---
title: RPCNA Ordination Vows
canonical: "https://southfieldreformed.com/who-we-are/our-leadership/ordination-vows/"
description: The full text of the RPCNA ordination vows affirmed by Southfield RPC’s pastor and ruling elders.
---

Our pastor and ruling elders are ordained upon affirming the following vows:

1. Do you believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God,
   and the only infallible rule of faith and life?
2. Do you believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the only Redeemer of
   men, and do you confess Him publicly as your Saviour and Lord?
3. Do you believe that it is the duty of Christians to profess publicly the content of
   faith as it applies to the particular needs of each age and situation, and that such
   public profession, otherwise called covenanting, should be made formally by the
   churches and other institutions as well as informally by each believer according to
   his ability?
4. Do you believe in and accept the system of doctrine and the manner of worship set
   forth in the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, and
   the Testimony of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, as being agreeable to, and founded
   upon, the Scriptures?
5. Do you believe it to be the teaching of Scripture — that church and state are
   distinct and separate institutions; that both are under the mediatorial rule of the
   Lord Jesus Christ; and that the permanent form of church government is presbyterian?
6. Do you believe that Jesus Christ is Saviour and Lord of men and nations, and that in
   loyalty and obedience to Him, it is our duty to follow the noble example of the
   faithful confessors and martyrs of Jesus in their witness for divine truth, and in
   their sacrifices and labors to establish the Kingdom of God on earth?
7. So far as you can know in your own heart, is it the call of Christ, the glory of God
   and the welfare of the church, and not any selfish object, that moves you to
   undertake this sacred office?
8. That you may perform faithfully all the duties of the office to which you have been
   called, do you engage to seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit? Do you promise, in His
   strength, to live a holy and exemplary life, to study and promote the purity, peace,
   unity and progress of the church — (to elders) to watch over the spiritual growth of
   the members of the congregation, to endeavor to win others to Christ, to visit the
   afflicted and to attend the meetings associated with your office; (to ministers) to
   bring to your congregation the fruits of earnest study of the Word, to maintain a
   testimony for the Kingdom of God, to endeavor to minister to others and win them to
   Christ, to watch for souls as one who must give account?
9. Do you promise subjection in the Lord to the courts of this church, and engage to
   follow no divisive courses from the doctrine and order which the church has solemnly
   recognized and adopted; and do you promise to submit to all the brotherly counsel
   which your brethren may tender you in the Lord?