NAPARC

North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council

About Us

Our Basis & Purpose

Confessing Jesus Christ as the only Savior and Sovereign Lord over all of life, we affirm the basis of the fellowship of Presbyterian and Reformed Churches to be full commitment to the Bible in its entirety as the Word of God written, without error in all its parts, and to its teaching as set forth in the Heidelberg Catechism, the Belgic Confession, the Canons of Dort, the Westminster Confession of Faith, and the Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechisms.

We regard this basis of fellowship as warrant for the establishment of a formal relationship of the nature of a council, that is, a fellowship that enables the Member Churches to advise, counsel, and cooperate in various matters with one another, and to hold out before each other the desirability and need for organic union of churches that are of like faith and practice.

Function

  1. Facilitate discussion, consultation, and the sharing of insights among Member Churches on those issues and problems which divide them as well as on those which they face in common.
  2. Encourage the Member Churches to pursue closer ecclesiastical relations, as appropriate, among the regional and major assemblies.
  3. Promote the appointment of committees to study matters of common interest and concern and, when appropriate, make recommendations to the Council with respect to them.
  4. Exercise mutual concern in the perpetuation, retention, and propagation of the Reformed faith.
  5. Promote local, regional, and general assembly/synodical-wide cooperation wherever possible and feasible in such areas as missions, relief efforts, training of men for the ministry, Christian schools, activities for young people, and church education and publications.
  6. Operate a website to facilitate the exchange of information and to foster increased cooperation and fellowship among the Member Churches.

Nature &
Extent of Authority

It is understood that the Council is not a synodical, classical, or presbyterial assembly, and therefore all actions and decisions of the Council, other than those with respect to a church’s membership in the Council, are advisory in character and may in no way curtail, restrict, or intrude into the exercise of the jurisdiction or authority given to the governing assemblies of the Member Churches by Jesus Christ, the King and Head of the Church. [Articles II–V of the NAPARC Constitution]

View articles →

The History of NAPARC

Learn how NAPARC came to be, from the first meetings in 1969 to its founding in 1975, and how its membership and work grew in the decades that followed. Excerpted from the Committee of Review’s report to the 38th (2012) Meeting.

Read the history →