At the Decker Prairie church of Christ, we start this comparison the way we would want anyone to start it about us: with respect. Presbyterians take the Bible seriously, and so do we. Where we differ from Presbyterian teaching comes down to three things: how salvation works (Presbyterian doctrine follows Calvinism, including predestination), how the church is governed (their sessions, presbyteries, and general assembly against our self-governing congregation), and what holds final authority (the Westminster Confession alongside Scripture versus the Bible alone). Rather than argue it, let’s read through the passages that decide each one.
First, the Two Histories
Presbyterianism came out of the Protestant Reformation: John Calvin’s teaching in the 1500s, a name drawn from its form of government, and the Westminster Confession of Faith written in the 1640s. Presbyterians say all of that themselves, and we repeat it without spin.
Our congregation is reaching for something older. Not a reformed version of anything, but the church Jesus promised: “on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (). We take the New Testament as the only pattern for what we do (), which is why the rest of this article is mostly Bible passages.
Open 1 Timothy 2 on What God Wants
Calvinism teaches that God chose particular individuals for salvation before creation, that Christ died specifically for those elect, and that the chosen cannot be lost. On that view, your salvation was settled about you before you drew a breath.
Now set the texts beside it. Paul writes of “God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (). Peter adds that the Lord is “not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (). And the Bible signs off with the widest invitation ever written: “let the one who desires take the water of life without price” (). Here at Decker Prairie we take those verses at face value: God’s elect are all who come to Christ on His terms, and anyone may come (). Scripture does use the word predestination (), and what it describes is a predestined plan and a predestined people in Christ, not a private list of names.
Open 1 Peter 5 on Who Shepherds the Flock
Presbyterian congregations have elders, and so do we; that much is shared ground. The difference is the structure stacked above theirs, where sessions answer to presbyteries and presbyteries to synods and a general assembly. When Peter wrote to elders, he kept the assignment local: “shepherd the flock of God that is among you” (). That matches what we read about elders appointed in every church, to their own congregations (; ), with Christ alone as head over the church ().
That is exactly how this congregation operates. We answer to no headquarters and no assembly, which also means we cannot even speak for other congregations that use the name “church of Christ,” and none of them speaks for us. What we describe on this page is generally what non-institutional churches of Christ practice, but the only congregation we can vouch for is Decker Prairie church of Christ.
Open Acts 2 and Romans 6 on Baptism
Presbyterian churches practice infant baptism, usually by sprinkling, understood as a sign of God’s covenant with believing parents. We baptize believers, by immersion, for the reason Peter preached at Pentecost: “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins” (). Paul shows why immersion is the mode: “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (). A burial requires immersion, repentance requires a believer, and a baby has no sin to repent of. That is the whole reasoning, straight from the passages.
Open 2 Timothy 3 on What Settles Doctrine
Presbyterian churches teach from the Westminster Confession and its catechisms, held as a doctrinal standard under Scripture. We hold no creed at all, and this verse is the reason: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (). If a confession says less than the Bible, we don’t need it; if it says more, it has gone past what God gave. Every difference above can be settled by one honest habit: open the New Testament and see which practice you can actually read there.
Keep Studying
Take these passages home and read them in their own context, the way the Bereans checked everything they heard against Scripture (). Question what Presbyterians teach, and question what we teach, with the same open Bible. Whatever holds up under that test is worth building your life on.
Come Sit With Us
If you want a church family where the answer to “why do you do that?” is always a page in the Bible, you would fit right in at the Decker Prairie church of Christ. Come see what a congregation built on nothing but God’s Word feels like — real people, no pretense, and a place to belong.
Plan your visit, and you’ll be right at home.
Want to know what the Bible says about being saved? Start here.
When we meet:
- Sunday: Worship 10:00 am · Bible Class 5:00 pm
- Wednesday: Bible Class 7:30 pm
