About Us
Our History
Christ Presbyterian Church began as a desire and vision for a Biblical/Reformed work in the Victoria area and grew out of a small group Bible Study.
In January of 1998, Rev. Mike Singenstreu was formally called by the South Texas Presbytery as church planter for the Victoria Presbyterian Mission. The first formal worship service began September 13, 1998, with the new name of Christ Presbyterian Mission. The steadily growing group of believers participated in Vacation Bible Schools, home Bible studies and even a summer mission trip to Mexico with an enthusiastic cross-generational group from the growing mission church.
After 3 1/2 years of the Lord’s work in building and growing a group of 9 to 70+ members and regular attendees, the members petitioned the South Texas Presbytery to become a particular congregation of the PCA.
The South Texas Presbytery formally recognized the particular church under the name Christ Presbyterian Church, PCA – Victoria, Texas in June of 2002.
It is by God’s grace that this church was begun and remains. CPC is currently meeting at 1401 N Wheeler St, Victoria TX 77901.
Our Purpose
To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
Our Vision
“Christ Presbyterian Church glorifies the living God, proclaims His grace, and affirms the full authority of Scripture. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, who equips His church to connect individuals and families to the hope in Christ, we serve the needs of home, community, nation and world.”
Christ Presbyterian Church seeks to challenge all those God brings into our midst (privately and corporately) to become passionate, vital and connectional so that they may be equipped to impact the needs of their home, community, nation and world.
People with hope in Christ are:
Passionate to find in Christ and His Word the absolute truth that will direct their lives.
Vital witnesses of changed lives.
Connectional, seeking to connect others to the hope in Christ so that they may be equipped to serve the needs of individuals and families.
Our Mission
CPC has a desire to celebrate the abundant life that our God has provided us through His Son Jesus Christ and the on-going work of His Holy Spirit. Hence, we seek to :“Embrace the Generations with the Word of God”, expecting to see many won to Christ, believers trained, equipped, and winning others to Christ.
Leadership
Elders
David Bagnall
Troy White
Russell Bagnall
David Staggs (Honorably Retired)
Pastor
Mike Singenstreu
Deacon
Benjamin Baylor
Hank Pahmiyer
About Our Pastor
Pastor Mike Singenstreu and his wife, Leslie, have been married 40 plus years (and counting!) and have been blessed with 2 sons, 3 daughters, 3 more sons (in marriage to their daughters), and – so far –7 grandsons that fill their lives with joy!
Eldest son Zachary was taken home to the Lord in 1996 after a bicycle accident at the age of 15. This loss and heaven’s gain is a source of a great deal of passion for the urgent ministry of discipleship that motivates Mike, his family and ministry. Mike & Leslie’s family form the encouragement which keeps that passion strong.
A second career pastor, the love for God’s church began years ago in youth ministry and opportunities for church involvement. After graduating from Reformed Bible College and Covenant Theological Seminary, the pastoral ministry became the focus of that work God had directed. In 1998, Mike was called to Victoria to organize and plant the church that became Christ Presbyterian. Having been the son of a U.S. Army Sergeant and moving from one end of the country to the other, coming to TEXAS was like coming HOME! – “We weren’t born here, but we got here as quick as we could!”
Along with the church and the delight in shepherding a congregation of growing believers, Mike serves as Director of Chaplains of the Victoria Fire Department, and has served on various boards.
That urgent passion expressed in “Embracing the Generations with the Word of God” is not just a mission statement; it is also the purpose of the ministry of glorifying God. For believers of all ages, knowing Him personally, enabling His people to be equipped to know, live, and communicate the Word in relationship forms the body of Christ Presbyterian. The joy of pastoring in that direction is a continual delight.
Presbyterian Church in America
What We Believe
We believe the Bible is the written word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit and without error in the original manuscripts. The Bible is the revelation of God’s truth and is infallible and authoritative in all matters of faith and practice.
We believe in the Holy Trinity. There is one God, who exists eternally in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
We believe that all are sinners and totally unable to save themselves from God’s displeasure, except by His mercy.
We believe that salvation is by God alone as He has sovereignly chosen, from before the foundation of the earth, those He will save. Those He chooses, He grants the gift of grace and faith, so that they will respond with a life marked by repentance and trust in Him.
We believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, who through His perfect life and sacrificial death atoned for the sins of all who will trust in Him, alone, for salvation.
We believe that God is gracious and faithful to His people not simply as individuals but as families in successive generations according to His Covenant promises.
We believe that the Holy Spirit indwells God’s people and gives them the strength and wisdom to trust Christ and follow Him.
We believe that Jesus will return, bodily and visibly, to judge all mankind and to receive His people to Himself.
We believe that all aspects of our lives are to be lived to the glory of God under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Worship
What is worship? It is God’s people gathering together to converse with Him in a manner He has prescribed. God has called His people to His assembly to give us His Words of life. Worship is our response with prayer, praise, and attention to God’s gracious gifts. We need to worship corporately as much as we need to eat, to drink, and to breathe.
Vision
As one communion in the worldwide church, the Presbyterian Church in America exists to glorify God by extending the kingdom of Jesus Christ over all individual lives through all areas of society and in all nations and cultures. To accomplish this end the PCA aims to fill the world with churches that are continually growing in vital worship, in theological depth, in true fellowship, in assertive evangelism and in deeds of compassion.
The distinctiveness of the PCA lies in our stress on both reformation and revival. Without an emphasis on revival, “reformation” may become either a mimicking of political ideologies or sterile doctrinalism. Without an emphasis on reformation, “revival” may become a shallow pietism or mysticism. Only reformation and revival together can accomplish the Great Commission of our Lord.
We are committed to the Scriptures and the historic Westminster Standards based firmly on a biblical theology that answers the questions and issues of each culture and people to which we minister.
We are committed to worship that practices the presence and power of God within the church to the transformation of the surrounding culture through biblical application in population centers around the world.
We are committed to the winning of new converts and their incorporation into the church through the ministry of the Word and to significant ministry to the needy through deeds of mercy and service.
We are committed to the freedom of every member to minister through spiritual gifts and also to the responsibility to do so under spiritual authority and loving discipline.
We are committed to dynamic, prophetic confrontation on non-Christian thought forms and behavior and also to the demonstration of the truth through the practice of holiness and love in Christian fellowship.
We are committed to guarding and strengthening the biblical family and also to a ministry to the broken family forms such as the divorced, the widowed and the unwed parent.
We are committed to teaching and discipling men and women in the whole counsel of God and also to ministering to the needs of the whole person.
True to the Scriptures, the reformed faith, and obedient to the Great Commission of Jesus Christ
Distinctives
WORSHIPING COMMUNITY
Worshiping the one true God is the primary reason for our existence. We were created to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Our worship is a blending of worship styles of the past and present which drives us to focus on the Glory of God.
HEALTHY AND EVANGELISTIC
This means we are anticipating growth and change in the quality and depth of our spiritual life as well as our size.
LOVING FAMILY ATMOSPHERE
We are family oriented. We are a welcoming covenant community; integrating all ages in our teaching and worship.
RELEVANT
We can address the needs of society with Scriptural truths. We are today’s church communicating to today’s people in a way they will understand. We work at helping one another learn how to think biblically and to relate this to home and the culture around us.
BIBLICAL WORLD AND LIFE VIEW
We affirm the full authority of Scripture. We seek to communicate the truths of Scripture with grace-centered preaching and teaching and we teach how those truths apply to our daily lives. A covenantal perspective drives this worldview. The covenant is a pledge or bond that God has initiated with us as His people to be our God and we, His people. This means that we believe that the unifying principle of the Scriptures is the one covenant of grace which has provided only one way to salvation that is by faith alone in Jesus Christ.
KINGDOM CENTERED
We believe that the kingdom of God is not only a future hope but also it is a present reality. We believe that the ascension of Christ means that He is presently reigning from heaven and therefore we are called upon to honor and obey Him in every area of personal lives and to plant the banner of Christ’s Kingdom rule in every area of human endeavor.
PRESBYTERIAN
We believe that the most biblical pattern of government is for churches to be governed by presbyters (elders) who jointly care for God’s people.
CONFESSIONAL
We embrace a written confession of faith, which we believe to be a good and accurate summary of the Bible’s teachings. Our confession consists of the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms. These documents are not without flaw; yet we believe they contain the system of doctrine taught in Scripture. It is important to note that every church has a confession, formal or informal, even though some claim they have “no confession but Christ” or “no creed but the Bible.” Every church summarizes its convictions in some way; hence, both of these are confessions of faith.
REFORMED
Defined 3 ways:
First, denominationally, referring to the approx. 760 denominations worldwide (100-120 million people) that bear the name Reformed or Presbyterian. The PCA is part of this and we trace our roots back to the Protestant Reformation of the 16th Century.
Second, theologically, referring to certain distinctive emphases in the understanding of Scripture that are found particularly in the doctrines of Grace such as a special emphasis on the sovereignty of God, which emphasizes God’s electing grace, the doctrine of the covenant, and justification by faith alone.
Third, culturally, referring to a worldview that seeks to bring the Gospel to bear on every aspect of culture to impact it in a way that glorifies God, emphasizing the Lordship of Christ over all things.
EVANGELICAL
We take our stand with all those who believe in the fundamentals of the faith: a triune God, the deity of Christ, the virgin birth, the substitutionary atonement of Christ, the physical resurrection of Christ, the sure return of Jesus, and the inerrancy and absolute authority of the Bible which is our only faithful and true guide to what we are to believe and how we are to live.