Our Beliefs

Heritage ARP Church
Vision & Priority Statement

The Vision of Heritage Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church:

We desire to be a church truly Reformed and Presbyterian but with a uniquely Missourian identity.

The Mission of Heritage Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church:

We believe that God has called Heritage ARP Church to serve Southwest Missouri as a model of a conservative reformed Presbyterian church. In doing this, we also believe our God has called us to sculpt a reformed identity which embodies the beauty and God-honoring facets of our culture. We see and highly prize the respect so many still have for the Church and their strong allegiance to Scripture. Not only do we hope to honor these admirable traits, we desire to further adorn them by making good use of the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms (what we refer to as our Standards). We believe that our gift to our community, already so enriched by the kindnesses of our Lord, is to faithfully present the strong, biblical theology clearly enunciated in our Standards. Yet, in doing so, we wish to assure our community that we believe our standards to be subordinate to the Scripture. We hold that our standards are by no means on par with scripture but are nevertheless a faithful exposition of the glorious truths and doctrines found in scripture. We regard our standards as God's gracious gift that we are called to steward and share with our area. But our mission is not just to disciple but also to evangelize. While being faithful to teaching and preaching biblical doctrine, we seek to balance such with the free offer of the gospel. We believe our God has called us to offer the gospel call for all to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. This we believe is our call and our gift to Southwest Missouri.

Our Church Leadership:

Pastor:

Brian Taylor

Though not raised in a Christian home, the Lord showered his mercies upon Brian, when, at the age of 17, he called him to himself and made him his own. Within in a short time, Brian met, fell in love with and married Lori Koeshall. They have had an enriching marriage of over thirty years. Brian enjoys theological discussions, amongst a few friends, reading and Cardinals baseball.

Session:

The session is a group of elders who oversee the ministries of the church and shepherd the members of the church through servant leadership. The heart-beat of the elder's position is 'servanthood.' Just as Jesus Christ came not to be served but to serve (Mark 10:45), so too the elders are to be examples of servant leadership. The qualifications for this office are described in 1 Timothy 3:1-7, Titus 1:6-9, and 1 Peter 5:2-3. More specifically, the role of the session is to facilitate times of prayer over any members who are sick, counsel those who have questions or concerns about the faith, conduct membership interviews, pray for the spiritual well-being of members and the conversion of non-Christians, and serve on various committees.

Paul Walley

Paul and his wife Jennifer have a large family, and enjoy spending time with them. Paul likes discussions on practical theology and helping others find how the scriptures apply to their lives. He spends his time working in the business world, projects on their farm, and is an avid pickleball player.

Aaron Rozeboom

Aaron and his wife Meghan joined Heritage ARP around 2011. They especially enjoy the diversity that characterizes the congregation-a trait often scarce within confessional Presbyterian churches. Aaron misapplies his Latin and Greek degree selling wine professionally, and is particularly passionate about finding ways to make systematic theology and the truths of Scripture relevant to experiential Christianity in everyday life.

Diaconate:

Deacons are ministers of mercy who reach out to those in crisis or difficult circumstances. Their primary task is to have mercy upon those who are suffering and afflicted in much the same way that God's mercy moves Him to relieve suffering and sorrow. Not only do deacons relieve suffering and compassionately care for the afflicted, they also equip people to use their time, abilities, and resources wisely, and they facilitate the connection between those who have plenty of time and/or resources and those in need of someone's time and/or resources.

Joshua Monson

Joshua grew up in South America as the son of missionaries. Josh's dad was responsible for the maintenance of the mission's Cessna 206 based in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Desiring to be a missionary pilot Josh attended College of the Ozarks in Branson, Missouri where he received training in aircraft maintenance, and Biblical theology. He also completed his flight training at College of the Ozarks and obtained a flight instructors certificate. Joshua worked as a Flight Instructor for a community college and then for Envoy Airlines as a mechanic. In 2008 Denise and Joshua were married. In 2017 Josh quit his job with the airlines to run his own flight training school.

Chris Noa

Chris moved to the Springfield area in 2013 after nearly 7 years of active service in the Navy and started a farm near Marshfield while serving in the Navy Reserves and recently started woodworking out of his garage. He married his wife Becky in 2015 and the Lord has blessed them with three children Isabella, Fernando and Melody. He has served as a Deacon since 2014 and also serves his local community through his work at the Marshfield Post Office.

Lucas Snodgrass

Lucas has been with Heritage ARP Church since it was started in 2011. He is happily married to his wife Heidi and they are blessed with a son and a daughter. He enjoys spending time with his family, tinkering with vehicles, and learning how to be more Christ-like from the Word of God.

David Orthman

David and his family joined Heritage ARP Church in 2014 and he was called to serve as a Deacon in 2018. David and his wife Tiffany enjoy riding motorcycles and serving the Springfield motorcycle community. They have four sons; Thor, Vincent, Viktor, and Titan.

Worship

You may be wondering what style of worship we offer; is it contemporary, traditional, blended, avant garde, stuffy? Many professing Christians prefer one style or another. We believe that the question is not what style do we prefer, but what does God prefer? Worship is the "work of the Holy Spirit in the Body of Christ to the glory of God the Father." (Worship According to Scripture, H. O. Old) We worship God because He created us to worship Him. Our worship gives glory to Him. In worship He is glorified when we hear again of His grace toward us in the gospel and when we express our gratitude to Him in praise and thanksgiving.

A great danger in worship, however, is that it easily becomes self-centered and not God-centered. Of course, while there are many dimensions of worship that must be adapted to the culture of the worshipers, eg. we will use English in our services, these dimensions are fewer than we imagine. In the Scriptures, God gives many guidelines regarding true worship and warnings regarding novelty. Our worship is guided by two key principles.

First, worship must be according to Scripture. When Jesus remarked once that God was seeking worshipers who would worship Him in Spirit and Truth, he draws a clear distinction against both a style of worship that is exuberant and energetic, but not bounded by Scripture, and formalistic style of worship which is carefully scripted by chapter and verse but lacks the gracious presence of the Holy Spirit. Neither of these is worship according to Scripture. We are not rigorist with respect to a rigid liturgy. As our forefathers before us, we believe that God has told us how he wants us to worship Him. What we are to believe concerning worship "is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture; unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men." (Westminster Confession of Faith, I.VI)

Second, our worship is relational. We are relating to our God in worship and doing so as a community rather than as individuals. It is a gracious and thankful conversation between God and His people. Consequently, worship contains lots of congregational participation.

Our worship would be considered by most today as traditional. We sing psalms and hymns and sing with accompaniment. We confess our sins with a corporate prayer of confession and hear from Scripture the assurance of our pardon. We profess our faith by reciting together one of the historic confessions of the Christian church such as the Apostle's Creed, the Nicene Creed, or the Westminster Confession. Preaching is from the Bible, passage by passage, covering whole books of the Bible over a period of time. We corporately recite the Lord's Prayer. We will frequently observe the Lord's Supper. At the end of each service we receive the Benediction and enjoy some informal fellowship. Click here to see an example of our order of service

Because our worship seeks to glorify God through proclaiming His grace to us in the gospel and by expressing our gratitude to Him in prayer, praise, and thanksgiving, our worship contains lots of congregational participation - it is a gracious and thankful conversation between God and His people.

Making Friends

Family

Why are there children in the worship service? Doesn't your church have a special children's program for them?

The Bible teaches that parents are to instruct and train their children (Deut. 6:7; Proverbs 29:17; Ephesians 6:4), so as a church we attempt to support and assist (not replace) parents in that role. In order to facilitate this, we invite children to stay in the worship service and participate as they are able.

How can a young child understand what is going on?

The Bible talks about children asking parents questions about God (Exodus 12:26; Deut. 6:20), and the parents explaining and teaching (Exodus 12:27; Deut. 6:21-25). A child's presence in worship often provokes them to ask questions about God, sin, and Jesus Christ, giving parents and teachers opportunity to speak to the children about the gospel.

Do the children ever disrupt the service?

Yes, indeed. We assume that a child unfamiliar with or unprepared to sit through an hour long service will most likely cause disruptions during the service. In order to assist parents through such disruptions, parents are encouraged to walk in and out of our worship services at any time. There are rocking chairs at the back, and also an area with speakers (that usually work) just ouside the sanctuary so parents can continue to listen to the service. After a time of "encouragement and training" many children are able to sit still and learn about the Christian faith during the worship service. But in the meantime, while parents are in the process of training children to participate in worship, we bless and thank God for their presence and little voices.

I've noticed a lot of families with younger children sit toward the back. Is that planned?

Yes, the back rows of the church are ideal for children. Most parents with smaller children like to sit where they can easily "escape" with a child if need be, and where younger children can move around during worship without distracting others.

It is easier to send my children to a program during worship instead of having them with me. Isn't having children in worship putting too much emphasis on them?

We agree having children in worship is a lot of work and can be distracting to other worshipers. We also agree wholeheartedly that it is sinful and wrong (idolatry) to put too much emphasis on children. Having acknowledged these realities, the reason we invite children into worship is because they were present in the worship services of the early church (Ephesians 6:1). Just as we desire people from all tongues, tribes, and nations to come to faith in Jesus Christ and worship Him, so too we desire the church's children to come to faith in Jesus Christ and worship Him. So, in the hope that God would graciously regenerate the children by means of their hearing and believing the gospel, we invite them into the worship service.

With all this emphasis on parents training up their children, is Heritage ARP Church a "homeschool" church?

No. We have families with children in private school, in public school, and in home school. Our vision is to be a Christ-centered church bringing the gospel to our community; therefore we have no stance or preferred method for schooling children: methods of schooling children are not our concern. We believe it is solely the parent's responsibility to decide how and where their child(ren) should be educated. So, whether parents choose private schools, public schools, the home, or another option for educating their children matters not to our church; this is an area of Christian freedom, each believer free to make their own decision according to their conscience.