What We Believe
What is the PCA?
A plain-English introduction
The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) is a denomination of roughly 400,000 members across 1,900 churches in the United States and beyond. We confess the Scriptures as the only infallible rule for faith and life, we hold the Westminster Confession and Catechisms as our doctrinal summary, and we govern ourselves through congregations working together in regional bodies called presbyteries.
In plain terms: we are Bible-centered, theologically historic, and connected to a larger family of churches. Our worship is shaped by the old patterns — Scripture read and preached, sacraments celebrated, the gospel rehearsed in song and prayer — because the Lord has used those patterns to feed His people for two thousand years.
Reformed distinctives
What makes us who we are
We confess the sovereignty of God over all things, the sufficiency of Christ's work for our salvation, the authority of Scripture over our teaching, and the priority of worship — ordinary means, ordinarily given, through which the Spirit does extraordinary things.
We are not a movement interested in fads. We are a congregation joined to a tradition that stretches through John Calvin, through the Apostle Paul, to Christ Himself.
Reformed distinctives
What makes us who we are
The earliest summary of Christian belief, recited weekly by the global Church since the first centuries.
The creed of the ecumenical council of A.D. 381, safeguarding the doctrine of the Trinity.
Our doctrinal summary, written in 1646 by Reformed pastors and theologians, held by Presbyterians worldwide.
Our teaching tools — questions and answers for children and adults alike, memorized across generations.
The earliest summary of Christian belief, recited weekly by the global Church since the first centuries.
The creed of the ecumenical council of A.D. 381, safeguarding the doctrine of the Trinity.
Our doctrinal summary, written in 1646 by Reformed pastors and theologians, held by Presbyterians worldwide.
Our teaching tools — questions and answers for children and adults alike, memorized across generations.
“For I delivered to you as of first importance
what I also received: that Christ died for our sins
in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried,
that he was raised on the third day in accordance
with the Scriptures.”
1 Corinthians 15:3–4