Statement of beliefs

Kalamazoo Reformed Church is affiliated with the federation of the Free Reformed Churches (FRC) of North America and the federation of the Heritage Reformed Churches (HRC) of North America. We also enjoy a formal bond of fellowship with the US Presbytery of the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing). Links to these federations are below.

We believe the Christian Church to be a divine institution that owes its existence and being to the triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Church belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ and it exists because of Him. Everything that the Church is and does has its focus in Him (John 17:9-26). The revealed will of God for all things temporal and eternal is stated in the Scriptures, the Old and New Testaments of the Holy Bible. We strive to uphold and practice these fundamental principles in our congregation.  The Scriptures themselves, as the inspired and infallible Word of God, speak with final authority concerning truth, morality, faith and the proper conduct of mankind, and are the sole and final authority of all that we believe.

The ancient Church adopted creeds to express her Christian faith succinctly. As a modern Christian congregation and church organization, the KRC fully affirms and subscribes to these creeds:

The Apostles’ Creed (c. 150 AD)

The Nicene Creed (381 AD)

The Athanasian Creed (500 AD)

These beliefs, as well as our approach to Christian doctrine and interpretation of the Bible, are further expanded in the so-called Three Forms of Unity. Reformed churches worldwide adopted these standards after the Protestant Reformation of the 16th and 17th centuries, and KRC subscribes to them today. These are:

The Heidelberg Catechism (1561)

The Belgic Confession of Faith (1563)

The Canons of Dort (1618-19)

KRC also recognizes the confessional standards of the historic English and Scottish Reformation which are expressed in:

The Westminster Confession of Faith (1647)

The Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechism (1647)

See below for more information on each of these doctrinal standards.