Who We Are
TRB is a Reformed Baptist church overseen by a plurality of elders and helped by an active body of deacons and ministry teams to reflect Christ in benevolence, purity, witness, worship, and faithfulness to God’s Word. Our worship in substance is Christ-centered and Scripturally-grounded. In style we blend contemporary music with some hymns and value expository preaching. We desire to glorify God from sincere, passionate, Spirit-regenerated hearts that overflow in a holy walk and witness, both locally and internationally.
Our Vision
We are committed to glorifying God by being and making disciples of Jesus Christ, locally and globally in the power of the Holy Spirit. We aim to magnify Christ and his gospel in all that we do as a church family. We take seriously Christ’s command to evangelize and disciple our community and the ends of the earth.
Elder Leadership
The uniform testimony of the New Testament is that each church had a group of men who were pastors, elders, & overseers in each church. At Three Rivers, oversight is committed to a group of men, called the body of elders, who serve under the authority of our Chief Shepherd, Jesus Christ. Their focus is on the care and protection of the congregation.
Reformed Theology
We hold to the authority of Scripture, the sovereignty of God, salvation by grace through Christ, and the necessity of evangelism. This is sometimes called Covenant theology because of its emphases on the covenant God made with Adam and the new covenant which came through Jesus Christ (Luke 22:20).
What We Believe
Our Core Beliefs
We Believe that there is one living and true God, eternally existing in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, equal in power and glory; that this triune God is the creator, keeper, and controller of the universe and is sovereign in all His attributes.
We Believe in the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe in His virgin birth, sinless life, miracles and teachings, His substitutionary death, bodily resurrection, ascension into heaven, perpetual intercession for His people and His future, personal and visible return to earth.
We Believe in the Holy Spirit, who came forth from the Father and the Son to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and to regenerate, sanctify and empower for ministry all who believe in Christ, we believe the Holy Spirit indwells every believer in Jesus Christ and that He is an abiding helper, teacher, and guide.
We Believe that salvation is found in Jesus Christ and Him only. No one can be saved apart from faith in the work and person of Christ.
We Believe salvation is accomplished by the almighty power of the Trinity. The Father chose a people, the Son died for them, the Holy Spirit makes Christ’s death effective by bringing the elect to faith and repentance, thereby causing them to willingly obey the gospel. The entire process (election, redemption, regeneration) is the work of God and is by grace alone. Thus God, not man, determines who will be recipients of the gift of salvation.
We Believe that all men are sinners by nature and choice and are therefore under condemnation, that those whom God regenerates will repent of their sins and place their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
We Believe the sixty-six books of the Bible constitute God’s written revelation to man, that it’s inspiration by God is plenary and verbal, that it is true, infallible, inerrant, authoritative, and all-sufficient. The Bible is sufficient because it provides either direct information or authoritative principles for answering all questions about how life should be lived.
We Believe the local church is an assembly of people who have been called out by God, part of the redeemed of humanity, and are God’s own possession with Christ as the head. The purpose of the church is to glorify God and advance His kingdom by worshiping God, by prayer, by loving and equipping one another and by taking the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world.
We Believe that two ordinances have been committed to the local church: Baptism and the Lord’s Table.
We Believe in the priesthood of the believer: that every Christian is able and responsible to seek God in study and prayer, to minister to others, and to tell others of God’s salvation in Christ.
We Believe there are two offices in the church: elder and deacon.
We Believe baptism in water by immersion is a direct command of our Lord, and is for believers only. Baptism is a symbol of the Christian’s identification with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection.
We Believe in the Doctrines of Grace.
You can find a good summary of Reformed Baptist doctrine we hold to in the historic 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith.
The Inerrancy of Scripture
Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
— 2 Peter 1:20-21
We believe that the Bible, given by God through the Spirit-inspired men who penned it, is the foundation of all Christian truth and practice, and thus its inerrancy is at the core of our doctrine.
The Bible is more than a book of stories. It not only contains timeless truths, but is the key to understanding who we are, and more importantly… who God is and how we are to relate to him.
What Is the Gospel?
The gospel is the biblical truth that God saves sinners by his grace and for his glory. To understand the gospel, it’s important to know what the Bible says about the following:
God
God is the infinitely good Creator of all things (Gen 1:1). He is absolutely holy, loving, and just at the same time, and therefore worthy of all worship, love, honor, and obedience (Ps 29:1-2, 96:4-5, 115:1; Rom 1:20-21).
Man
All people are created in the likeness and image of God (Gen 1:26-27; Jas 3:9) but instead of reflecting his glory, have rebelled and fall under the judgment of his wrath (Rom 1:18, 2:5-11). From our birth, we are all alienated and hostile to God, and spiritually dead (Gen 6:5; Ps 51:5; Eph 2:1-3).
Christ
The Lord Jesus Christ, being fully God and fully man, lived a life of perfect obedience to God (2 Cor 5:21; Heb 4:15), and humbly offered himself up to God as a sacrifice to God to pay the penalty for sin (Phil 2:8; Rom 3:21-26; 1 Jn 4:10). Jesus also defeated death through the resurrection (Acts 2:24) and returned to heaven where he currently rules as Lord, until he returns again to the earth to set up his eternal kingdom (1 Cor 15:12-26).
Response
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
— Romans 10:9-10
God commands every person in every place to turn from their sins and trust Christ in order to be saved (Mk 1:15; Acts 17:30, Rom 10:9, 2 Pet 3:9). Salvation is resting in the saving promises of Christ alone (Mt 11:28-30).
The Good News
The gospel is God’s saving work through Jesus Christ to redeem, reconcile, and rule over a chosen people for His eternal glory and their unending joy.
Learn More
To learn more about what we believe and the foundations of our faith:
