Holy Trinity Presbyterian Church

Our Affiliation

About the OPC

We are part of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, a people called to demonstrate the love of God and the relevance of Christ's message of deliverance to a society that is weary of sin, hollow materialism, and shattered relationships.

We enjoy meeting together to worship our Creator and Redeemer. In worship, God's people adore him, bring him thanks, ask for his help, and receive the blessing of his presence. Through the preaching of the gospel, God announces his saving acts and calls people to believing and obedient response to his Word.

Through faithful teaching, our members grow spiritually. We seek to obey God's laws because such obedience pleases him. So we not only embrace the teaching of God's Word, but also strive to demonstrate its application in our lives.

Our churches care about people. We show concern for the poor and for victims of such catastrophes as famines and earthquakes. We'll show you this love and concern as you involve yourself with us. Our goal and purpose can be summed up in the motto of one of our congregations, "Preaching all of God's Word; sharing all of Christ's love."

Our modern age has witnessed the progressive rejection of authority. God's Word, the Bible, has not been spared. However, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church believes that the Bible is the authoritative Word of God, the only infallible rule for our faith and conduct.

We believe that the Bible alone gives us the correct knowledge of who God is and how we may please him. It teaches that God the Father gave up his Son Jesus Christ to death on the cross to pay the penalty for the sins of him people. We want to share with you the joy that comes from a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

Our church is not new. We trace our historical roots to the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation and its seventeenth-century doctrinal statement, the Westminster Confession of Faith. The OPC understands the importance of defending and maintaining the truths of God's Word. In fact, in 1936 the OPC was established as a testimony to the Bible when its authority was denied. Her ministers, elders, and deacons sincerely receive and adopt these Westminster standards as containing the system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures and known as the Reformed faith.

From the time of Abraham in the Old Testament, God's church has been led by wise elders, men gifted by God and called to govern his church. The word presbyterian comes from the New Testament Greek word presbyteros, meaning "elder." The OPC has followed this biblical pattern for church government. Local church elders, along with the pastor, form a "session" to care for the spiritual welfare of our members. Matters of common concern for churches in a given region, such as establishing new congregations and ordaining ministers, are regulated by a body of ministers and elders called a "presbytery." Annually, representatives of our sixteen presbyteries form a "general assembly" to give the whole Church direction and advice.

Everyone knows that an orthodontist is concerned about straight teeth. The "ortho" in orthodontist comes from the Greek word for "straight." The "dox" in orthodox comes from the Greek word for "thinking." So, in an Orthodox Presbyterian church you will find straight teaching following the long-accepted pattern given in the Bible. We are a church that believes what the Bible says, and we try to put it into practice.

What We Believe

Our system of doctrine is the Reformed faith, also called Calvinism (because Calvin was the most important exponent of it during the Reformation). It pulls together the most significant doctrines taught in the Bible. These doctrines are set forth in the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms (with accompanying biblical references). Our system of doctrine is summarized in the following paragraphs.

-- The Bible, having been inspired by God, is entirely trustworthy and without error. Therefore, we are to believe and obey its teachings. The Bible is the only source of special revelation for the church today.

-- The one true God is personal, yet beyond our comprehension. He is an invisible spirit, completely self-sufficient and unbounded by space or time, perfectly holy and just, and loving and merciful. In the unity of the Godhead there are three "persons": the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

-- God created the heavens and the earth, and all they contain. He upholds and governs them in accordance with his eternal will. God is sovereign (in complete control) yet this does not diminish human responsibility.

-- Because of the sin of the first man, Adam, all mankind is corrupt by nature, dead in sin, and subject to the wrath of God. But God determined, by a covenant of grace, that sinners may receive forgiveness and eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. Faith in Christ has always been the only way of salvation, in both Old Testament and New Testament times.

-- The Son of God took upon himself a human nature in the womb of the virgin Mary, so that in her son Jesus the divine and human natures were united in one person. Jesus Christ lived a sinless life and died on a cross, bearing the sins of, and receiving God's wrath for, all those who trust in him for salvation (his chosen ones). He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, where he sits as Lord and rules over his kingdom (the church). He will return to judge the living and the dead, bringing his people (with glorious, resurrected bodies) into eternal life, and consigning the wicked to eternal punishment.

-- Those whom God has predestined unto life are effectually drawn to Christ by the inner working of the Spirit as they hear the gospel. When they believe in Christ, God declares them righteous (justifies them), pardoning their sins and accepting them as righteous, not because of any righteousness of their own, but by imputing Christ's merits to them. They are adopted as the children of God and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, who sanctifies them, enabling them increasingly to stop sinning and act righteously. They repent of their sins (both at their conversion and thereafter), produce good works as the fruit of their faith, and persevere to the end in communion with Christ, with assurance of their salvation.

-- Believers strive to keep God's moral law, which is summarized in the Ten Commandments, not to earn salvation, but because they love their Savior and want to obey him. God is the Lord of the conscience, so that men are not required to believe or do anything contrary to, or in addition to, the Word of God in matters of faith or worship.

-- Christ has established his church, and particular churches, to gather and perfect his people, by means of the ministry of the Word, the sacraments of baptism (which is to be administered to the children of believers, as well as believers) and the Lord's Supper (in which the body and blood of Christ are spiritually present to the faith of believers), and the disciplining of members found delinquent in doctrine or life. Christians assemble on the Lord's Day to worship God by praying, hearing the Word of God read and preached, singing psalms and hymns, and receiving the sacraments.