On Being Reformed in Southern California

July 31, 2023

Dear CPC Family,

Here’s a challenge we face as a church:

Many of our neighbors in Corona and the wider region have some church experience. Very few of our neighbors, however, have experience in a Reformed and Presbyterian church. If we are to love our neighbors in the way we talk about CPC and, especially, in the way we interact with visitors, we need to realize that some aspects of CPC that we take for granted are very foreign in the Southern California church scene, even for Christian brothers and sisters from other church traditions. 

Here are two wrong ways to respond to that challenge:

First, it would be wrong to adopt an air of superiority or to look down our noses at people who we are on a mission to reach with the good news about Jesus. 

Second, it would be wrong to distance ourselves from what makes a Reformed and Presbyterian church unique in an effort to minimize the differences or to be “seeker friendly.”

We can best respond to this challenge by embracing two convictions: 

1. Reformed theology, worship, piety, and, yes, even Presbyterian church government are biblically rooted, theologically consistent, beautiful, and true.

2. And, at the same time, all of those distinctives can be a great blessing to anyone because they all point to Jesus and the free grace of the gospel.

So have you ever considered inviting a friend to church but thought CPC might be too big a jump from where they are right now? Instead of shelving that idea until they take the steps from Calvary Chapel to Reformed Baptist (or wherever!), what if you invited them right now and viewed yourself as their guide, providing a warm welcome and an introduction to a Presbyterian church? You might be pleasantly surprised by the results!

To help us all think about what makes CPC distinct, let me encourage you to check out a series of short books called The Blessings of the Faith. I’ve given these books to some of you and read three of the five myself. I highly recommend them. Not only do the short chapters lay out biblical and confessional teaching on each topic, each book ends with a lengthy section of frequently asked questions and objections. Here are the five books in the series so far:

    Covenantal Baptism by Jason Helopoulos

    Expository Preaching by David Strain

    Persistent Prayer by Guy Richard

    Reformed Theology by Jonathan Master

    Reformed Worship by Jonty Rhodes

You can see by the titles that this series covers the main topics that newcomers can experience as roadblocks when coming to a church like CPC. Perhaps these are areas that you wrestle with! If so, always know that you can ask me for help as you wrestle—no question is too basic! Let me also encourage you to get your hands on the books in this series, either for yourself or someone you’re talking to about these topics. But by far the best way for us and for our neighbors to grow in understanding a Reformed and Presbyterian church—and the glorious gospel that drives everything—is to dive in and give it a try! 

In the Father’s Love,

Pastor Andrew