Systematic expository preaching is going verse by verse through a passage or book of the Bible from beginning to end, proclaiming God’s message that is taken directly from the text at hand in its intended context.

We get our message from digging out of the Bible the meaning of the words in the text within its own context, and then we support the explanation of the text with other Scripture passages. We believe we should not sacrifice the originally intended historical and grammatical meaning of a given passage in order to put forth our own ideas or agenda. We are servants of the Word.

What we preach on each week should not be left up to the popular culture or our own imaginations or traditions. Even when a topic (i.e., special holiday, world event, or specific church issue) needs to be preached about, we will always and only do so according to the Word of God, not our own ideas, experiences, or feelings. Our messages had better be God’s messages, or we are not only mishandling His Word but also molesting His Bride.

Preaching is hard work. It takes a lot of time, mental rigor, and emotional energy to read, think, study, and pray through a passage of the Bible so as to proclaim the Word both accurately and persuasively. The whole process of preparing to preach an expository sermon, the actual delivery of it, and the end result of it all is to be surrendered to the sovereign power and grace of the Holy Spirit who works through His Word to change lives and to create and strengthen faith in people.

The Biblical ideal in Church government is to have Christ-like shepherds who so affectionately and unconditionally love the flock under their care, each and every individual member, that they gladly and willingly live and die for their benefit unto God’s glory, and to have a congregation that so loves their elders in the same way by trusting, respecting, submitting to, supporting, encouraging, and following them.

Within a Biblical eldership there is a plurality of leaders with an equality of authority which, in God’s wisdom, serves to protect both each elder and the rest of the church from laziness, arrogance, impurity, dictatorship, disunity, and myriad other evils.

Although each elder has the same authority, main role, and responsibility to oversee the whole church, there are different functions and areas of emphasis that each elder might spend more focused time and energy in. The reason for this is that there is a diversity of gifts and strengths within the eldership that complement and supplement the weaknesses of one another.

The Biblical terms pastors/shepherds, elders, and overseers/bishops are all synonymous, and thus we will purposefully use them interchangeably so as to foster and uphold the unity of the church.

Pastor–elders lovingly serve as leaders with prayer and the Word by overseeing and guiding all of the other leaders and covenant members, as well as all of the activities and overall direction of the church, with wisdom and humility, giving counsel to and care for the spiritual needs of the body with Scriptural faithfulness and sincere compassion, teaching and exhorting the church with sound theology and exemplary living, and passionately protecting and guarding the people under their charge from false teachings and teachers.

By saying that we believe in Reformed Theology, we do not intend to convey a necessary adherence to all of the frequently accompanying “baggage” of any particular denomination or tradition, but only that God, who is sovereign over all, glorifies Himself in all of history and creation, life and death, sufferings and blessings, and judgement and salvation as He so rightly deserves. This is clearly communicated in what are historically called “The Solas of the Reformation” and “The Doctrines of Grace,” both of which we gladly adhere to.

Rather than hindering or weakening our resolve to obey, pray, and evangelize, our confidence in God’s providential control and active involvement in all things actually serves to strengthen and provide hope and joy for what the Lord has commanded us to do in His Word. We believe that God ordains both the ends and the means, and we take humble delight in being called to be the means of His unfolding plan of redemption.

While our Theological understandings will (and should) shape how we think, we will always hold the Bible to be the only standard for beliefs, attitudes, and actions. We will not set out to trumpet any system of Theology from the pulpit; however, as we unashamedly and faithfully preach the Word of God, we will not avoid or disproportionately emphasize any doctrine or word or phrase, no matter who likes them or not.

While adhering to all of our beliefs of Reformed Theology is required for our elders, it is not a requirement for church membership, and we sincerely love and enjoy fellowship with every Christian who believes and loves the essentials of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

There will always be an openness and even an expectation to ask questions, discuss, and learn together from God’s Word in appropriate ways and times with humility, understanding, and love, while all the time willingly and humbly submitting to the teaching and authority of the elders so as to uphold and foster unity and love in Peine Ridge Church.

As a church, we believe that the most loving thing we can do in our community, in our nation, and in our world is to share the gospel message of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. If Christians have been called to love our neighbors as ourselves, then we should hope they will confess sin, repent from their wickedness, believe in God, and live eternally to glorify Him. Loving them towards any other end could not be considered love at all.

To live missionally in any context is to be an influencer of culture without being absorbed by culture. Instead of continually seeking to bring the culture of our society into our worship of God, we actively seek to create culture by being ambassadors of Christ in a foreign world.

As missionaries in Wentzville, our practice of revealing Christ will not center around taking people to a sacred space where God lives and wants to be worshipped, but pointing out the omnipresence of God in all places at all times with every passing opportunity. By doing this, we (Christians) will worship every day of the week.

In every cultural context we find ourselves, we will recognize ourselves as the image bearers of Christ to unsaved people. Because of this, we will desperately seek to uphold the beauty of Christ in the words we speak and in the ways we act (and react).

When we speak about hospitality, we will be referring not merely to serving our Christian brothers and sisters but also to our generosity with non-believing guests.

As we proclaim Christ to people inside and outside of the church, we will recognize that our methods can change while the message remains the same. With this understanding, we will contextualize our presentation of the never-changing Gospel to an ever-changing culture in this generation and in generations to come.

We believe that missional living must begin in the home. Godly parents are a growing child’s primary agents of grace. Therefore, the gospel must inform, motivate, and be the central focus and message of the entire parenting process. This also applies to foster and adoptive parenting. In fact, the freeing, empowering, and motivating work of God in Christ to fully welcome, adopt, and care for us as His children leads us to be faithfully active in fostering and adopting children in need of the love and truth of Christ from within a Christian home—a unified family centered around and built upon Christ Jesus.

In order to honor our Creator and King we must submit to His desires and designs for life and living. Consequently, we not only value the family, but we value God’s definition of and path for family as found written in His Word.

We believe that children are a blessing from the Lord and not an inconvenience or a liability. And so we rejoice with those who receive children in abundance, and we mourn with those whose prayerful plea for the blessing of children has gone unanswered.

Since parents have the God-given privilege, responsibility, and effectiveness in the overall training, teaching, growing, and discipling of their children (especially in morality and spirituality), we count it our privilege and responsibility to set out to partner with parents in what God has called them to be and do for their children.

We will always encourage and seek to equip families to worship together at home every day and with the rest of the church every Lord’s Day, being understanding, patient, and even thankful for the little “distractions” that accompany small children in our corporate gatherings.

If we are to fully love and serve our families, then we must take them with us as we seek to reform the church and reach the world. The world will only be reached and the Church will only be reformed when the family is being restored.

Our desire to promote and protect the family, certainly includes all single-parent families and those single people who either long for a family or embrace a special calling to singleness.

Our view and valuing of family unity is subservient to, and an outflowing expression of, our view and valuing of Christ as the Supreme Savior and Lord. We do not want to become, or convey that we are, a family-centered church, for we seek to always and only be a Christ-centered church.

By love, we mean God’s love for His Church and the whole world, most perfectly demonstrated in the person and work of Jesus Christ (1 John 4:7–12).

By love, we mean our love for Him, His Church, and the whole world.

By love, we mean the kind of action-producing valuing of, commitment to, and Godly affection for another person, all for their highest good, even at the cost of self-sacrifice.

(By Godly affection, we mean a settled good will toward another, which involves desiring the best for them and hoping for and rejoicing in their being blessed).

This is our motivational charge for everything we do, why we do it, and how we do it (2 Corinthians 5:14; Matthew 22:37–40; 1 John 4:19–21; Romans 5:5; Philippians 1:9–11).

By truth, we mean Jesus as truth (John 14:6), meaning that Jesus is the:

• Supplying Source of all Truth – All truth comes from Him (John 1:14; John 1:17; Acts 17:25).
• Superlative Standard of all Truth – He alone is the ultimate authority and judge of what is true and false (Matthew 28:18, John 18:37).
• Supreme Substance of all Truth – All truth finds its ultimate meaning in Him. Understanding of any and all truth without understanding it in relation to Him is flawed, at best (Colossians 2:2–4, Colossians 2:8–10).

By truth, we mean what Jesus meant in John 17:17b, that “[God’s] Word is truth” (Psalm 119:142; Psalm 119:151, Psalm 119:160). The sacred Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, being breathed out by God, are the Word of God, the only perfect, unchangeable authority of beliefs, attitudes, and actions. This is the only power, made effective by the Holy Spirit of God, to cause sinners to repent, believe, and grow into the fullness of Christ (Romans 1:16; 1 Corinthians 1:17–2:5).

This is both our foundation and our means for all of life and ministry. This we read, study, preach, teach, pray, sing, and live (2 Timothy 3:15–17).

By worship, we mean the narrow use of the term as referring to the local body of believers who seek to worship the Lord in the midst of their gathering.

By worship, we mean both coming together as a church to offer to the Lord sacrifices of time, energy, attention, emotions, money, and praise (Hebrews 13:15–16; Psalm 50:14) and receiving from the Lord the graces of faith and repentance, conviction and comfort, knowledge and wisdom, and peace and joy by His Spirit, through His Word (Philippians 4:19; Psalm 50:15).

In our corporate gatherings the ministry of the Word is carried out with our reverent reading and passionate preaching of the Word, purposeful praying and satisfied singing in accordance with the Word, privileged participation in tasting of the visible Word (sacrament of the Lord’s Supper/Communion), and glad giving to the ministry of the Word. In our corporate gatherings we seek to

• Read the Word (Public Reading of Scripture—1 Timothy 4:13).
• Preach the Word (Expositional Sermons—2 Timothy 4:2).
• Pray the Word (Prayers in Accordance with Scripture—1 John 5:14).
• Sing the Word (Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs—Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16).
• See the Word (The Sacraments of the Lord’s Supper and Baptism—1 Corinthians 11:23–26; Matthew 28:19).
• Respond to the Word (By Believing, Rejoicing, Giving, and Obeying—1 Thessalonians 2:13; Acts 11:18; Acts 13:12, Acts 13:48; Acts 15:31; Philippians 4:18; 2 Corinthians 9:11–15; James 1:22–25).

By unity, we mean both the actual and automatic connection that exists between every person in every place who is truly in Christ by faith and the purposeful and committed relationships in our church flowing from that connection. (Philippians 2:1–2; Galatians 3:28).

By unity, we mean the bond between those who have come to believe in and love the same essentials of the Christian faith and who strive for greater and greater unity of faith in all the doctrines of the Word of God (Ephesians 4:1–16).

By unity, we mean the willing and glad binding of hearts, minds, strengths, and spiritual gifts to fulfill the purpose and accomplish the mission of this church, all for the glory of God (Philippians 1:5–7; Philippians 1:27).

With a sincere desire and earnest effort to maintain the unity of this church without compromising personal or corporate holiness, doctrinal purity, or missional advancement, we promote and foster open and authentic fellowship and humble and loving accountability among all of our covenanted members, and we stand against all gossiping, lying, and unforgiving attitudes, which are completely out of place for the blood-bought people of Jesus Christ (Philippians 2:1–11; James 5:16; Colossians 3:12–17; Ephesians 4:17–32).

With humble hearts, attitudes of grace, and a Christ-like zeal for His Body, we seek to preserve the unity, purity, and effectiveness of our church by being committed to the Biblical and loving process of church discipline for those members who live in unrepentant sin, refusing to submit to and be corrected by the preaching and teaching of the Word, the personal accountability of fellow members, or the God-given authority of the elders. We do this with the sincere desire to keep the rest of the body of believers pure from evil influence, deter other members from evil out of a Godly fear, and save those who are unrepentant from destroying themselves (Matthew 18:10–35; 1 Corinthians 5:1–13; 2 Corinthians 2:5–11; Hebrews 13:17).

Because of our commitment to whole church unity, we seek to build true harmony within families and a living continuity between the church and home by encouraging and equipping families to worship and grow together while at home, during corporate worship, and in small groups (Ephesians 5:15–6:4; Deuteronomy 6:4–9).

By focus, we mean, first and foremost, keeping our eyes firmly fixed on Jesus as our crucified Savior, risen Lord, and returning King. (Colossians 3:1–2; 1 Peter 1:13).

By focus, we mean a serious determination to intentionally marshal all of our time, energy, and resources toward our God-given purpose of exalting Christ. (1 Corinthians 10:31; 2 Corinthians 1:12; 2 Timothy 2:4–6).

By focus, we mean living by faith, ordering our lives with Godly priorities, prizing heavenly treasures over worldly treasures, and acknowledging both the temporary nature of this life and the eternal weight of glory. (Matthew 6:19–21; Matthew 6:32–33; 2 Corinthians 4:17).

By mission, we mean being determined to actively go out with the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ pouring forth from our mouths because we wholeheartedly believe that it alone is the Holy Spirit-empowered means of causing people to repent of their sins and trust in Jesus alone for their complete salvation (Romans 1:16–17; Romans 10:14–17; 1 Corinthians 1:18–2:5).

By mission, we mean taking this message of Life, with joyful obedience, to a decaying world in need of restoration and to dying individuals and families in need of rescuing because we have His love flowing from our hearts and we long for the whole world to joyfully worship the only true God and Savior who alone awakens us to the sinfulness of our hearts and deeds and the gracious sufficiency of Christ to cleanse us and save us from our sin and all of sin’s eternally deadly effects (Romans 5:5; 2 Corinthians 4:7–6:2; Matthew 28:16–20).

By mission, we mean being committed as individuals and as a body to always be proactively, reactively, or passively bearing witness (in action, word, and attitude) to Jesus as the only perfect image of God, the only Mediator between God and man, the only spotless Sacrifice that God accepts on behalf of all who trust in Him, and the only God and King who is coming again to judge the wicked and restore this world and bring it back under His kingdom rule forever (Luke 24:46–48; 2 Peter 3:15–17; Colossians 1:15–20; 1 Timothy 2:5; Ephesians 1:3–14).

By mission, we mean supporting the Gospel message that we proclaim by locally demonstrating the transforming grace of the Gospel in humble, caring, and loving service to the community as a whole and to actual families and individual people living in Wentzville who are hurting and in need, spending ourselves on behalf of those we witness to about Christ (1 Thessalonians 2:8; James 1:27; James 2:8; James 2:14–17; Deuteronomy 10:12–22).

By mission, we mean advancing the work of the Gospel for the growth of the Kingdom with people groups all over the globe by financially and prayerfully supporting, encouraging, and sending Christians to plant Biblically solid and actively missional churches and to be about Christ-exalting missionary work among all the peoples of the world (Acts 1:8; John 20:21; Philippians 1:3–11; Philippians 4:10–20; 2 Corinthians 8–9; Psalm 96).