The Protestant Reformation of the 1500s began a reform of unscriptural church practice and belief. As wonderful as the Reformation was, the Reformers stopped short of fully reforming church practice. For example, in the 1600s the Baptists took reform a step further, insisting on the separation of church and state, believer’s baptism and the autonomy of each local church. The New Testament Reformation Fellowship is simply a fellowship of brothers who desire to continue the reformation of today’s church by the adoption of New Testament church practice.
We at NTRF believe in the Doctrines of Grace, hold to New Covenant Theology and agree with the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy. The essential tenets of the faith to which we subscribe are identical to those found in the doctrinal statements of any sound evangelical institution. Our favorite statement of faith is the First London Baptist Confession of 1646.
We advocate orthodox, historic, classic Christian theology poured into the wineskin of New Testament church practice as established by the apostles. We argue from Scripture for such things as small churches (under a hundred people), the Lord’s Supper as actual meal (a sacred, covenant feast), elders who are truly servant leaders but not lords, government by elder-led congregational consensus and participatory church meetings. Our emphasis on small, simple, relational, family integrated churches is coupled with careful attention to order and organization. Our goal is to be Christ honoring and thoroughly biblical in every area concerning our church life.
While we are firmly convinced that God’s best is for all His people to organize their churches according to New Testament patterns, we are not against those who do things another way. We just think that they are missing a blessing! We understand that sincere, godly saints sometimes understand the same Scripture passages differently. We hear Paul when he asked, “Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand” (Ro 14:4).
Our desire is to provide resources and training in how the early church met together in community. We seek to aid others in recapturing the intimacy, simplicity, accountability and dynamic of Spirit-led first century church life. God has opened doors of opportunity for us to travel and present these concepts to believers in North and South America, Asia, Europe and Oceania. We’ve sent materials to many countries that we have not yet gone.
As for those of us at NTRF who lead house church workshops, we truly do identify with Paul when he wrote, "we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake" (2Co 4:5).
We advocate orthodox, historic, classic Christian theology poured into the wineskin of New Testament church practice as established by the apostles. We argue from Scripture for such things as small churches (under a hundred people), the Lord’s Supper as actual meal (a sacred, covenant feast), elders who are truly servant leaders but not lords, government by elder-led congregational consensus and participatory church meetings. Our emphasis on small, simple, relational, family integrated churches is coupled with careful attention to order and organization. Our goal is to be Christ honoring and thoroughly biblical in every area concerning our church life.
While we are firmly convinced that God’s best is for all His people to organize their churches according to New Testament patterns, we are not against those who do things another way. We just think that they are missing a blessing! We understand that sincere, godly saints sometimes understand the same Scripture passages differently. We hear Paul when he asked, “Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand” (Ro 14:4).
Our desire is to provide resources and training in how the early church met together in community. We seek to aid others in recapturing the intimacy, simplicity, accountability and dynamic of Spirit-led first century church life. God has opened doors of opportunity for us to travel and present these concepts to believers in North and South America, Asia, Europe and Oceania. We’ve sent materials to many countries that we have not yet gone.
As for those of us at NTRF who lead house church workshops, we truly do identify with Paul when he wrote, "we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake" (2Co 4:5).
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