus upon His Gospel of grace. These secondary standards are no substitute for Scripture, but they do faithfully summarize its fundamental teachings, unite Christians in the truth, and equip us to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3).
Though we often make use of the Westminster Confession & Catechisms (1647), our congregations in the URCNA formally confess the Three Forms of Unity, which are the Belgic Confession (1561), the Heidelberg Catechism (1563), and the Canons of Dort (1619). Our church leaders are ordained upon subscription to these doctrinal standards which they promise to promote and defend. You can read our confessional documents here.