We live in a beautiful but broken world. The Christian faith is the story of tragic ruin and glorious rescue. God made human beings to govern his world but we have marred his handiwork and spoiled ourselves. To undo our rebellion, God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, the world’s true King, to save us. Jesus lived the life we should have lived, died the death we deserved to die, and in rising again shattered the power of the grave. As followers of Jesus, we live in a new world order: we are sinful people delighting in forgiveness, and proud people learning to be humble. We obey Jesus as King and we treasure his words above all other voices.
The ARP grew out of historical moments that shape the way we engage with our world even today.
By "Reformed," we trace our heritage to a group called the Scottish Covenanters of the 1600s, who believed what Abraham Kuyper would express so succinctly three centuries later: "There is not a single square inch in all of creation over which Christ does not proclaim 'this is mine.'" Jesus loves, not just our souls, but his whole world (John 3:16), and calls his people to extend his loving rule over all of it. Truly, "the hands of the healer are the hands of the King" (JRR Tolkein). The Reformed take the Westminster Confession of Faith as the clearest summary of what the Bible teaches.
The "Associate" Reformed grew in part out of what is called the Marrow Controversy in the 1700s in Scotland. The controversy revolved around the question, "How much transformation is necessary in someone's life before we can say that God loves them?" For the Associate Reformed, the answer was clear: none is necessary. God's love in Jesus, offered freely, regardless of cultural or spiritual differences, is the only thing that does transform! Jesus loves us, long before we ever love him (Ephesians 2:5).
Presbyterian simply means that we are governed, not by one person (which can lead to a cult of personality), or by group consensus (which can lead to paralysis), but by a group of elders.
To find out more about the history of our denomination, visit the ARP website here.