The Bible Alone

We believe the Bible, the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, is the Word of God, given by inspiration of God, infallible and without error in all that it teaches. It is the only rule of faith and practice. Everything the church believes and does must be governed by Scripture.

Q. 2. What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him?

A. The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him.

Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q. 2

A Confessional Church

Every church has a creed — the only question is whether it is written down. Seven Springs, with the whole Presbyterian Church in America, receives the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms as the confession of our faith. These documents, written by the Westminster Assembly in the 1640s, are not above the Bible; they are a faithful summary of what the Bible teaches. Our elders and deacons take vows that they sincerely receive and adopt the Confession and Catechisms “as containing the system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures.”

What We Believe in Brief

• God. There is one living and true God, eternally existing in three persons — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit — the same in substance, equal in power and glory (WCF 2; WSC 6).
• Creation and the Fall. God made all things of nothing by the word of His power, and made man in His own image. Our first parents fell into sin, and all mankind fell with them (WCF 4, 6).
• Christ. The eternal Son of God became man, and is the only Mediator between God and man. He lived a sinless life, died as a sacrifice for sin, rose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven, and will come again to judge the world (WCF 8).
• Salvation by Grace. God justifies sinners freely, not for anything done by them, but for Christ’s sake alone, imputing His righteousness to them, received by faith alone (WCF 11).
• The Christian Life. Those whom God justifies, He also sanctifies by His Word and Spirit, so that they increasingly die to sin and live to righteousness (WCF 13).
• The Church. Christ has given His church the ministry, the oracles, and the ordinances of God for the gathering and perfecting of the saints (WCF 25).
• The Means of Grace. Christ communicates the benefits of redemption to His people through His ordinances, especially the Word, sacraments, and prayer (WSC 88).
• The Last Things. Christ will return in glory, the dead will be raised, and all will stand before His judgment seat (WCF 32–33).

Reformed and Presbyterian

We are Reformed in our doctrine: we confess the sovereignty of God in salvation, salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, according to Scripture alone, to the glory of God alone. We are Presbyterian in our government: the church is governed by elders chosen by the congregation and joined together in presbyteries and the General Assembly.