Presbyterian Church - Creek Road Presbyterian Church

Creek Road Presbyterian Church
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Creek Road Presbyterian Church
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I must admit that I wasn’t very excited about visiting a Presbyterian Church because, from my experience at other non-Pentecostal, Protestant churches, I was expecting it to be quite boring and unappealing. Creek Road Presbyterian Church is on the corner of Creek Road and Fursden Road, Carina. In a small group, my friends and I visited the church on the 6^th of March 2011. It is possibly one of the most modern Presbyterian churches in Brisbane, so I found my visit to this church very intriguing.  The information I learned was very useful and changed a lot of my views towards the Presbyterian belief.  

History


The Presbyterian Church was founded on the doctrines of John Calvin, one of the men who reformed the Catholic Church. He wrote the Institutes of the Christian Religion in 1536 which explained reformed theology.  Calvin was based in Switzerland but his theology was very similar to Martin Luther’s – the doctrines of original sin, justification by faith alone, the priesthood of all believers and the sole authority of the Scriptures.  In Scotland, John Knox established the Presbyterian Church in 1560, based on Calvin’s teachings.  The minister that was spoken with said that the Presbyterian Church likes to be known as the Reformed Catholic Church because the original Catholic Church is known as the Roman Catholic Church.History

Theology

Like other Calvinists, Presbyterians believe in predestination because Calvin said that God is omnipotent and controls all things, including who will be saved.  This built on Luther’s teaching on justification by faith but focussed more on God’s role in salvation.  When talking to one of the pastors of the Creek Road Presbyterian Church, a peer asked what the core beliefs of the Presbyterians were. He answered that they were: “faith only, Christ only and Scriptures only”. These three points are the core beliefs of many Protestants – especially Christ only.  No matter whether you are the kindest or greatest person in the world, you will not go to heaven unless you have accepted Jesus into your life. However, the important focus in this church was the sovereignty of God in choosing the elect. John Calvin believed that God has chosen specifically the people that will be going to heaven when they die. These ‘elect’ were set apart, lived moral lives and followed God’s commandments. No one could determine who these people were, but they strongly believed that a person’s spiritual life and behaviour would reflect whether they would be in the elect.

Governance

Unlike the Catholic Church, John Calvin’s system of governance was much more focussed on the early church model with elders making all the decisions.  Therefore, in the Presbyterian Church, elders run the church and make all the decisions, rather than one senior pastor.  The congregation chooses the minister but it is the elders who have the greatest authority.  This is a very interesting difference and not the same as most other churches I have been to.  This is also very different to what I’m used to in the Pentecostal church where the senior pastor sets the vision for the church. However, Creek Road Presbyterian Church still has members of staff that include people such as Children’s pastors and youth pastors, which is much the same as many Pentecostal churches.

Liturgy

Liturgy is defined as the worship or other customary practices of a church. This includes certain prayers that they may recite or practices such as communion. However, in the service attended, communion was not taken, but may be taken at various times throughout the year. Also, the way Presbyterians preach is very different to that of Pentecostals, especially their focus point. A peer who attends that church pointed out that Presbyterians preach about a particular verse in the bible and base scenarios around that verse, but Pentecostal churches focus on a scenario and base Scriptures around that scenario. This was interesting because in many ways it is very true, but I had never thought about it like that. Also, the pastor that preached stood very still when he spoke; he had a pulpit that he stood at and did not move from behind it.

Music

In my church, I like to jump around and lift my hands while worshipping. When I visited the Presbyterian Church, the pastor explained that they do not discourage the congregation from lifting their hands, but they do not see the need for this action. This was very interesting as I have always thought that as a basic rule of the Presbyterians, you cannot raise your hands. I was also surprised that the congregation actually sings modern songs, for example Hillsong and Chris Tomlin, as well as some hymns.

Conclusion

Creek Road Presbyterian Church is an interesting church because you can easily see the similarities with some other denominations. It was established in Scotland by John Knox and focuses on the teachings of John Calvin.  The preaching is based on scriptures from the bible and they sing mostly modern worship songs.  I am glad that I had the opportunity to visit there.

Bibliography:

Burke, David and Hughes, Philip J. 1996. The Presbyterian Church in Australia. Canberra: Brown Prior Anderson Pty Ltd.

Fairchild, Mary. 2011. “Presbyterian Church Beliefs and Practices.” [Internet], http://christianity.about.com/od/denominations/a/Presbyterian.htm, 15 March 2011.  

Fairchild, Mary. 2011. “Presbyterian Church History.” [Internet], http://christianity.about.com/od/presbyteriandenomination/a/presbyhistory.htm, 15 March 2011.

2011. “Liturgy.” [Internet], http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liturgy, 29 March 2011.

Interview with Pastor Phil Strong at Creek Road Presbyterian Church on 6 March 2011

Observations at Creek Road Presbyterian Church, attended on 6 March 2011

Shelly, Bruce L.  Church History in Plain Language.  Dallas: Word Publishing, 1982.