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Core Values
- We value the inspired scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as our only CANON of infallible authority.
We believe the Bible is the written Word of God which reveals God’s mighty acts in the unfolding of redemptive history within two testaments but displaying a single plan of salvation in the covenant of grace. The Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit, is without error in the original manuscripts, and is infallible and authoritative in all matters of faith and practice. We believe that as God’s people hear, study and apply the Word of God by the illumination of the Holy Spirit, they are equipped for every good work to serve in His world. Christ-centered instruction in the Word of God must take place in the home, the school and the church. Through various ministries of education we will instill a Christian “World-and-Life” view in which our people will learn to interpret and respond to every experience and sphere of life by accurately understanding and applying the Bible. In this way, we will better serve as agents of Christ’s redemption in the world, as well as grow personally in the faith. Twin Oaks Christian School represents one way in which we strive to advance our commitments to provide spiritual oversight and material resources for discipling our covenant community.
- We value the Westminster Standards as our guiding CONFESSION.
As a confessional church, we value biblical doctrine as recovered in the Protestant Reformation,and view the Westminster Confession of Faith as an accurate interpretation of certain significant doctrines taught in the Bible. All pastors, church officers and certain ministry leaders at TOPC must declare their agreement with this constitutional confession. We value the confession as a reliable guide in understanding the Bible, and therefore accept it as an important doctrinal standard subordinate to the scriptures.
- We value corporate and private worship as our highest CALLING.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. Romans 12:1
Worship of our triune God is our highest calling, and He alone is worthy of our worship. It is our grateful and reverent response to who God is and what He has done for us. Everything we do, ought to be an act of worship, and it is the one thing we know will continue for eternity. We seek to enhance worship within our own hearts, as well as with those in our community, nation and world. Therefore, we endeavor to be involved in God’s mission to this world by offering our bodies as living sacrifices as we seek to find and draw new worshippers to worship God from every tribe, language, people and nation.
Our corporate worship gatherings are Christ-centered and governed by the regulative principle of worship. This principle means that we only do in worship that which God Himself commands in His word. The order of worship is simple, spiritual, and reverent, involving the congregation as active participants utilizing elements that are true to the Reformed faith and adapted to our context. We equip individuals and families for private and family worship. We seek to nurture Christians to live as faithful members of the Covenant of Grace so that worship is not simply a religious activity but a sincere response of a redeemed heart resulting in a rich tapestry of emotional tone and tempo in our worship. We promote a worshipping community marked by interpersonal honesty, vulnerability, reality and integrity in our worship of God.
- We value prayer as our CRITICAL work.
Jesus said, “My Father’s house must be a house of prayer.” Mt. 21:13
As Jesus modeled for us the importance of prayer in His relationship with His Father, so we too are committed to living a life of unceasing prayer in our relationship with the Father. Prayer must fill our lives individually and be a continual activity of our lives corporately for our relationship with the Father to grow and strengthen. Along with this, we are committed to growing in prayer with and for one another as we are in relationship with each other. We consciously and conscientiously depend upon the Holy Spirit who prays for us, in us, and through us lest our efforts to serve the Lord be of no avail.
- We value the Grace of God in the Gospel as the CAUSE of both our salvation and sanctification.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Eph. 2:8-10
As recipients and beneficiaries of God’s grace, we grow in Christ with respect to our salvation and increasingly respond with grace toward one another. Divine grace permeates our beings as we relate to God (upreach) and as we relate to one another (inreach and outreach). We desire that those outside of TOPC would conclude “how they love one another!” when they observe or become a part of this church. Motivation for service flows from our increasing understanding of God’s unconditional love for us demonstrated in the Gospel, accomplished through the merits of Christ’s saving work and applied by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we recognize that there is nothing we can do to increase or decrease God’s affections toward us. His love, affections and the very manner in which He views us is firmly and forever grounded in what He declares to be true of His sheep: they are holy, blameless, loved and have an immovable and eternal standing in grace before Him.
- We value biblical community as the CONTEXT in which people grow spiritually.
As worshippers of the triune God who exists and acts as one being in a community of three persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – we desire our community to reflect the being and action of our relational God seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness. Therefore, we endeavor to be a community where relationships have more value than processes, goals, styles, timetables and even vision. Loving relationships are the context in which the content of the Gospel is understood and put into practice. As in all relationships, pain, weakness and conflict are not to be avoided but embraced as stepping stones to greater spiritual maturity and unity. Sinners, strangers and searchers of all ethnicities and life situations are sought and invited into our community to experience the irresistible love of God displayed in restored relationships.
- We value outreach here and abroad as our COMMISSION from Christ.
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Mt. 28: 18-20 We believe that God’s purpose is the gathering of His people to Himself and into His church from every nation. As an “outreach community” we desire above all else to bring praise and worship to the triune God by making disciples among all people, tribes, tongues and nations. We endeavor to serve our community, nation and world from hearts moved by the love of Christ and the convictions of our God-centered reformed and covenantal theology. We seek to communicate and demonstrate Christ’s love through the Holy Scriptures, by deeds of kindness and declarations of the Gospel showing forth the sacrificial love and forgiveness of our living Lord and Savior.
Last Published: October 21, 2009 6:06 PM
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Twin Oaks
Presbyterian Church
1230 Big Bend Rd.
Ballwin, MO 63021
636.861.1870
636.861.1613 fax
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