What we believe
Kingsmills and Jerrettspass are congregations of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.
We are local expressions of the Church of Christ who hold to the following distinctives.
We are Christian, meaning we are followers of Jesus Christ.
We are evangelical, meaning we believe human beings are sinful by nature, there is nothing we can do to save ourselves from sin, but through Jesus God has made a way of salvation. We believe that God has revealed salvation through the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. We are committed to the Bible as the holy, inspired, inerrant and authoritative Word of God. In the Bible we read everything we are to believe about God and everything God requires of us, therefore it is central to all we do.
We are Reformed, meaning we hold to the fundamental teachings of the Christian faith rediscovered at the time of the Protestant Reformation. It is through Scripture alone that we learn, man is saved by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone. We believe, in the words of Augustine, God has made us for himself and our hearts are restless until we find rest in him. For this reason we prioritise public worship centered upon the Word of God.
We are Presbyterian, meaning we are congregations of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, who as a witness for Christ, have adopted subordinate standards. In these are found what the Church understands the Word of God to teach on certain important points of doctrine and worship. Our subordinate standards are the Westminster Confession of Faith, along with the Larger and Shorter Westminster Catechisms. These subordinate standards are a testimony for truth and against error, and serve as a bond of union for members of the Church. We believe the Presbyterian form of Church government to be founded upon and agreeable to the Word of God.
“The Word of God as set forth in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments is the only infallible rule of faith and practice, and the supreme standard of the Church.”
— The Code, The Book of Constitution and Government of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland
A summary of The Presbyterian Form of Church Government
(From ‘The Code’ paragraphs 15 - 18)
The Lord Jesus Christ is the sole King and Head of the Church, whether invisible, visible or particular; and He has appointed therein a government distinct from civil authority. The Kingdom of Christ is not of this world, its laws are founded on His authority, they are specially directed to the conscience and their sanctions are spiritual.
Christ is always present in His Church and governs it by God’s Word and Spirit through the ministry of men. This government is both representative and corporate. Accordingly, voting members have the inalienable right to choose their own officers; and such officers are under obligation to serve together in the courts of the Church.
The permanent officers in the Church are Presbyters (that is elders), who in Apostolic times were also called bishops or overseers, and Deacons. In each apostolic Church there was a plurality of Presbyters: all ruled and some also laboured in Word and doctrine, hence the titles Teaching Elder and Ruling Elder.
The Teaching Elder, who is also called preacher, evangelist, teacher, pastor or minister, in addition to the oversight of the Church which he exercises in conjunction with the Ruling Elders, is commissioned to preach God’s Word, to administer the sacraments of the Gospel and to instruct the people, and is set for the defence of the Gospel.
The Ruling Elder is appointed to watch for souls and to exercise government and discipline in conjunction with the Teaching Elder. This shall include the oversight of the care of those in need and the management of the temporal affairs of the congregation, with the direct responsibility for these two matters delegated to the Congregational Committee.
Members of the Congregational Committee are appointed to fulfil the biblical role of deacons by discharging the duties delegated to them of caring for those in need and managing the temporal affairs of the congregation.
Calling to office in the Church is an act of God by the Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit. This calling is ordinarily made manifest through the inward testimony of a good conscience on the part of the person, the approval of God’s people on the part of the Church and the concurring judgment of a court of the Church.
In discharging their various duties the officers of the Church are entitled to receive the assistance of other members of the Church. Scripture directs Christians to know those who labour among them and are over them in the Lord, to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake, and to obey them that have the rule over them.
The authority of any officer in the Church is derived from Christ and belongs not to the officer, therefore any person appointed to office may not assume any spiritual pre-eminence over others, but be only minister, disciple and servant. Teachers or rulers are not warranted on their own authority to publish any doctrine nor to prescribe any ceremony; nor is submission to them obligatory, except in so far as their doctrine and decisions are consistent with the Word of God.