What the Orthodox Presbyterian Church Believes

Updated

The Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) states its purpose as bringing glory to God through its churches and individual lives and making known the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. Its beliefs are summarized on opc.org under a "What We Believe" section, and its doctrine is defined by confessional standards: the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms, with the Book of Church Order governing church polity. This answer is for readers who want a plain orientation to what the OPC teaches and where those documents sit on the site; it is not a substitute for reading the standards themselves.

Where the beliefs are stated

The site organizes belief-related material in two layers:

  • "What We Believe" — the entry point for a summary of the church's faith and identity.
  • "Standards" — the confessional documents themselves, listed alongside a searchable Bible and the confessions and catechisms.

The same navigation block also links Gospel Tracts, which present the church's message in short form, and About the OPC, which covers identity and history.

The confessional standards

The OPC's doctrinal standards are the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Westminster Catechisms (Shorter and Larger). These are the documents the church uses to state what it teaches, and they are what the site's Standards section points readers to. If you want to know what the OPC believes on a specific doctrine, the Confession and Catechisms are the primary place to look rather than a secondary summary.

Church government

The Book of Church Order is listed with the standards and sets out how the church is governed — its polity — as distinct from its doctrine. Read together, the standards answer "what does this church teach," and the Book of Church Order answers "how is this church ordered."

How to use the site to check a specific question

  1. Go to the Standards section for the Confession, Catechisms, and Book of Church Order.
  2. Use the searchable Bible and confessional texts when you want to compare a statement with its scriptural references.
  3. For a short presentation of the message rather than the full standards, use Gospel Tracts.
  4. For background on the denomination itself, use About the OPC.

The expected result is that you can locate the authoritative text for any doctrinal or polity question instead of relying on a summary.

Common sticking points

  • Confession vs. catechism: the Confession is the fuller doctrinal statement; the catechisms are its teaching form, arranged as questions and answers. Both are standards, not alternatives.
  • Doctrine vs. polity: the Book of Church Order is not a doctrinal standard in the same sense as the Confession and Catechisms — it governs order and government.
  • Summaries vs. standards: the "What We Believe" page orients you, but the standards are the documents to cite when precision matters.

The site also carries a daily devotional, audio sermons, a church directory, and publications such as New Horizons, which are useful for seeing how these beliefs are taught and applied, but the standards remain the reference point.