Belgic Confession
Our full statement of Reformed belief: who God is, what Scripture teaches, and how Christ saves and builds his church.
Our story
Rooted in the Reformed faith
Escondido United Reformed Church is a Christian congregation founded in 1953 by sixteen families who desired to worship God according to the Reformed faith in the Escondido Valley. Today we are a congregation of approximately 550 members, continuing that same commitment to faithful Reformed worship, preaching, and community.
We belong to the United Reformed Churches in North America, a federation of Reformed Christian churches committed to the historic Protestant confessions.
Our mission
As a church we are committed to glorifying God by worshiping Him according to His Word, calling people to repent and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, grounding them in the historic Reformed faith, and equipping them to serve Christ in the church, home, workplace, and every area of life.
What we believe
We are united around the Bible, the written revelation of God’s Word, that reveals all we need unto salvation and life in Jesus Christ, the only Savior. We are reformed in faith and practice according to the Scriptures as summarized in the Three Forms of Unity. We are a church belonging to the one holy universal and apostolic Church Christ instituted for the ministry of Word and sacrament and the shepherding of his people.
The Three Forms of Unity
Our doctrinal standards are the confessions of the Reformation churches of the Netherlands:
Heidelberg Catechism
A question-and-answer guide to the Christian faith, ordered around guilt, grace, and gratitude — centered on our only comfort in life and in death.
Canons of Dort
A careful defense of God’s free and sovereign grace in salvation: that God chooses, calls, and keeps his people in Christ.
The Ecumenical Creeds
With the whole church of Christ through the ages, we also confess the three ancient creeds of the undivided church:
Apostles’ Creed
The church’s ancient baptismal confession of the Triune God and the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Nicene Creed
The church’s definitive confession of the full deity of Christ and the doctrine of the Trinity.
Athanasian Creed
A careful confession of the Trinity and of Christ’s two natures, true God and true man.
Lord’s Day
Worship
The center of our church life is the Lord’s Day worship service. We believe that God has prescribed how he is to be worshiped in his Word, and we seek to order our services accordingly.
Worship includes the reading and preaching of Scripture, prayer, the singing of Psalms and hymns, and the administration of the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.