What’s with your name?

We do have a long name, the Pottsville Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, but each part represents an important aspect of who we are.

• We are Deeply-Connected. We have been in Pottsville for over 170 years. The roots of this church reach deep into the soil of history; into the Carolina backcountry of colonial America and into the lowlands of Scotland.   The founders of our church migrated to Arkansas in the 1850s from North Carolina, bound tightly together by shared commitment to the Scripture, a common Reformed confession of faith, and fierce love of freedom and opportunity.
• We are Gospel-driven.   Long ago in Scotland, the King tried to force churches to teach only what he approved.   Since our forefathers were committed to teach only the Bible, they risked death to form the Reformed Church of Scotland or Covenanters.  We are still driven by this same conviction, that God’s grace and truth is revealed to us through the Bible alone.   We affirm that the Bible is inerrant and infallible and is the only rule to show us how to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
• We are Grace-centered.    When the Church of Scotland began to teach that God’s grace was only given to those who had first cleaned up their own lives, our forefathers left to form the Associate Church or Seceders.   Like them, we believe that salvation depends entirely upon Christ’s work, not man’s works. Salvation is all of grace and not of works.   A godly life is the fruit, not the root, of grace!  Consequently, our teaching is grace-centered not guilt-centered.
• We are Elder-led.   The word Presbyterian simply means led by elders.  Our church has a Teaching Elder, or pastor, who handles most of the preaching and pastoral care, as well as Ruling Elders who provide spiritual oversight for families and the congregation as a whole.   But these local elders, called the Session, have oversight by a larger group of pastors and elders, called a Presbytery.   We are part of the Mississippi Valley Presbytery of the Associate Reformed Synod.
• We are Worship-fueled.   We do not believe worship is a performance.   We are not performing for God, nor is anyone performing for us.   Worship brings us into God’s presence where He speaks His grace to us and we express our gratitude to Him.   Consequently, our worship contains lots of congregational participation.   Our worship is not limited to the Lord’s Day.   We encourage personal, family, and corporate worship as a life-style.   You might say that it is the fuel for our lives.