What We Confess
As a congregation of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, we hold to the Westminster Standards which can be summarized as follows.
The Bible, having been inspired by God, is entirely trustworthy and without error.
The one true God is personal, yet beyond our comprehension. In the unity of the Godhead there are three “persons”: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
God created the heavens and the earth, and all they contain. He upholds and governs them in accordance with his eternal will. God is sovereign yet this does not diminish human responsibility.
Through Adam, all mankind is dead in sin, and subject to the wrath of God. But God determined, by a covenant of grace, that sinners may receive forgiveness and eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ.
The Son of God took upon himself a human nature. Jesus Christ lived a sinless life and died on a cross, bearing the sins of all those who trust in him for salvation. He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, where he rules over his kingdom. He will return to judge the living and the dead.
Those whom God has predestined unto life are drawn to Christ by the inner working of the Spirit as they hear the gospel. When they believe in Christ, God grants them justification, adoption and sanctification, enabling them increasingly to stop sinning and act righteously.
Christ has established his church. Christians assemble on the Lord’s Day to worship God by praying, hearing the Word of God read and preached, singing psalms and hymns, and receiving the sacraments.
Created for Worship
Worship is the purpose for which we are created and is the focus of our life in Christ. God redeemed His people from Egypt and brought them to Himself at Mt. Sinai so that they might worship Him. God in Christ has redeemed His people. We “have not come to a mountain which may be touched…but [we] have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem…to the general assembly and church of the first born who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all…and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant…” (Hebrews 12:18-24).
Worship, therefore, is coming into the presence of God and to give Him the praise that is due to His Name. Worship is also covenantal. God speaks to us through His Word. This is seen in the Call to Worship, the Reading of the Word, the Preaching of the Word and the Benediction. We respond with prayer, praise, confession, offerings and hearing the Word.
We also celebrate the sacraments, those visible Words that communicate to us God’s grace and by which we are either brought into the covenant or nourished in the covenant. The covenant teaches us that baptism is to be applied to believers and their children. The Lord’s Supper, which we celebrate the first Sunday of every month, is for those believers who have been baptized and are members of Bible believing churches.
We invite you to join with us in the worship of our God at 10:45 am and 6 pm each Lord’s Day.
Our Elders
Jonathan E. Hutchison
Teaching Elder
James Berry
Ruling Elder
Daniel Powell
Ruling Elder
Our History
On April 20, 1979, members of the Reformation Christian Fellowship in Morgantown, West Virginia, held their first worship service in the home of Josephina Orteza. The following October, the group was received as a chapel by the Presbytery of Ohio and shortly thereafter invited the Rev. Lawrence Semel to work with them.
Mr. Semel and his family arrived in Morgantown in June 1981, and the Lord blessed his labor among the group. In April 1985, the group voted to become a particular church, and four elders—James Gidley, Joseph Camp, James Alexander, and James Thomas—were elected. On November 10, 1985, at a special worship service, the organization of the church was celebrated and the new elders were ordained and installed. The following November, Mr. Semel was installed as pastor of what was soon renamed the Reformation Orthodox Presbyterian Church.
Mr. Semel would faithfully serve Reformation OPC for the next twenty-five years until his retirement in 2010. The Rev. Jonathan Hutchison currently serves as pastor of Reformation Church.