Dear Friend,
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for visiting our web site and for your interest in Christ Presbyterian Church in Elkton, Maryland. It is a joy to share with you a few words about us.
We are a mission of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, and are presently meeting in the Cherry Hill Middle School on Route 213, also known as 2535 Singerly Road (mapquest calls it "Fair Hill" Road) here in Elkton. We gather for worship at 9:30 AM each Lord's Day, followed by Sunday School at 11:15 AM, with a period of fellowship in between when we look forward to greeting our visitors. We also meet in various homes on Sunday evenings at 6:30 PM for our "mini-flock" gatherings.
We are seeking to plant a Reformed witness to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ in Elkton. By this I mean that we believe that the Bible is God's inerrant and infallible word and is thus our ultimate authority for faith and life. We believe that the faithful proclamation of God's word is essential to our spiritual health and growth as Christians. This means that in a day when other churches may look to other sources of truth and authority, or minimize the necessity of preaching, we remain intentionally committed to the preaching and teaching of God's word. Our focus is on the biblical gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ believing that it is "the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes" (Rom 1:16), as well as the God-appointed means for the transformation of sinners (I Thess 1:5-10). Thus we preach Christ crucified and risen again as the only hope of sinners including ourselves. We emphasize what we call the "ordinary means of grace," namely, the ministry of the word, sacraments and prayer.
This also means that as a Reformed congregation we are committed to the Westminster Standards (i.e. the Westminster Confession of Faith, along with the Larger and Shorter Catechisms). The Westminster Confession of Faith is the best and most well-known Protestant Confessions of Faith of the 17th century, and we believe it is the most faithful confession to the teaching of Holy Scripture ever framed by uninspired men. We believe the doctrines of grace expressed therein because they are taught in Holy Scripture, and as such they emphasize the sovereignty of our triune God in salvation. The rich heritage of the Reformed faith is that "God saves sinners."
Moreover, this also means that we are devoted to what the Bible teaches regarding the communion of saints, which is why we make the effort to cultivate genuine Christian fellowship, concern for one another's needs, and thereby seek in tangible ways to express and promote the love of Christ in the way in which we relate to one another and our community. It is the Lord Jesus who teaches us: "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" (Jn 13:35).
Finally, we are very conscious that the problems facing us in our world today are so devastating and extensive as to be beyond human remedy. Therefore, we believe that the only hope for the world is in the transforming power of the Gospel wrought by God through Jesus Christ in the souls of men and women, and so we fervently pray for God-sent revival in our lives, our church, our city and our land.
It is my privilege to serve as the pastor of my brothers and sisters at Christ Presbyterian, and if you're ever in our area it would be our privilege to extend our hospitality and ministry to you as well. Thank you again for visiting our web site.
For Christ and His people here,
David T. King