I have noticed several people talking about establishing parish churches recently. I understand the basics of the concept of a parish church, but what are all the implications? Are parish churches a good thing, or a bad thing? What role, if any, have they played and should they play in Reformed Presbyterian worship?

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Ben Franks

I attend: Ketoctin Covenant Presbyterian Church (OPC)
in Purcellville, Virginia
I'm a member of: Heartland Community Church (PCA)
in Wichita, Kansas
I blog here (along with my Dad): http://rrfranks.blogspot.com/
And I'm a student here: www.phc.edu

"Remember the speeches we have spoken so often over our mead, when we raised boast on the bench, heroes in the hall, about hard fighting. Now may the man who is bold prove that he is."-Aelfwine at the Battle of Maldon

The parish model is the original "multi-site".

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Kevin Rogers
Sovereign Community Church, PCA
Moncton NB

Do any of my UK brothers have experience with this topic? I know that it never really took root here in American like it did "over the pond"

I like Dr. Bradley's post about the parish model, from June 5, 2006:
Why I Go To My Church

There were some negative responses at The Jolly Blogger:
Do We Have An Obligation To Attend A Neighborhood Church

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junior
Deacon
First Baptist Church of Richland Hills, Texas
Owning the 1677 Baptist Confession of Faith, 1680 Orthodox Catechism, & 1693 Baptist Catechism

Very interesting, has anyone else run into any good articles/resources on this subject?

-----Added 12/27/2008 at 11:19:43 EST-----

It's exciting to think about what this model could do for the American church. We are so often concerned about how to impact the city or engage the culture, a parish church model would take it outside of the realm of the theoretical and make it an immensly practical discussion. It would also make it extremely hard to segment your life into the standard, work, home, church, model. Congregants would have little choice in how much they would be involved because their entire lives would revolve around the parish.
I'm still examining all the implications, but the more I think about it the more excited I get! Is there anything I'm not taking into consideration? What am I missing?

If one is congregational/independent than the parish idea is not a good one. Instead, starting a local fellowship of like-minded churches would be the answer.


The parish church system is a product of the Catholic system where Catholicism was also a political power. As the empire spread, the parish system spread to control the local population. The locals were subjects to the local authorities and religious and civil authorities often got muddy in their boundaries. No need to "shop around" or weigh the quality of preaching when the main thing was the Mass spoken in an unintelligible language.

As a Protestant and a Baptist, I have a personally disdain for folks driving 2 hours to a small niche church and yet I do believe that we are free to worship where we would without a denomination or hierarchy pressuring us to submit to a local parish.

The criticism of a "privatized faith" is the old Catholic line. I don't buy it. What's wrong with a privatized faith? People need to personally own their faith.


P.s. I notice some of these churches with local outreaches (and proud of their "local" natures) often focus all their attention locally and forget the "to the ends of the earth" injunctions of Scripture. NOw, THAT is "lame" and "immature."

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Pergamum


"If a commission by an earthly king is considered a honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?"
-- David Livingstone