BELIEFS & CORE VALUES

Our Congregational Core Values are that we:


Confess our Faith that Jesus is Lord;

Nurture our Faith through life-long learning;

Reflect our Faith through worship and witness

Carry Out our Faith believing that everyone is called to honor God and serve others.


These are the four stakes that secure our identity as the Colts Neck Reformed Church. We are foundationally Trinitarian, meaning that we understand God as revealed through scripture as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.


The "Reformed" in our name means that we are Christians who are reformed, or remolded, reshaped by the Word of God, the Bible.


Our Mission Statement:


The Colts Neck Reformed Church is a community of people committed to welcoming all into the life of our church family. We commit to affirm the beauty, value, and gifts of all individuals. These commitments are not subject to a person’s color, race, ethnicity, place of origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, relationship status (single, married, separated, divorced), socioeconomic situation, or a person’s mental, physical, or emotional health or ability. Everyone is welcome to participate fully in the life of our faith-filled community. Anyone seeking to know more about Jesus is welcome at the Colts Neck Reformed Church.


Our Vision and Beliefs:


Life is a challenge. As members of the Colts Neck Reformed Church, we do our best to be a caring, accepting, and helpful group of people. We think it's important to provide meaningful worship, supportive relationships, and a solid program of Christian education. We think preaching must be biblical, relevant and practical. We strive to build strong youth ministries and a community of people who support each other when the going gets tough. We strive to keep a balance between local autonomy and denominational services, between clergy and lay people, between individualism and structure.


As the Colts Neck Reformed Church, we proclaim the Bible as God's Word for our time, the only reliable guide for our convictions and our lifestyle. We believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Savior of those who believe in him. We believe the historic Christian faith as stated in the Apostles' Creed. We regard the Heidelberg Catechism, a sixteenth-century statement of faith, as an excellent tool for understanding the Christian faith and acknowledge the particularly important role it has played in our Reformed Church history.

REFORMED THEOLOGY

Old, yet new. Traditional but contemporary. Rather than being a kind of disjointed paradox, those concepts get to the very core of what we believe: at theology rooted in the traditions of the Bible, yet always open to new insights from God's Spirit.


There are five key elements of our Reformed theology:


Reformed according to the Word of God:

You could say our Church has an enthusiastic commitment to the Bible. That emphasis is the basis of the Church's life and faith and its greatest gift from the Reformers, who opened God's Word to everyone and insisted that the church be based on that word. The Bible is taught in our church, preached from the pulpit, and applied in the community. There is no Colts Neck Reformed Church apart from an understanding of itself as a biblical people.


Reformed but always Reforming:

The original Reformers believed that God's Spirit worked in the world as a guide to understanding the Bible. Our church believes that the Spirit still challenges us to examine our faith through the Scriptures to determine how we should live in this day and age.


Decently and in order:

Reformed faith says that the final authority of the church is Jesus Christ. We have put in place an order that serves Christ through a series of groups and bodies with specific responsibilities. We hold each other accountable for our ministries in Christ's name.


Unity amid diversity:

God has given a wide array of gifts to his people; some are called to be teachers or prophets in our midst, others preservers of heritage, others leaders and witnesses. We are committed to using all these gifts, even when some inevitably bump into each other.


One part of Christ's body:

Our church continues to foster its relationships with other churches and denominations as a witness to our belief that: in Christ there is no east or west. And we continue to support witnesses from our midst to all the peoples of the world, so that they too many hear the saving grace of Christ.


For more information about the beliefs of the Reformed Church in America, our denomination, please visit their website.


RCA.ORG

REACHING OUT

Believing that God loves the world (John 3:16), believing that Jesus has commissioned us to go into all the world and to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19), and believing that a reconciling God has entrusted us with the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18), we, who belong to the Colts Neck Reformed Church reach out for Christ to our neighbors down the street, to our neighbors across town, to our neighbors across the continent, to our neighbors around the world.


We reach out to share the love of God; to share the good news of Jesus Christ; to share the transforming power of the Holy Spirit; to share the healing touch of the Master; to share God's good gifts of food and water; to share God's vision of justice and peace.


As we reach out, we also receive. We learn as well as teach, we are inspired as well as being called to inspire others; we are encouraged in addition to helping those who need support; we are blessed as we fulfill our mandate to be a blessing to others.


  • We reach out in love, for love is the summary and the spirit of all that God requires. (Matthew 22:35-40)
  • We reach out in unity, thankful for our partnership in the gospel, both here and around the world. (Philippians 1:5)
  • We reach out in faith, confident that the God of the seed-time will bring about an abundant harvest. (Luke 8:8)
  • We reach out in humility, for we are a servant people following the example of a servant Lord. (Philippians 2:3-8)
  • We reach out in hope, for we look to the day when people will come from the east and west, and from the north and south, and will sit at the banquet of God. (Luke 13:29)