ABOUT US

The Fellowship of Christian Reconstructionist Churches (FCRC) exists to glorify God by planting, advancing, and sustaining Christian civilization.

FAITH FOR ALL OF LIFE

Formed in 2018, the FCRC is a network of churches with the same vision and mission: planting, advancing, and sustaining Christian civilization. We are convinced from Scripture that Jesus intends for us to disciple the nations, and this was not wishful thinking, it was a promise that God’s glory would cover the earth as the water covers the seas. Our aim is to press the crown rights of King Jesus into every single area of life, and this includes education, politics, localism, abolition of abortion, and taxation. No area is off limits because Jesus claims absolute authority over every area of life.

The Fellowship of Christian Reconstructionist Churches (FCRC) exists to serve and equip its member churches and missionaries by providing assistance in kingdom endeavors, planting new fellowships, providing ongoing guidance, accountability, training, resources, and support.

WHAT WE BELIEVE

THE FCRC AFFIRMS THE HISTORIC CHRISTIAN CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS

We affirm the Apostle’s Creed, Nicene Creed, and Definition of Chalcedon.

Our elders, pastors, and missionaries also subscribe to and affirm one or more of the Reformed Confessions:

  • Westminster Confession of Faith (1647)
  • Three Forms of Unity (Belgic Confession, Heidelberg Catechism, and Canons of the Synod at Dordt)
  • London Baptist Confession of Faith (1689)
  • Savoy Declaration (1658)
  • Second Helvetic Confession
  • 39 Articles of Christian Religion

The Fellowship of Christian Reconstructionist Churches is united together for the purpose of obeying Christ and carrying out His Great Commission. We believe both the Old and New Testaments to be the inspired, inerrant rule of faith and life. The Holy Bible is the unchallengeable authority and final arbiter for all matters. When it comes to religious controversies, confessions, or creeds, all opinions and secondary convictions such as these must be subordinate to the Word of God.

OUR STRATEGY

SELF GOVERNMENT

  • Self-government includes personal holiness, but it also entails individual purpose in the Kingdom of God. Because Jesus is Lord, and because individuals matter for the Great Commission, we are convinced that each person must work and keep his or her corner of the garden-world.
  • Therefore, we will promote the necessity of private-judgment, personal holiness, serious study and application of Scripture, prayer, and a proper theology of work, individual purpose, and commitment to the world around each of us.

FAMILY GOVERNMENT

  • Family government is about understanding that each covenant family begins with marriage which has as its purpose the aims of dominion over creation and the reflection of the relationship of Christ to His Church. Fathers and mothers who are blessed with children are ground zero for training the next generation of world conquerors and so they are multi-generational in outlook. It is crucial that families act with corporate purpose as well as train each individual within the family to find their individual calling in the Kingdom of God.
  • Therefore, we will promote the necessity of family worship, Christian education, covenant households, proper gender and parenting roles, and the treatment of children as covenant members of the Church of God.

CHURCH GOVERNMENT

  • Church government is less about political posturing and more about mission. Pastors and elders are called to take the word of God and prayer and equip God’s people to do serious Kingdom work. The Church is central to the mission of God, and it is the Church who must proclaim the law-word of God for every area of life.
  • Therefore, we will promote the necessity of qualified and competent elders, Kingdom work through the Body of Christ, a discerning cooperation with other Christians in other assemblies, Lord’s Day/Sabbath Day public worship/covenant renewal, and the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

CIVIL GOVERNMENT

  • Civil government, according to Scripture (e.g. Romans 13:1-7), is designed as an institution from God to execute God’s wrath on the evil-doer. Since we love both the law and gospel of God, we desire justice for our selves and our neighbors. Our involvement in politics stems from our conviction that Jesus is truly King, and that all civil leaders are to obey Him (e.g., Psalm 2).
  • Therefore, we will promote the necessity of Christian activism, the proper pursuit of justice, involvement in local, state, and national politics, the doctrine of the Lesser Magistrate, and the work of abolition.

DISTINCTIVES

BIG GOSPEL

  • Scripture’s message of cosmic reconciliation between God and man through the cross goes hand-in-hand with the arrival of Messiah’s Kingdom. Both of which constitute the “good news” of the Gospel which we are to proclaim. Not just individual salvation from the wrath of God, but inextricably from this that Christ as the Messiah has inherited the nations and calls us to obedience.

OPTIMISTIC ESCHATOLOGY/GREAT COMMISSION SUCCESS

  • The nations will be discipled and taught to obey prior to Christ’s return. The Holy Spirit working through the church in history ensures that the gates of hell shall not prevail. Our goal is not merely to snatch a number of souls from every nation, but to disciple and transform the nations themselves toward obedience to Christ (regeneration being the key), starting with the one in which we live.

COMPREHENSIVE CHRISTIANITY

  • We recognize the myth of neutrality. As Van Til wrote: “The Bible is authoritative over everything of which it speaks, and it speaks of everything.” We will seek to apply biblical principles to every area of life, not ignoring any realm. Business, culture, education, welfare, economics, politics etc. None of these are “distractions”, but rather are integral to living as faithful servants of God in the Kingdom of God.

GOD’S LAW AS THE ABIDING STANDARD

  • We recognize the timeless and transcendent law of God seen in all of scripture which never changes. God has separate spheres of authority and jurisdiction in the Family, Institutional Church, and the Civil Magistrate. None of these institutions is supreme and none of them have any authority to infringe on the other. The civil magistrate is not God’s agent of welfare. The Family is not God’s agent of ecclesiastical sanctions. The Church is not God’s agent of civil justice. Specifically with regard to the civil magistrate, we affirm that they have no God given authority to act in any way beyond their allotted jurisdiction/goal, which is to punish evil doers. The civil magistrate is bound to administer God’s transcendent laws, statutes, penalties and principles. These are those laws and penalties which were not related to the shadow of God’s redemptive work through the political entity of national Israel. Proportionate penalties. Restitution. Equal scales. Due Process. Impartiality. We deny that the civil magistrate has any right to “do whatever seems right in his own eyes” or allow the perceived dictates of “natural law” to supersede the clear light of scripture.

A LONG TERM OUTLOOK

  • In faith, we are focused on passing down the faith to the next generation and the generations to follow. In every decision we make, we are cognizant of the ramifications for the generations to follow. We recognize that winning each one of our children to the mission is absolutely vital to the success of the great commission. That requires bringing them along with us in everything we do and showing them what walking with God looks like, which leads to the next distinctive.

EVERYONE ONBOARD

  • As R.C. Sproul says, “Everyone is a theologian.” The only question is will you be a good one or a bad one?” Not everyone is called to pour over books endlessly or pursue the study of theology as a personal hobby. But it is absolutely necessary to the long-term success of the community that both men and women are poured into, that they might learn how to apply God’s law-word to every area of life. Not only for our edification but also so that we can train up the next generation. We need a vibrant community where the men, women, and children are all pursuing the mission–both as individuals, with their own individual purpose in the Kingdom, and together as a collective, among the people of God.

ENGAGED COMMUNITIES

  • Not only will those in the local church seek to live geographically close together (so we can edify and help each other, the community around us, serve one another and build an authentic community) churches will seek to be strategic and tactical in everything they do. Children being included in worship. Men and women having regular meetings for accountability and edification in marriages, parenting, business and finances, political involvement etc. Getting help where they need help. Vibrant schooling communities where the gifts of the body are leveraged. Feasts, wine and fellowship.

CLARIFYING STATEMENTS

ABOLITIONISM

FAMILY, GENDER ROLES AND MARRIAGE

STATISM

  • Statism is the belief in allowing the civil government powers outside of its narrow jurisdiction. As David Chilton defined statism, “It is a violation of God’s law, when rulers attempt to play god by controlling the lives and activities of their subjects. God has severely limited the powers of the state, and when the state transgresses these limits it is making a claim to deity, “to be as God.” Statism is the applied theology of Ronald Sider and the “Christian” socialists. For the answer to practically every problem in life, they do not look to God and the law-order He provides. They look instead to the all-powerful state. Statism includes all forms of interventionism and socialism.” We believe that the civil magistrate is called by God to punish evil according to the Law Word of God. To take this calling and expand it beyond its limited jurisdiction is an act of autonomy and tyranny. The “direction” of the Law of God is liberty for the individual, therefore, the rights and duties of the civil magistrate are regulated and limited by his narrow and defined jurisdiction.

LOCAL CHURCH MEMBERSHIP

  • Biblically faithful local church membership is the practice of local churches recognizing the membership of a person in the visible, universal Church after having been made witness to the orthodoxy of the profession of faith of said person and being not aware of any proven, open, unrepentant, excommunicable sin. They are to be recognized as members unless and until there is apostasy or excommunicable sin.

ELDER AUTHORITY

  • The authority of elders, like all Biblical authority, is derived from the transcendence of God and contingent upon the righteousness of the elder. Elders are to serve the body and act as leaders by their example, not by their decrees. Faithful elders are worthy of double honor and unfaithful elders are to be rebuked according to the testimony of two or more witnesses. Elders are to be accountable to the body as they are likewise members of the body. They are to meet the guidelines and expectations for eldership found in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1.

CONTINUATIONISM/CESSATIONISM

  • A biblically faithful view of Spiritual gifts affirms the continuing and normative application of the Spirit’s gifts which are bestowed upon believers. There is room for disagreement regarding whether certain kinds of gifts ceased in part or altogether and those who identify as continuationists and cessationists should seek for charity and mutual understanding on this topic. We affirm that the church must be ever reliant on the Spirit’s work for regeneration, sanctification, practice and wisdom. We deny that the work of the Holy Spirit ceased with the close of the biblical canon. We affirm that believers receive the Spirit upon conversion and that the Spiritual giftings imparted to individual believers are manifested in a variety of ways among the body. No portion of the body with one kind of gift should look down on the other. We deny that there is a second imparting of the Spirit following conversion or that believers must exercise certain miraculous gifts (tongues) in order to be considered regenerate among the body.

EDUCATION OF CHILDREN

  • A biblically faithful and loving view of education is one that seeks to provide children with training in an explicitly biblical worldview through teachers who are of good Christian character and who will not lead them astray from the faith. The responsibility for the education of children falls to parents and not the civil government. Children are not to be foisted into any environment that trains them to set aside the word of God in the pursuit of knowledge and learning.

COVENANT SIGNS

  • Due to our most ultimate unity in Christ and because of our unity in so many areas of the faith, we will not refuse to commune or refuse to jointly pursue the great commission because of differences between the credobaptist and paedobaptist positions, or the credocommunion / paedocommunion positions (we leave this to the private judgment of mature believers). The long term vision is that congregations (and the universal catholic church as a whole) would arrive at one position or the other. We seek God’s mercy and the Spirit’s leading in pursuing greater and greater holiness and fidelity to his commands. In the meantime, we commit ourselves to winsomeness and charity in all discussions on these issues. This being grounded in the recognition that both sides are seeking to understand and obey the scriptures regardless of our traditions. We can jointly affirm that we are to yearn and pray for the regeneration of our children, discipling our children in the faith and looking for the fruit of authentic repentance. We jointly affirm that God continues to work by and through households in the New Covenant (including children who are considered holy and set apart by virtue of their belonging to a covenant family (1 Cor 7:14). Further, children in believing households who are being discipled in the faith and being taught to obey the gospel should be considered members of the covenant community, unless and until a child apostatizes.

VACCINATION

  • A biblically faithful view of the civil sphere as well as the ecclesiastical sphere provides no jurisdiction for civil magistrates or ecclesiastical authorities to mandate or in any way coerce parents to inject vaccines, or any other substance into their children. Any civil or ecclesiastical authority who attempts to mandate that parents vaccinate their children, whether through any form of public banishment, fine, imprisonment or other forms of coercion are acting tyrannically and are in grievous sin. Any attempt to impede fellowship in the body for the unvaccinated by a believer is divisiveness and, unless repented of, is grounds for excommunication. We affirm that quarantine of the sick is a biblical and wise practice and that it is sinful to knowingly expose others to what is known to be a contagious disease. We deny that the unvaccinated can be assumed to carry diseases for which they have not been vaccinated.
  • Listen to this important sermon on the topic.
  • Responding to the Gospel Coalition and Vaccines.

U.S. CHATTEL SLAVERY, RACISM, KINISM, AND INTERRACIAL MARRIAGE

  • We reject any and all racism in the Church.
  • We reject that US chattel slavery was ever in compliance with biblical law as it was predicated on a system of cruel man stealing, separating families and their children and subjugating humans on the basis of their skin color. These characteristics (and others) distinguish US chattel slavery from what was normatively permitted under biblical law which was essentially a form of voluntarily indentured servitude or compelled labor based on restitution for crime.
  • We recognize that certain passages related to more expansive provisions for slavery which allowed the nation of Israel to gain temporary license in seizing the promised land of Canaan and their inhabitants were twisted and improperly applied by those who were apologists for US chattel slavery. Such temporary provisions ended with the destruction of those 7 Canaanite nations. Since that time period concluded, only various forms of lawful temporary servitude were ever permitted. These permitted forms of servitude are related either to restitution for crime or voluntary contractual servanthood. We reject that the defenders of US chattel slavery or those who unrepentantly owned slaves and kept them hostage should have been extended Christian fellowship.
  • We reject any doctrine or philosophy that teaches that different ethnicities must remain separate or segregated. We reject that God has set up any kind of barrier to marriage for anyone based on ethnicity or skin color. We likewise condemn any doctrine or philosophy that prohibits or looks down upon marriages between different ethnicities. We fully affirm that all humans are created in the Image of God and no ethnicity is, by virtue of their blood, any more holy or more sinful than another. We likewise affirm that doctrines and philosophies that seek ethnic-based separations are intrinsically divisive and are an affront to the Gospel of Jesus Christ that brings salvation to both the Jew and the Gentile.
  • For more information, read this article.