Reformed Presbyterian Church General Assembly | |
---|---|
Abbreviation | RPCGA |
Type | Western Christian |
Classification | Protestant |
Orientation | Reformed |
Polity | Presbyterian |
Origin | 1991 |
Separated from | Reformed Presbyterian Church in the United States |
Separations | Covenant Presbyterian Church |
Congregations | 12 [1] |
Official website | https://www.rpcga.org |
The Reformed Presbyterian Church General Assembly (RPCGA) is a Presbyterian church body and conservative denomination in the United States established in 1991. The RPCGA was founded by members of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in the United States.
The first American presbytery was formed in Philadelphia in 1706. In 1716 it became the Synod of Philadelphia (Synod of the Trinity). [2] In 1729, the Synod of Philadelphia adopted the Westminster Confession and the Larger and Shorter catechisms as its confession of faith. In 1788, the Synod adopted the official name of the "Presbyterian Church in the United States of America" and held its first meeting in 1789. [3] In 1857, the New School movement became divided over the issue of slavery and formed the United Synod of the Presbyterian Church. In 1861, the Old School movement of the South withdrew from the national church and formed the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America, a continuing church of the former body. [4] Near the end of the American Civil War, the Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America and a few smaller synods formed the Presbyterian Church in the United States. [5] In 1972, a conservative movement removed itself from the Presbyterian Church in the United States to form the Presbyterian Church in America. In 1982, the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod merged with the Presbyterian Church in America.
In 1983, a few churches in the North Georgia Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in America withdrew from the denomination over purity of doctrine and ecclesiastical practices, calling themselves Covenant Presbytery. In 1985, Covenant Presbytery formed the Reformed Presbyterian Church in the United States as a continuing church. In 1990, the Reformed Presbyterian Church divided into four presbyteries and changed its name to the Reformed Presbyterian Church in the Americas.
The following year three of the four presbyteries chose to depart, citing the Reformed Presbyterian Church in America's failure to establish and maintain a system of church discipline and inability to finalize on a constitution. [6]
After the departure, the Western Presbytery dissolved itself with several churches electing to join with the Westminster Presbytery. One member church left the Hanover Presbytery (which chose to stand alone to this day) and also joined the Westminster Presbytery. During this time, the Westminster Presbytery sought counsel with representatives of several other denominations, some of whom requested that the presbytery join with their denomination.
Its first general assembly adopted the Book of Church Order utilizing large parts of the original from the Westminster Assembly. Boundaries for four presbyteries were laid out, with churches established in each.
The RPCGA is a conservative Protestant Christian body and continuing church. It is also confessional. [7] The church upholds the teaching of Sola scriptura , receiving it as the inspired and inerrant Word of God. [7] A literal interpretation of the Bible is followed and clearly demonstrated in its stances on creationism, homosexuality and same-sex marriage, feminism, and liberalism. It forbids the "teaching or practice" of charismaticism, dispensationalism, Arminianism, altar calls, abortion, homosexuality, neo-orthodoxy, modernism, humanism, feminism, evolution, Roman Catholicism, and liberalism. [7] [8] [9] [10] It holds to Young Earth creationism. [7] In addition to the Bible the RPCGA adopts the Book of Church Order containing the Westminster Confession and Larger and Shorter catechisms as its subordinate standards.
The church's teachings forbid women in church office and rejects compulsory military service for women. [7] [11]
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church. Presbyterian churches derive their name from the presbyterian form of church government by representative assemblies of elders. Many Reformed churches are organised this way, but the word Presbyterian, when capitalized, is often applied to churches that trace their roots to the Church of Scotland or to English Dissenter groups that formed during the English Civil War.
The Presbyterian Church (USA), abbreviated PC (USA), is a mainline Protestant denomination in the United States. It is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the country, known for its liberal stance on doctrine and its ordaining of women and members of the LGBT community as elders and ministers. The Presbyterian Church (USA) was established with the 1983 merger of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, whose churches were located in the Southern and border states, with the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, whose congregations could be found in every state.
The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) is the second-largest Presbyterian church body, behind the Presbyterian Church (USA), and the largest conservative Calvinist denomination in the United States. The PCA is Reformed in theology and presbyterian in government.
The Cumberland Presbyterian Church is a Presbyterian denomination spawned by the Second Great Awakening. In 2019, it had 65,087 members and 673 congregations, of which 51 were located outside of the United States. The word Cumberland comes from the Cumberland River valley where the church was founded.
The Presbyterian Church in the United States was a Protestant denomination in the Southern and border states of the United States that existed from 1861 to 1983. That year, it merged with the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (UPCUSA) to form the Presbyterian Church (USA).
The United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (UPCUSA) was the largest branch of Presbyterianism in the United States from May 28, 1958, to 1983. It was formed by the union of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA), often referred to as the "Northern" Presbyterian Church, with the United Presbyterian Church of North America (UPCNA), a smaller church of Covenanter-Seceder tradition at a conference in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in May 1958. Vigorous ecumenical activity on the part of PCUSA leaders led to this merger, something of a reunion of two long-separated branches of the larger Presbyterian family deriving from the British Isles.
The Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) is a confessional Presbyterian denomination located primarily in the United States, with additional congregations in Canada, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. It was founded by conservative members of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA), who objected to the rise of Liberal and Modernist theology in the 1930s. The OPC is considered to have had an influence on evangelicalism far beyond its size.
The Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) is an American church body holding to presbyterian governance and Reformed theology. It is most distinctive for its approach to the way it balances certain liberties across congregations on "non-essential" doctrines, such as egalitarianism in marriage or the ordination of women, alongside an affirmation of core "essential" doctrinal standards.
The Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA) was the first national Presbyterian denomination in the United States, existing from 1789 to 1958. In that year, the PCUSA merged with the United Presbyterian Church of North America, a denomination with roots in the Seceder and Covenanter traditions of Presbyterianism. The new church was named the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. It was a predecessor to the contemporary Presbyterian Church (USA).
The Bible Presbyterian Church is an American Protestant denomination in the Calvinist tradition.
The Westminster Presbyterian Church in the United States (WPCUS) was a Presbyterian denomination, founded in United States in 2006, by Rev. Brian Schwertley, formerly affiliated with Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church and other pastors formerly affiliated with other Presbyterian denominations. The founders were particularly concerned with the perceived spread of liberal teaching within Presbyterianism in the United States and in particular with Federal Vision theology, which they believe supplies a different understanding of doctrines such as justification and the perseverance of the saints.
The fundamentalist–modernist controversy is a major schism that originated in the 1920s and 1930s within the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. At issue were foundational disputes about the role of Christianity; the authority of the Bible; and the death, resurrection, and atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Two broad factions within Protestantism emerged: fundamentalists, who insisted upon the timeless validity of each doctrine of Christian orthodoxy; and modernists, who advocated a conscious adaptation of the Christian faith in response to the new scientific discoveries and moral pressures of the age. At first, the schism was limited to Reformed churches and centered around the Princeton Theological Seminary which had fundamentalist faculty members found Westminster Theological Seminary when Princeton went in a liberal direction. However, it soon spread, affecting nearly every Protestant denomination in the United States. Denominations that were not initially affected, such as the Lutheran churches, eventually were embroiled in the controversy, leading to a schism in the United States.
The Old Side–New Side controversy occurred within the Presbyterian Church in Colonial America and was part of the wider theological controversy surrounding the First Great Awakening. The Old and New Side Presbyterians existed as separate churches from 1741 until 1758. The name of Old Side–New Side is usually meant as specifically referring to the Presbyterian Church. When one is referring to the debate as a whole, Old and New Light is usually used.
The Reformed Presbyterian Church - Hanover Presbytery is a very conservative Protestant, Presbyterian denomination, founded in 1991, with congregations in United States and also in Brazil.
The Covenant Presbyterian Church (CPC) is a Protestant, Reformed denomination, founded in United States in 2006 by a group of churches that split from the Reformed Presbyterian Church General Assembly for supporting paedocommunion.
ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians is an evangelical Presbyterian denomination in the United States. As a Presbyterian church, ECO adheres to Reformed theology and Presbyterian polity. It was established in 2012 by former congregations and members of the Presbyterian Church (USA), abbreviated PC(USA). Denominational disputes over theology—particularly ordination of practicing homosexuals as pastors and gay marriage—and bureaucracy led to the founding of ECO. In 2018, ECO has over 383 congregations, 103,425 covenant partners and over 500 pastors. ECO churches are egalitarian in beliefs and ordain women as pastors and elders.
The National Presbyterian Church in Mexico is the second-largest Protestant church, and the largest Reformed denomination in Mexico. It is present throughout the country, and is particularly strong in the states of Tabasco, Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatan, Nuevo León, Aguascalientes and Mexico City.
Presbyterianism has had a presence in the United States since colonial times and has exerted an important influence over broader American religion and culture.
The Adopting Act of 1729 is an act of the Synod of Philadelphia that made the Westminster Standards, particularly the Westminster Confession of Faith, the official confessional statements for Presbyterian churches in colonial America. Presbyterian ministers were required to believe or "subscribe" to the "essential and necessary" parts of the standards, but defining what was essential and necessary was left to individual presbyteries to determine.
The Faith Presbytery, Bible Presbyterian Church (FPBPC) is a Reformed Christian denomination formed in 2008 by conservative Presbyterian clergy and churches who disassociated from the Bible Presbyterian Synod Synod. Faith Presbytery continues in the same spirit and stand taken by the Bible Presbyterian Church since its founding in 1937.