Our Covenant  |  Church Organization  |  Our Staff  |  Office Hours  |  Contact Information  |  About RCA  

Our worship service is a strong statement of our Christian belief as expressed in our Church Covenant. We look to God in prayer and praise and receive God's message through the Scriptures and sermon. We actively participate in the service in prayers, hymns, and readings from the Psalms. Our choirs provide inspiration in their thoughtful musical presentations.

Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with what we have to offer in areas of interest to you:

• We have three services per week from which to choose.
• We have a genuine love of music that is felt in our worship services.
• The pastor follows the lectionary used by many Christian groups to address current life situations and experiences.
• The worship strives to be both stimulating and challenging while at the same time attempting to rediscover the awe and mystery of worship in the music and prayers. Symbols and rituals from other Christian traditions enrich the worship hour.
• We offer both youth ministries and adult ministries.
• We offer many opportunities for fellowship gatherings.
• We offer support groups.
• We offer many opportunities to support the growth of the church and the community around us.

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Our Covenant

To the glory of the living God, triune and loving, we unite as God's willing servants to live the confession,

Jesus Christ is Lord;

there is no other faith foundation than his love and life.
It shall be our aim to share the love of Christ by bringing

• joy to little children
• high ideals to youth
• direction to young adults
• inspiration and fellowship to men and women in the midst of life
• comfort and support to those in life's latter years

Our fellowship welcomes all persons seeking to follow Jesus Christ and willing to grow in our common purpose

• to do justly,
• to love kindness, and
• to walk humbly with God.

It is our ideal to move in the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Being thus led by the Holy Spirit, we strive to serve the world we touch, recognizing each person as a child of God and our companion in the daily walk through life.

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Church Organization

The responsible body that oversees the church is called the Consistory. It is composed of seven elders and seven deacons who are chosen from the congregation. Though their duties most often overlap so that they are mutually responsible for the welfare of the congregation, they do have distinct areas of responsibility.

Elders oversee the spiritual life of the church. When confession of faith is made it is made before the elders. The privilege of the sacraments is granted by the elders. The elders, together with the minister, are especially responsible for that which relates to the spiritual life of the congregation.

Deacons are charged with the material concerns of the church as well as overseeing the benevolence or missionary program of the church. It is the deacons who allocate the helping money to the several service agencies of the community and church.

The minister is always president of the Consistory by virtue of his office as minister of the church.

Consistory members lead the three church teams (Faith, Mission, and Temporal) that conduct the church's programs and administer the business affairs. Members from the Consistory and congregation serve on Action Groups which meet regularly and make recommendations to the monthly Consistory meetings in the following areas:

• Archives:  preserves the history of our church by organizing and maintaining our historical records
• Building and Grounds: cares for the real property of the church
• Congregational Care:  provides an expanded people-to-people ministry
• Education: guides the planning of education and fellowship programs for the youth from pre-school through high school and prepares the adult study programs that meet after church or evenings
• Finance: monitors the moneys of the church with the Financial Secretary and the Treasurer and oversees the necessary insurance and business arrangements
• Mission: arranges and undertakes service projects connecting our congregation to the larger community
• Outreach:  fosters the growth of the church
• Personnel: advises and supports the people in staff positions
• Stewardship: is concerned with the vitality of the church and financial support
• Worship: provides for the regular and special services of worship; also organizes flower arrangements for special services and weekly worship

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Our Staff

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Office Hours

Monday - Friday from 9 am until Noon and 1-4 pm

Directions to church

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Contact Information

Phone:	518-371-7654
Fax:	518-371-2019
E-Mail:	office@ccrc-cpny.org

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About RCA (Reformed Church in America)

The RCA is the oldest active denomination in the United States with a continuous ministry since 1624. It connected ecumenically in a Formula of Agreement with the Presbyterian Church (USA), the United Church of Christ, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It is a mainline Protestant denomination.

The word Reformed comes from the Protestant Reformation in Europe in the 1500's with such leaders as Martin Luther and John Calvin. Calvin's reformation in Geneva spread to Scotland (where it was called Presbyterian) and to Holland (where it became our ancestor, the Dutch Reformed Church).

Since the first congregation in New Amsterdam in 1628, the Reformed Church has included many different races and nationalities in its congregations.

The Reformed Church has about 960 congregations in the United States and Canada with an active confirmed membership of 203,000 persons.

It's large and well known congregations are the Marble Collegiate Church in New York City and the Crystal Cathedral in California. There are congregations large and small with clusters in Iowa, in the states around Chicago, western Michigan, the Hudson-Mohawk valley in New York state, New Jersey and Florida. Recent church development efforts have been in the Carolinas, Georgia, Connecticut, Texas and Canada.

This congregation was begun in 1965 with much help from various agencies and boards of the denomination.

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