ABOUT US

Our Origins

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Our name, the English Reformed Church, is unique because it acknowledges that originally we were members of the Church of England in SA.  In 1984 we withdrew from that denomination to become the English Reformed Church and have followed what we believe to be the clear teaching of the Bible on the government and practice of the Church of Jesus Christ. We endeavor to follow the biblical maxim that the reformed church is always reforming.

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Our Belief

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We hold wholeheartedly to the theology of the Reformers who rediscovered “the faith once delivered to the saints” and the practical application of Christian truth to everyday life by the Puritans, seeking to glorify and enjoy God not only in Sunday worship but in every area of life.

(We believe that the Westminster Confession of Faith is a good summary of the teaching of the Bible.)

We believe the gospel is the good news of God’s response to the human predicament: that is that all that we lost in Adam when he wilfully sinned in Eden, incurring God’s displeasure and plunging the whole human race into sin, misery and death, may be more than recovered in Jesus Christ, the second Adam, the Saviour of the world.  By his vicarious death (foreseen and described by the Old Testament prophets), he made a complete atonement, satisfying the full demands of divine justice, and by his vicarious life he provided a righteousness which fully meets every requirement for free entry into God’s eternal rest.

Those, therefore, who are joined to him by faith are not only cleansed from all their sins but are also clothed in his righteousness.  The double benefit of salvation cannot be merited in any way but is gratuitous and motivated entirely by God’s sovereign love for his people.

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Our Objectives

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As members of Christ we are also members one of another, brought together by Christ to form a local expression of his body, of which he is the Head.  The duty and delight of the body is to fulfill the desires and purposes of the Head. These may be summarised under the following heads:

1. To meet for the regular worship of God, delighting in him through his Word, and in praise and in prayer.

2. To build ourselves up in the faith, seeking to be conformed to the image of Christ so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ at last.

3. To take up the interests of God our Father as our interests, seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

4. To seek the wellbeing of Christ’s bride, the universal church, by praying for its cleansing and holiness and endeavouring by means of the bookshop, the library and the theological college to assist it in serving God.

5. To bring the gospel to all who remain outside of Christ by the means already mentioned above and also by the witness of our lives and with our mouths, and by means of tracts, books and online sermons.