e believe that not only the faith of the church, but also the government of the church must be regulated by Holy Scripture. As such, we believe that the Bible teaches the following principles:

• the autonomy of the local church;
• the cooperation and commitment of the local churches when it comes to certain common causes and needs;
• the recognition of the biblical offices of minister, elder and deacon;
• the government of the local church has been given to the pastor and the elders;
• the need for church discipline.

In order to implement these principles in a practical way, we have adopted what is called a Church Order (Constitution). It contains 76 Articles wich are divided into four sections dealing with:

• the offices and supervison of doctrine (ministers, missionaries, elders, deacons)
• the assemblies of the church (consistory, classis, regional synod, general synod)
• the liturgy of the church (worship services, sacraments, ceremonies)
• the discipline of the church