Plymouth Presbytery Bishop James Hill Elected USA Synod President

USA Synod President Bishop James Hill

Due to the retirement of USA Synod President Bishop Paul Duff, the election of a new synod president was scheduled for Sunday.

Due to Bishop Winston of the San Francisco Presbytery and Bishop Doyle of the Houston Presbytery wishing not to be candidates, Bishop Hill of the Plymouth Presbytery accepted the responsibility. The election committee accepted and confirmed Bishop Hill as president of the USA Synod.

Bishop Hill was born in Lowville, New York in 1964.  In 1982, Hill entered Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI and graduated with a MSTh in 1990.  Serving as a pastor in various churches in Connecticut, New York, and Massachusetts, Hill was elected bishop of the Plymouth Presbytery in 2011 after the split of the Puritan Church from the Congregational and United Church of Christ.

We offer our support and prayers for Bishop Hill.

Kenya Presbytery Established

Presbytery of Kenya

We are proud to announce the first church in the mission Presbytery of Kenya.  Rev. Elias Mutombo is the mission bishop and pastor of Kitui Fellowship.

Mission Church in Kitui, Kenya

Bishop Mutombo, Kenya Presbytery

Rev. Thomas Doyle Bishop of Houston Presbytery

Bishop Thomas Doyle, Houston Presbytery

After the retirement of Bishop Paul Duff as bishop of the Houston Presbytery, the Houston Presbytery has elected Rev. Thomas Doyle of Hays Puritan Fellowship (Hays, Kansas) as new Bishop of the Houston Presbytery.

Thank you Lord for calling such a good servant to shepherd your flock.

US Synod President Paul Duff and Newly Consecrated Bishop Charles Winston

US Puritan Synod President, Bishop Paul Duff

We wish to congratulate Bishop Paul Duff, of the Houston Presbytery, on being elected President of the US Puritan Synod.  The results of voting: 358 Yea, 21 Nay.

Bishop Duff's term shall be from July 15, 2015 to July 31, 2018.

Giving Sermon At Installation Service

We also wish to congratulate newly consecrated Bishop of the San Francisco Presbytery, Rev. Charles Winston.  Voting results:
Rev. Winston 214
Rev. Liang 106
Rev. Saltillo 63

Bishop Winston shall begin as Bishop on July 15.  Bishop Winston shall pastor Columbia Heights Puritan Church in San Francisco, CA.

Bishop Charles Winston, Consecration Service

Bishop Candidates For Presbytery of San Francisco

Rev Charles Winston

Born in Souix City, Iowa and graduated from Sioux City High School.  Graduated from Hyles-Anderson College.  Graduated from Manchester Puritan Seminary (Manchester, Iowa) and ordained Puritan Minister in 1991.  STD from Cromwell Puritan Graduate Seminary, 1998.

Pastor Dubuque Bible Church, Dubuque, IA 1993-1996
Pastor Gardenview Fellowship, Kansas City, MO, 1996-2000
Pastor Kansas City Bible Church, Kansas City, MO, 2000-

Mission work performed in Mexico and The Philippines.

Rev. Jaime Saltillo

Born in Los Angeles, CA and graduated from Roosevelt High School.  Graduated from Southern California Bible Institute.  Graduated from Western Puritan Seminary and ordained Puritan Minister in 1997. 

Pastor Los Angeles Union Gospel Mission, Los Angeles, CA 1997-2007
Pastor Happy Hollow Bible Church, Orange County, CA 2007-2014
Pastor Barstow Downtown Bible Fellowship, Barstow, CA 2014-

Mission work performed in Guatemala, Peru, Puerto Rico, and Antigua.

Duan Liang

Born in Kingman, AZ.  Graduated from Wilson High School in Flagstaff, AZ.  Graduated from Christ For The Nations (Dallas, TX) and ordained a Puritan Minister in 1989.

Pastor Royal Lane Congregational Church, Dallas, TX 1989-2000
Pastor Glendale Chinese Bible Fellowship, Glendale, CA 2000-2009
Pastor Los Angeles Chinese Fellowship, Los Angeles, CA 2009-
Director of Orange County Gospel Mission, 2012-

Mission work in Taiwan, China, and Hong Kong

Retirement of Bishop Peter Morimoto - US Synod President

US Synod President - Bishop Morimoto

June 21, 2015

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

It is with heart filled with gratitude and some sadness that I tell you I shall retire as Bishop of the San Francisco Presbytery on July 12, 2015.  I shall also resign as US Synod President after the Puritan Church Convocation on July 11.

My decision to retire was not an easy one, because I love you.

I am eternally grateful to God for allowing me the wonderful opportunity to be with you these past years. My time as bishop has been filled with the splendor and joy of knowing and serving you.  I am also grateful for the 35 years I have been a minister in the Puritan Church. I look with joy as being pastor of Alameda Christian Fellowship in Alameda, CA from July 15.

Thank you Lord, for allowing me to serve you and your people as Bishop of the San Francisco Presbytery. Thank you for giving me the grace to be US Synod President. It has been a blessing that only you through God could grant. I am so grateful that you selected me to be your instrument of grace. You have been so generous with your grace in so many moments of my life. I trust and pray that I have served your beloved people with the love you and they have shown me constantly since the first moment of my arrival as a minister.

I ask that you pray for the candidates that have been selected to replace me as the Bishop of the Presbytery of San Francisco.  May we be guided by the Holy Spirit.

In Christ's love, His unworthy servant,

Rev. Peter Morimoto

US Synod President

Bishop, Presbytery of San Francisco 

Candidates for Bishop of the Presbytery of San Francisco 

Rev. Charles Winston, Kansas City, MO

 

Rev. Jaime Saltillo, Barstow, CA

Rev. Duan Liang, Los Angeles, CA

Our Missionary Bishop In Nagoya, Japan

This is our missionary bishop in Nagoya, Japan, Rev. Daniel Rea and his wife Itsuko.  If you could possibly go to their church website Christian Church of Japan and in the "Contact Form" ask how you can help them start a homeless day center in Nagoya, Japan it would help many needing people.

Thank you and God bless you.

Ministerial Requirements

As approved by the USA Synod and sent to our fellowship abroad.  A statement on ministerial requirements.

As Puritans we have avoided demanding our ministers be graduates of secular or accredited schools.  We wish to affirm this position and to offer an explanation why.

All too often, humble and anointed Christian ministers get beat up by fellow Christians and secular society telling them they are unqualified to teach the Bible. Without a seminary degree, they are told, a person is insufficiently trained to handle the Word of God. But we must ask now as Puritans always have, "Since when do accredited universities and theological seminaries determine who should preach and teach God's Word?" Actually, the Bible gives precise and complete ministry qualifications which should be sufficient for anyone who is called to the ministry. Paul tells us to "beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ" (Colossians 2:8).

Certainly, there is nothing wrong with a ministry degree, or with an education but if the purpose of the degree is to get the praise of men or add a title to your name, then we must ask about motivation. "Let me not, I pray you, accept any man's person, neither let me give flattering titles unto man. For I know not to give flattering titles; in so doing my maker would soon take me away" (Job 32:21-22). 

As Puritans we founded America's first university, Harvard.  This wonderful university was taken over by the Anglicans and now look at the secular trash taught at this once great school of Christian faith and service.  This is why our Puritan schools have always and now reject accreditation.  

Jesus instructed his disciples not to be like the Pharisees who loved the best seats in the synagogues and took on titles such as "Rabbi", "Father", and "Master" (Matthew 23:1-12). Jesus taught by example that greatness in the Kingdom of God is based upon servant hood.

Seminaries today that are accredited are required to:

• Hire non-Christians
• Hire homosexuals
• Include in their curriculum Darwinian theory, secular classes such as psychology and sociology, and secular humanistic philosophy
• Hire only government accrediting agency approved educators and administrators

We simply refuse all this.  It is contrary to our faith and the Word of God.  We shall continue to educate our ministers at our seminaries.  While the degree received is not "accredited" it does show our candidates meet the Gospel standards of ministry.

• They are called by the Holy Spirit
• They have moral disposition
• Honor their father and mother
• Are good husbands and fathers
• Control their household and children
• They have the faith
• They have a solid foundation of the scriptures
• They have obedience to God and clerical authority
• They are a Christian for at least three years before application
• They believe sound doctrine
• They are not alcoholics or drug addicts
• They are heterosexual
• They are not sexual deviants
• They are righteous in Christ
• They are not violent, given to rage, or covetous
• They have been approved by our vocation committee and ministerial board

 Like the apostles of the New Testament, Puritan ministers are diligent students of the Word and have an intimate and personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Each day we are learning more what Paul meant when he said, "No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier" (II Timothy 2:4).

We uphold the standards of Christ above those of secular society and men.  We call upon all our bishops in the USA and abroad to form a seminary in their region as soon as is practical to do so.

Bishop Peter Morimoto, President USA Synod

Bishop Peter Morimoto

Christmas and Easter Directive

The synod of the USA has voted in favor of the following directives concerning the use of liturgical calendars, seasons (ie: Advent, Christmas, Lent, and so forth) and the celebration of Christmas and Easter in churches.




With a majority of parishes, clergy, and bishops deciding:

In keeping with our continual reformation around scriptures we the Puritan Church in America (Congregational Episcopal Church) do ordain the following.

The use of liturgical calendars needlessly divides the year into repetitive celebrations each year that have no basis in scriptures. Each minister, pastor, deacon, and bishop has the needed knowledge of scriptures to perform their duties as preachers without the unneeded crutch of calendars, seasons, and so forth.

Seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, Whitsunday, and so forth have no scriptural basis and are an outdated tool of a time when the faithful had neither education nor personal used Bibles. These seasons are simply contrary to what reformers of our Puritan faith taught and preached to reform the church as a living body. Repetition of readings make for a lazy and uninventive church. Ministers of the Gospels need no such seasons to conduct their services, and the faithful need no such seasons to lift their hearts to God. These seasons are repugnant to faith.

As Christmas and Easter have been overly celebrated with a secular lean, which has found its was into Christian churches, these holidays are no longer recognized as "holy days" or as feasts in the church. Pastors are advised to treat these festivals as any other Sunday. There is no need to mark special services for such pagan festivals in the church when those called as saints need no special days for celebration being saved by the Lord Jesus other than the Sabbath.

Christian Marriage

The Congregational Episcopal Church sets forth the following as doctrine in order to be married in service or to be considered married after membership.

Marriage, by definition, is a lifelong union between one man and one woman. The Church does not recognize, even as a civil marriage, a contracted relationship between two men or two women.  This is keeping with the Gospel as preached by the Lord Jesus Christ:

But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.  Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.  Mark 10: 6-9

From this it is very clear that marriage is to be between one man and one woman.  The Congregational Episcopal Church refuses to redefine marriage even as a civil contract to be anything other than what Jesus Christ defined marriage as.

Let it be known that any minister or deacon of this Church shall be defrocked and excommunicated for performing any marriage ceremony other than as defined above. 

Puritan Church Presbyteries

The following map outlines the Regions of the Puritan Church.

Bishops are:

Plymouth, MA Presbytery (yellow): Rev. James Hill

Houston, TX Presbytery (striped): Rev. Paul J. Duff

San Francisco, CA Region (maroon): Rev. Peter Morimoto

Plymouth, MA includes our missions in Africa and Europe

Houston, TX includes our missions in Latin America

San Francisco, CA includes our missions in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Australia

Our mission in Japan is headed by Rev. Daniel Joseph Rea of the Christian Church of Japan

Our mission in the UK is headed by Rev. Peter Masters, London Fellowship


*Our Puritan use of Bishop is quite different from the Catholic and Anglican use.  Our bishops are elder pastors who provide mentorship and advice to pastors in their presbytery.  Bishops ordain pastors and deacons.  Our bishops do not interfere with congregation operation unless requested by the pastor, or deacons, or congregants.

Financial Directive

As we begin our mission to form a new Christian body we must keep in mind the great financial strain some of our congregations could feel.  There are some ways to take advantage of free services to ease financial obligations.

Consider moving your parish website to a free service like Blogspot, Blogs.com, or Yahoo Blog.  Use free email providers like Yahoo, Gmail, AIM, and MSN.  Use your 501C3 registration to inquire about discounted utilities and waving of sales taxes.  Get ideas from your congregations and fellow pastors.  We at the national office got the idea to use Blogspot from a few of our pastors.

Keep in mind there is no shame in taking advantage of free services, in fact it shows stewardship for the trust our congregations have in our financial trust.  There is a fiduciary trust that we must continually remember.

Churches and International Missions

Use the Contact Form on the sidebar to the right to inquire for Puritan Church in America church locations



Churches in full communion

Free Reformed Churches of North America

Reformed Presbyterian Church General Assembly

Reformed Presbyterian Church North America

Church of Christ (Free Churches)

Traditional Church of Christ

Outside USA Puritan Church Missions and Churches

Christian Church of Japan

Bishop Daniel J. Rea

Nagoya, Japan

Hong Kong Puritan Mission

Pastor Paul Wong

Hong Kong, China

Puritan Church of Taiwan

Bishop Michael Zhou

Taipei, Taiwan

Puritan Church of the United Kingdom

Rev. Peter Masters

London, UK

Use contact form to inquire about UK church locations