PCA – Why Riverside Cartersville is part of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA)

In meeting new folks around town and telling them that we are a new church in the area, one of the inevitable questions that usually follows is “so, what kind of church are you?”

Well, though there are a lot of answers we can provide to tell people who we are: a church centered around the gospel (good news) of grace, a church that loves and serves our community, a church that desires to love and serve those in need, etc. What people often want to know is what denomination we belong to, and why.

First, we are part of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). Presbyterian simply refers to “a representative form” of church government. Local churches (like Riverside) are governed by elders (or presbyters, as they are sometimes called), who are elected by the church members. Together with the other churches in our region (Northwest Georgia in our case) who are a part of our denomination, we form a presbytery, which provides oversight for each church. Additionally, all the churches and presbyteries in our denomination make up our national General Assembly, in which we all together, take up the business of the denomination as a whole. Essentially, this is a similar form of government that exists in the United States: we have local, state, and federal governments, that operate from a “bottom to top”/ “grass roots” system.

Now why would we want to be a part of that type of system? Because it provides oversight and accountability for church members and for the pastors/elders. When Moses asked God for help in watching over the people of Israel, God told him to gather men from the elders of Israel, whom he knew to to be the elders of the people and officers over them, so that Moses would not have to bear the burden of leadership alone (cf. Numbers 11:16 -17). Further, the New Testament also affirms the leadership of the church being apportioned to the elders/overseers who are called and who meet the Biblical qualifications (cf. 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1).

For more information on our denomination, visit the PCA’s website at http://www.pcanet.org/ or email us at info@riversidecartersville.com

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Contact Us

Riverside Community Church
Sundays at 10:30 am
311 Old Mill Road
Cartersville, Ga 30120
(470) 315-2344
info@RiversideCartersville.com

Riverside Community Church is a mission church of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA)