Restoration Family Church focussing on the importance of the family

Paul H. Williams

Sunday Gleaner Writer

THE RESTORATION Family Church (RFC), located at 39 Ken Hill Drive, Pembroke Hall, Kingston 19, is a nondenominational organisation that is affiliated with an international group of churches called Church of the Nations. Founded by David Ferguson and Mark Wedderburn, it had its first meeting on September 9, 2001. Its current leaders are Wedderburn and Cecil Courtney Bailey

And, why was the church established? The leaders told The Sunday Gleaner that the founding elders believed that “God had called them to start a local fellowship in a community that would be able to provide help and support to the community while bringing people to Christ”.

The founders also believed that “God had called them to help broken people and broken families to find restoration through Jesus Christ”. The RFC has always had a focus on the importance of the family, they said.

When asked how fundamentally different RFC is from other denominations, Bailey said, “I wouldn’t like to compare because there are multiple denominations, and we are not experts on them. What I would say is that we believe that fundamentally ‘church’ is designed to reflect how a family should operate.

“In other words, it is based on authentic relationships, genuine care for each other, mutual support and shared values and respect for authority. This is the model that seems to be demonstrated in Acts chapter 2.”

Its fundamental doctrine is underpinned by a belief in the Bible, God, Jesus Christ, salvation, baptism, the Holy Spirit, Satan and man. The Bible is the Word of God, written and complete, is inspired by the Holy Spirit, and is the final authority in all matters of faith and practice.

“We believe that the Bible addresses every aspect of the life of the individual and the life of a nation. We believe that a healthy nation is built on a community of healthy families as outlined by scripture. We believe that every person has value and that they can only truly maximise that value when they are connected to God, the Father who created them and caused them to be born,” the leaders said.

God is one eternal, infinite and sovereign God, manifested to man as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Associated with that, they believe “in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His atonement for man through His shed blood and death, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal visible return in power and glory”.

Salvation may be attained by God’s grace, through repentance, faith in God, and cleansing by the shed blood of Jesus, and regeneration by the Holy Spirit. All believers should be baptised by immersion in water in obedience to the command of the Lord Jesus Christ. Baptism in water is a personal and dynamic meeting with God, and a sign of the believer’s death, burial and resurrection in Jesus Christ.

They also believe in the personal bodily and glorious return of the Lord Jesus Christ, the resurrection of the just and the unjust, “the eternal blessedness of the redeemed” and “the conscious eternal punishment of the wicked in Hell”.

“We believe Satan is a spiritual being, the originator of sin and the enemy of God and man, whose destiny is eternal punishment,” they said. “Man himself was created in the image of God to have fellowship with God, but fell into sin and Man can only be restored to his God-intended relationship through true repentance and personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.”

But, what do they not believe in? That there are multiple ways to God, Jesus Christ is the only way; that the scriptures are not relevant for today; and that Church should not have a significant role in the development of national policy. “We believe that for a nation to thrive, then righteousness must be the foundation of that nation,” they shared.

And, every denomination has a particular way in which worship is manifested, and that might be the reason why some people leave or join a congregation. At RFC, “worship starts on the individual level, only a born-again believer can worship God accurately according to scripture”.

“Our local fellowship is based on the gathering of believers who come together generally on a Sunday to spend time together seeking to honour the Lord through expressions of praise and adoration generally guided during a time of music, singing and testimony. We deliberately make room for the ministry of the Holy Spirit to the congregation. We generally have a time of sharing God’s word, and we will also have times of focused prayer,” the leaders shared.

And, why should a potential convert visit, or even become a member? Bailey replied, “A potential convert will experience a friendly congregation focused on pleasing God and learning how to understand the scriptures and apply them to our everyday lives. Our services are reasonably relaxed and interactive. If you become a member, you don’t just become a member of the church, but you become a member of the RFC family.

“We are focused on teaching the truth of God’s word and experiencing and demonstrating the presence and the power of God; we focus on developing a real and intimate relationship with God. We want every believer to progress through the stages of a new convert to become a mature believer who is able to advance the Kingdom of God in the community, the city, the nation, and the world at large.”