Covenant Presbyterian Church, a congregation of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church
2742 Buffalo Gap Rd, Abilene, TX 79605
325-698-1704
Robert A. Lotzer, Pastor email: ralotzer@covopc.org
What We Believe
We are a confessional church with historic roots in the ancient faith of the Christian church and in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation.
1. We Are Christian
We are Christian in the sense that we affirm the classic doctrines of Christian orthodoxy defined by the ecumenical creeds from the first five centuries of the early church.
2. We Are Evangelical
We are also evangelical in the sense that we affirm the five solas of historic Protestantism: sola Scriptura, sola fide, sola gratia, soli Christo, and soli deo gloria. Sola Scriptura (or Scripture alone) refers to the belief that because the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are alone inspired by God, and therefore the infallible and inerrant Word of God, that they alone are the rule for faith and practice among the Christian community and alone can bind the conscience of the believer. Sola fide (or faith alone) is the belief that the Christian believer is justified (declared righteous) before God's heavenly throne (now and forevermore) through faith alone. This declaration of a perfect, righteous standing before God, complete entrance into heaven, and the total forgiveness of all sin is only by grace alone (sola gratia) and on account of the imputation of Christ's meritorious righteousness alone (soli Christo).
Therefore, the Christian believer is saved by grace alone, through faith alone, on account of Christ alone and all to the glory of God alone (soli deo gloria)!
3. We Are Reformed
We are reformed in the sense that we affirm those distinctive doctrines that are unique to the Calvinist tradition and are contained in the Westminster Standards and the Three Forms of Unity. As the reformers confessed: ecclesia reformata semper reformanda est (The Reformed church is always reforming).
The Westminster Standards (American Version):
Other helpful documents on our confessional standards.
The Three Forms of Unity
Other Confessional Documents of the Christian Church
Why Creeds/Confessions?
So that brings us to the question, "Why do Reformed churches speak about creeds and confessions; isn’t the Bible enough?" Rev. Danny Hyde succintly answers this question when he states, "...we speak of believing our creeds and confessions because (quia) they agree with the Word of God....every Christian and church has a creed or confession, it’s just a matter of being honest about what it is and whether it is biblical. So we have them to express what we believe, to protect us from false doctrine, and as a means of unifying us in the pattern of sound words." (Interview with Rev. Daniel Hyde)
Covenant Presbyterian Church
Orthodox Presbyterian Church
