Sola Scriptura
The Evangelical Reformed Seminary is a ministry of the churches of the EPCU and UERC. As such, this seminary embraces, teaches, and defends the Reformed faith as these churches hold it. In particular, we hold to the Reformed faith because it is based on Scriptures, the inspired, infallible, and inerrant1 Word of God – the supreme rule of life and faith, and the supreme judge by which all controversies of religion are to be determined.
Reformed Confessions
Further, we hold to the Reformed faith as it is expressed in the documents of Presbyterian and Reformed churches. These documents include the Heidelberg Catechism, Belgic Confession and the Canons of Dort, the Westminster Standards and the Second Helvetic Confession. These documents are expressions of the Christian faith that arose out of the context of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th and 17th centuries. We believe that these documents faithfully represent the teaching of Holy Scripture and we further believe that they are in complete conformity with the ecumenical creeds of Christendom – the Apostle’s, Nicene, and Athanasian creeds.
Faculty
All faculty, board members, and executive staff are required to subscribe the Reformed standards, as mentioned earlier. We require all our faculty members to teach in a way consistent with these standards. In our teaching we are wholehearted in line with the understanding of Scripture that is reflected in these confessions.
If non-reformed guest lecturers are invited to teach in areas of their special expertise, they will be expected to respect the views and goals of the seminary and not to emphasize their non-reformed views.
All classes of visiting professors will be facilitated by a member of the local staff to assure a quality reformed education, which applies to the needs of the students.
Students
The Seminary wants to serve the Reformed and Presbyterian churches. We do not require our students, to subscribe to any of the Reformed creeds mentioned before, either at the beginning or end of their program. Each church must be responsible for examining seminary graduates as to their adherence to the Reformed standards.
The seminary also welcomes students from other churches, who do not subscribe to any of the Reformed creeds as mentioned before, but we will not tolerate continual objections in the classroom to the Reformed faith, which may hinder other students’ growth. Instructors will deal with questions and objections in so far as it serves to enhance the teaching environment, without detracting from it.
1 To say that the Word of God is “inerrant” and “infallible” means that we confess the total truthfulness and trustworthiness of the words of Scripture. As written in the original autographs, the words are factual – without error or mistake. This is the historic Christian view, found clearly in both the Westminster Confession and Belgic Confession.