What we Believe
Among our beliefs are the following:
- We believe that the world we live in is of such complex design and intricate detail that the only reasonable explanation for its existence is that it is the creation of a supremely wise and powerful being.
- We believe that this supreme being, God, has told us what we need to know about Himself, our world and our selves in His book – the Bible.
- We believe that the God revealed in the Bible is a far more complex being than we are. Within this one great being there are three persons – God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
- We believe that we have all come into this world with a sinful nature. This nature expresses itself in many thoughts, words and actions which render us guilty before God our judge.
- We believe that God has provided a way in which we can be saved from the condemnation and punishment we deserve. He has sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ to live a perfect life and die as a substitute for sinners, so that all who trust in Him and repent of their sins receive God’s free gift of eternal life.
- We believe that out of love for God and gratitude for what He has done, our lives are to be given over to doing what we know will please Him.
- We believe that Jesus has been given all authority in heaven and earth and is coming back to this world to take all who love Him and trust in Him to be with Him forever in a new, sin-free, eternal age, while all others will be forever shut out from His presence in the awful eternal existence which the Bible calls hell.
How do we Worship?
Our aim is to worship God according to the pattern of the New Testament churches. We seek to give God the kind of worship that He wants rather than doing our own thing and hoping that God approves.
Our church building is of a simple design and deliberately so, in order that there be nothing to distract us from the worship of God. We listen to what God says to us through the public reading of the Bible and our minister’s sermon which is always aimed as showing us the meaning and relevance of what has been read. We sing praise to God using the psalms of the Bible and sing without musical accompaniment, believing that this was the way Christians worshipped in the days of the apostles. We also pray to God, thanking Him for His goodness to us, confessing our sin and bringing Him our requests.
Where do our Roots lie?
Our roots go back to seventeenth century Scotland where various successive kings sought to take control of the Scottish Church by proclaiming themselves to be its head.
A body of Christians who became known as Covenanters refused to acknowledge the king as head of the Church, believing that this role belongs to Christ alone. They were persecuted for their loyalty to Jesus and many of them came to the North of Ireland where they settled and established congregations under the title of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland.
Today there are still five Reformed Presbyterian Churches in Scotland. We have churches also in North America, Australia, Japan and Cyprus and Reformed Presbyterians are active in mission work in France, Spain and in Sudan. Within the island of Ireland we have 41 locations where people meet regularly for worship, seven of them being in the Republic of Ireland.