2025 Week 07
Hello, Springers!
Valley Springs is a connectional church. What does that sentence bring to mind for you? For many, the term connectional church probably brings to mind the many warm personal connections we make with each other in our church. But today, I’m talking about something different.
We are a connectional church by virtue of our connection to other churches in our region. That regional church connection among Presbyterian churches is embodied in our regional church, called Presbytery. I’ll be attending the meeting of the Northern California Presbytery today in Salt Lake City, Utah.
What is our connection to this regional church? We are connected by theology, polity, and denomination.
Reformed theology, as expressed in the Westminster Standards, is the first strand of our connection to the other churches that together make up our Presbytery. We interpret the Bible similarly. The summary of how the 31 churches in our Presbytery generally understand the Bible is found in the 400-year-old Westminster Confession and its larger and shorter catechisms.
There are nuances in interpretation on various issues and passages addressed in Scripture, but the Westminster Standards give us a strong foundational theology by which to interpret the Bible.
Presbyterian polity (e.g., how we govern ourselves) is the second strand of our connection. Our denomination’s Book of Church Order (BCO) is the good faith summary of biblical polity we use to organize ourselves into a local, regional, and national church.
Our BCO recognizes that different parts of Christ’s Church organize themselves differently. It’s NOT a document that says the only way to govern the church is the Presbyterian way. But it is an attempt to be faithful to the rule of biblical polity described in the Bible.
While there are other Reformed churches and other Presbyterian churches out there, our denomination is the final strand that connects us to the churches in our Presbytery. Churches are connected by their story, or shared history. The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) is a denomination of churches with a shared story.
The shared story of our denomination is that of a group of men and women who sought over time to be faithful to the Scriptures, true to the Reformed faith, and obedient to the Great Commission (Matthew 28:20).
There are so many churches today that seek to downplay their connection to other churches, but this should not be! Christ is the King and head of his church. We need to look for those areas of connection so we can encourage one another, hold each other accountable, and make disciples in our local contexts.
No church is without context. No church is without connection, or at least no healthy church is.
If you want to know about the context and connection of Valley Springs beyond what I’ve written here, I hope you’ll contact me, Pastor Matt, or one of our elders to learn more.
In the meantime, will you pray for the churches of our Presbytery to be encouraged as we meet on Friday?
in Christ,
Pastor Tag