The Mount Zion Presbyterian Church or MZPC is a church that stands in a long tradition of Christian churches known as the “Reformed” churches. Our doctrinal statements are over 300 years old. Our church is also biblical and confessional.

Reformed churches are united around their belief that God is supremely sovereign over all things. All of history, all societies, each individual person, and everything in between is under God’s sovereign control.

This refers to our belief that God wrote a book. This book is what we call the “Bible”. When we describe ourselves as “biblical,” it means that we regard the Bible as the greatest treasure that has ever been or ever will be. All of our life and teaching, both as individuals and as a church, are centered in the words which God wrote for us in His book. 

You can read more about the Bible here.

Our “Confessions” are documents which articulate as clearly as possible what we believe the Bible to teach. As a church, we confess that the interpretation of the Bible given in these documents is the teaching of the Bible itself. We call these documents “the Westminster Standards”.

True, we do regard the Bible as our infallible teacher and supreme authority; but unfortunately, we are sinners, and as sinners we often misunderstand and misinterpret the word of God. Therefore, we use these documents, which our fathers handed down to us, as guides to the proper interpretation of the Bible. We confess that our confessional statements (what we call “The Westminster Standards”) constitute an accurate summary of what the Bible teaches.

These are documents drawn up by a large number of preachers, pastors, and Bible scholars who met in England in the year 1646. These Bible-loving men wanted to be more clear about what the Bible teaches and also more faithful in their ministries. Hence, they sat down and wrote out, as best they could, what they understood the Bible to teach. These documents have proven to be wonderful summaries of biblical truth which have been treasured by Bible-loving people everywhere. This group produced three documents which constitute our Confession: The Westminster Confession of Faith, The Westminster Larger Catechism, and the Westminster Shorter Catechism.

They are called catechisms because of their unique format. You will notice that they are written in a Q&A format. This makes them very useful tools for teaching children as well as anyone of any age who desires a clear guide to the Bible’s teaching. You can find all these documents on this site: The Westminster Confession, The Westminster Larger Catechism, & The Westminster Shorter Catechism (English | Tamil). Be prepared for some of the language to sound archaic and old-fashioned; these documents are well over three hundred years old!

This is a word that describes how our church is governed. This is not of the first importance; but if you are interested, you can read more about it here.

The Gospel is indeed simple; simple enough for even a child to understand (What is the Gospel?). It is important to remember that these definitions and terms are not meant to divide us, but to unite us. We want to be united under the banner of a robust, loving, humble, repentant, dependant, Christ-centered, Spirit-filled, God-exalting, kingdom-advancing body of believers. We believe in a positive expression of the Reformed faith, that is, one that promotes and defends good, Bible-based teaching while at the same time exhibiting sincere love, joy, humility, patience, and kindness. You can read more about the unity of believers in this book.