History
Madras Reformed Church, formerly known as "The Gathering at Madras", was born from the original desire to see a gospel preaching church perpetuated in the city of Madras. The Gathering at Madras was a church plant stemming from a Calvary Chapel church in Prineville, OR, under the planning of an elder and deacon in that church, though it was not planted as a Calvary Chapel. The small church maintained that the Scriptures would be preached verse by verse and had the desire to change the church model into one with a plurality of preaching elders.
The church began in 2018 with two families and a worship leader moving from Prineville to Madras with the sole intent of starting a gospel preaching church as a gathering of people to worship God. The church would gather in a living room and at times meet at different houses, singing hymns and worship songs, and sitting under the expositional preaching of God's Word. The primary goal was not church growth but rather ministering the gospel and discipling others. After two years the church grew to about thirty people and moved into the red brick church building, where services have been held since 2019.
Despite the trend we have seen in many churches nowadays, the church wasn't originally called "The Gathering at Madras" to be trendy or ambiguous; rather it was intended to be a reminder that the church is not a building, but the corporate gathering of the saints. Starting off as a small house church, the reminder for everyone serving (which ended up sticking as a church slogan) was: "Unimpressive, but Authentic". There wasn't a flaunting of personal ability, since no one was a professional. Though there was a striving for excellence in all of worship, there was a sincere desire to present an authentic Christian faith and hope in a Biblical Christ. The corporate worship was simple: prayer, singing praises, and preaching the Word, as well as fellowship and celebrating communion to remember the reason for our hope.
From the infancy stages of the church, there has been a healthy desire to break away from the expectation of "American Christianity" and a desire to have Scripture inform the practices of it. Inspired by the Reformers of the 16th and 17th century and the saying "Ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda" (meaning "the church reformed, always reforming"), we held to the conviction that the church should always evaluate itself in light of the practices of the early church in Scripture to inform our worship, rather than looking to the common practices of churches today.
Why change the name?
After eight years of being known as "The Gathering at Madras", the leadership thought it prudent to change the name of the church to "Madras Reformed Church" in order to identify it as a reformed church in the community we live in. The name defines the three elements we wanted the community to know about us when looking for a church in Madras: the location, identifying the type of preaching you would hear here, and that we are a church.
The church is a melting pot of believers from all sorts of denominational backgrounds, but if you were to visit this church, you would be welcomed into a family of Christians united in the gospel by the grace of God - believers committed to worshipping God, gathering together, and discipling one another.
The church began in 2018 with two families and a worship leader moving from Prineville to Madras with the sole intent of starting a gospel preaching church as a gathering of people to worship God. The church would gather in a living room and at times meet at different houses, singing hymns and worship songs, and sitting under the expositional preaching of God's Word. The primary goal was not church growth but rather ministering the gospel and discipling others. After two years the church grew to about thirty people and moved into the red brick church building, where services have been held since 2019.
Despite the trend we have seen in many churches nowadays, the church wasn't originally called "The Gathering at Madras" to be trendy or ambiguous; rather it was intended to be a reminder that the church is not a building, but the corporate gathering of the saints. Starting off as a small house church, the reminder for everyone serving (which ended up sticking as a church slogan) was: "Unimpressive, but Authentic". There wasn't a flaunting of personal ability, since no one was a professional. Though there was a striving for excellence in all of worship, there was a sincere desire to present an authentic Christian faith and hope in a Biblical Christ. The corporate worship was simple: prayer, singing praises, and preaching the Word, as well as fellowship and celebrating communion to remember the reason for our hope.
From the infancy stages of the church, there has been a healthy desire to break away from the expectation of "American Christianity" and a desire to have Scripture inform the practices of it. Inspired by the Reformers of the 16th and 17th century and the saying "Ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda" (meaning "the church reformed, always reforming"), we held to the conviction that the church should always evaluate itself in light of the practices of the early church in Scripture to inform our worship, rather than looking to the common practices of churches today.
Why change the name?
After eight years of being known as "The Gathering at Madras", the leadership thought it prudent to change the name of the church to "Madras Reformed Church" in order to identify it as a reformed church in the community we live in. The name defines the three elements we wanted the community to know about us when looking for a church in Madras: the location, identifying the type of preaching you would hear here, and that we are a church.
The church is a melting pot of believers from all sorts of denominational backgrounds, but if you were to visit this church, you would be welcomed into a family of Christians united in the gospel by the grace of God - believers committed to worshipping God, gathering together, and discipling one another.
Our Beliefs
Today, the Madras Reformed Church exists as a beacon of gospel truth in an era where compromise seems to be the norm in the American church. We believe the authority of Scripture alone as the only infallible and authoritative Word of God to lead and guide all we do. The church's teaching aligns with the following historic creeds and confessions:
- The Apostle's Creed
- The Nicene Creed
- The Athanasian Creed
- The Heidelberg Catechism
- The Westminster Catechism
- The Canons of Dort
- The 5 Solas of the Reformation
More information can be found on the What We Believe page.
- The Apostle's Creed
- The Nicene Creed
- The Athanasian Creed
- The Heidelberg Catechism
- The Westminster Catechism
- The Canons of Dort
- The 5 Solas of the Reformation
More information can be found on the What We Believe page.
