Bible Presbyterian Church

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Bible Presbyterian Church
Bible Presbyterian Church logo.png
Classification Evangelical Protestant
Orientation Orthodox
Theology Reformed
Polity Presbyterian
Origin1937
Collingswood, New Jersey
Separated from Orthodox Presbyterian Church
Separations Evangelical Presbyterian Church, American Presbyterian Church, Faith Presbytery, Bible Presbyterian Church
Congregations28
Members3,500
Official website https://bpc.org/

The Bible Presbyterian Church is an American Protestant denomination in the Reformed tradition. It was founded by members of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church over differences on eschatology and abstinence, after having left the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America over the rise of modernism.

Contents

The denomination comprises 28 churches, 27 in the United States and 1 church in Alberta, Canada divided between the Great Western Presbytery, the Eastern Presbytery, the Great Lakes Presbytery, and the Florida Presbytery. The highest governing body is the Synod.

History

Origin

The Bible Presbyterian Church (BPC) was formed in 1937, predominantly through the efforts of such conservative Presbyterian clergymen as Carl McIntire, J. Oliver Buswell and Allan MacRae. Francis Schaeffer was the first minister to be ordained in the new denomination (1938). The First General Synod of the Bible Presbyterian Church was held in 1938 in Collingswood, New Jersey.

The Bible Presbyterian Church (BPC) and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) split in 1937. The two groups were previously (in 1936) known as the Presbyterian Church of America (not to be confused with the similar but later Presbyterian Church in America). The name had to be abandoned because of a successful lawsuit in civil court by the mainline denomination regarding name infringement – a trademark-violation issue. After leaving the mainline Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA), considerable dissension became apparent among the conservative separatists themselves, and it became evident that two separate denominations were forming. The OPC became identified by Reformed Orthodoxy, and a predominance of amillennial eschatology and leadership of professors at Westminster Seminary. The OPC held to a fundamentalism in doctrine but did not identify with the cultural fundamentalism that characterized the BPC and much of the evangelical world at that time. Machen tried to mediate between the two groups, but he fell ill and died in 1937.

The BPC espoused a conservatism that showed a keen interest in cultural and political matters, Communism in particular. The BPC saw the missions of the PCUSA as largely bankrupt due to the influence of Communism on the missionaries in China. Pearl S Buck, a pulitzer prize winner, was a Presbyterian Missionary and member of the mainline mission board. She had to resign from the mainline missions agency for comments in favor accommodating communism in China. She denigrated what Machen's conservatives stood for. The foreign missions leaders and J Gresham Machen hated what the mainline missions had become, nothing more than liberal humanitarianism. Since the BPC men were in charge of Machen's Mission Board, they saw the mission of Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions (IBPFM) as more integral to the reformed witness than did the OPC. The BPC maintained a strong commitment to foreign missions as part of their commitment to the Great Commission. McIntire was defrocked alongside J Gresham Machen for his refusal to resign from the IBPFM. For decades afterward McIntire voiced his opposition to Communism and promoted conservative politics in conjunction with his BPC church planting efforts. The IBPFM is still an agency of the BPC.

Two main issues made the existence of these factions within the OPC evident. One issue had to do with a conflict over the use of alcoholic beverages. The OPC condemned drunkenness, but nevertheless did not agree that Scripture required Christians to totally abstain from drinking alcoholic beverages, while the BPC (according to the prevailing conservative cultural view of Prohibition) asserted that the Bible prohibited the consumption of alcohol entirely (see also Christianity and alcohol). The BPC of the 21st Century holds to the same biblical view as the OPC that alcohol is permitted in moderation.

The second issue was over eschatological liberty. The Bible Presbyterians were concerned about a growing movement to scrutinize ministers with an pre-millennial eschatology. Pre-millennialism stems from a literal reading of Matthew 24, Daniel 7, and Revelation 20. The amillennialism of the OPC is a less-literal reading which often takes eschatological passages figuratively. On one side the BPC ministers thought liberalism came from a loose reading of Scripture. And on the other the OPC sensed a theological error that could lead to liberalism. Both sides sensed a growing disunity. Though the IBPFM, the mission agency that caused the original split with the PCUSA, was chaired and run by pre-millenarists, missions was not the main concern of the theologians at Westminster Seminary.

Another aspect of this eschatology conflict is the commitment to reformed covenant theology, versus the toleration of dispensationalism. Those on the BPC side had come to tolerate, and some used, the popular Scofield Reference Bible whose notes taught a theological system called dispensationalism. Reformed covenant theology is the main view held by most Reformed churches. Scofield's notes were under considerable criticism by faculty members of Westminster Theological Seminary, who led the OPC. The OPC considered the dispensational form of premillennialism a serious error. Many in the BPC saw the criticisms against Scofield's notes as a swipe against historic premillennialism itself. Many more churches joined the BPC in 1938. One contributing factor of the exodus was the failure of Milo F. Jamison, a dispensationalist, to be elected Moderator of the General Assembly. The Bible Presbyterian Church has always maintained the unity of the covenant of grace (a decidedly non-dispensational position), and, in later years, passed resolutions against dispensationalism in its annual Synod meetings. The BPC is now in formal fraternal relations with the OPC, and many of these theological differences have been resolved.

First split

From 1955 to 1956, a fairly acrimonious split occurred in the Bible Presbyterian Church, resulting in the Bible Presbyterian Church Collingswood Synod and the Bible Presbyterian Church Columbus Synod.

While the Bible Presbyterian Church Collingswood Synod remained under the influence of McIntire, the BPC Columbus Synod, which included such men as Francis Schaeffer and Jay E. Adams would eventually move beyond its Bible Presbyterian Church heritage and eventually would take the name the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in 1961 (which is not to be confused with the current denomination of the same name, founded in 1981). In 1965, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church merged with the Reformed Presbyterian Church, General Synod, a denomination of "new light" Covenanter descent, to form the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod (RPCES). The RPCES would eventually merge with the Presbyterian Church in America in 1982.

Shortly before the split, the Bible Presbyterian Church had established Covenant College and Covenant Theological Seminary, both of which would be supported by the BPC Columbus Synod/Evangelical Presbyterian Church and both would follow the Evangelical Presbyterian Church into first the RPCES and then the PCA.

Second split

The remaining synod retained the name "Bible Presbyterian Church." In the 1970s, a group of churches split from the denomination, espousing a premillennial eschatology. In addition, the separate churches split for advocating exclusive psalmody and abstinence from alcohol. [1] [2] This denomination, known as the American Presbyterian Church, has remained small since its formation. In 2022, it was composed of 2 churches, which together had 60 members. [3] [1]

Third split

On March 28, 2008, the South Atlantic Presbytery voted by a wide margin to disassociate from the Bible Presbyterian Synod, in opposition to formal relations recently established between the Synod and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. The presbytery took the name Faith Presbytery, Bible Presbyterian Church.

Recent history

Today the North American body has 33 congregations. Bible Presbyterians do not have synod-controlled boards for missions and education, but annually approve independent agencies for mission work, as well as colleges and seminaries.

Resources

The BPC publishes and maintains for public use the Westminster Shorter Catechism website.

Doctrine

The Westminster Confession of Faith, Larger Catechism, and Shorter Catechism was adopted in the first Bible Presbyterian Synod in 1938. The Synod adheres to the 1788 American Revision of the Westminster Confession. [4]

The denomination describes itself as an evangelistic and confessional church which believes in historic Calvinism. [5] It holds to the five fundamentals and describes itself as being opposed to modernism, compromise, indifferentism, and worldliness.

General Synod

No.YearDateCityVenueModeratorStated ClerkAssistant Stated Clerk
1st1938Sep 6-8Collingswood, NJRev J U Selwyn TomsRev Dr H McAllister Griffiths
2nd1939Nov 14-16Collingswood, NJRev Dr Harold S LairdRev G Douglas Young
3rd1940Oct 22-24 Chester, PA Rev Dr Allan A MacRae Rev G Douglas Young
4th1941Oct 14-16 Charlotte, NC Rev Edgar A DillardRev G Douglas Young
5th1942Nov 5-10 St. Louis, MO Rev J Gordon HoldcroftRev Stanley P Allen
6th1943Oct 14-19 Wilmington, DE Eld Roland K ArmesRev Stanley P Allen
7th1944Oct 12-17 Greenville, SC Rev Dr J Oliver Buswell, JrRev Stanley P Allen
8th1945May 24–29 Harvey Cedars, NJ Harvey Cedars Bible Presbyterian Conference Rev Flournoy Shepperson, SrRev Stanley P Allen
9th1946May 23–28Collingswood, NJ Bible Presbyterian Church of Collingswood Rev Dr Carl McIntireRev Robert Hastings
10th1947Jul 17-22 Tacoma, WA Tacoma Bible Presbyterian ChurchRev Dr Roy T BrumbaughRev Robert Hastings
11th1948May 13–19 Nashville, TN Bible Presbyterian Church of NashvilleRev Francis A SchaefferRev Robert Hastings
12th1949May 16–31 Baltimore, MD Bible Presbyterian Church of BaltimoreEld Dr Peter Stam, JrRev Robert Hastings
13th1950Jun 1-6St Louis, MOFirst Bible Presbyterian Church of St LouisRev G Douglas YoungRev Robert Hastings
14th1951May 31 - Jun 5 New York, NY Shelton College Rev John W Sanderson, JrRev Robert Hastings
15th1952Aug 21-26 Pasadena, CA Highland College Rev Dr Robert G Rayburn Rev Robert Hastings
16th1953Jun 4-9 Elkins Park, PA Faith Theological Seminary Rev William A MahlowRev Robert Hastings
17th1954Jun 3-9Greenville, SCBible Presbyterian Church of GreenvilleRev Dr Linwood G GebbRev Robert Hastings
18th1955Jun 2-8St Louis, MORev Dr J Oliver Buswell, JrRev Robert Hastings
19th1956Apr 5-11St Louis, MORev Dr R Laird HarrisRev W Harold Mare
20th1956Nov 23-27Collingswood, NJRev Dr Carl McIntireRev A Franklin FaucetteRev Emanuel Peters
21st1957Nov 2-6Collingswood, NJRev Dr Clyde J Kennedy Rev A Franklin FaucetteRev John E Janbaz
22nd1958Oct 22-27Collingswood, NJRev Dr Charles E RichterRev A Franklin FaucetteRev John E Janbaz
23rd1959Oct 21-26Collingswood, NJRev Dr Arthur G SlaghtRev A Franklin FaucetteRev Robert B Vandermey
24th1960Oct 19-24Collingswood, NJRev John E JanbazRev A Franklin FaucetteRev Robert B Vandermey
25th1961Oct 19-24Collingswood, NJRev Dr J Philip ClarkRev A Franklin FaucetteRev Robert B Vandermey
26th1962Oct 17-22Collingswood, NJRev Dr Albert B DoddRev A Franklin FaucetteRev Robert B Vandermey
27th1963Oct 16-22 Cape May, NJ Christian Admiral Rev Dr George W Fincke, JrRev A Franklin FaucetteRev James Blizzard
28th1964Oct 14-20Cape May, NJ Christian Admiral Rev Dr Lynn Gray GordonRev A Franklin FaucetteRev James Blizzard
29th1965Oct 19-25Cape May, NJ Christian Admiral Rev Dr Carl McIntireRev A Franklin FaucetteRev James Blizzard
30th1966May 18–23 Boston, MA Statler Hilton Hotel

References

  1. 1 2 "Report on Presbyterian Denominations in the United States". February 15, 2014. Archived from the original on Nov 11, 2014. Retrieved January 21, 2022.
  2. "History of the American Presbyterian Church" . Retrieved January 21, 2022.
  3. "Churches Federated to the American Presbyterian Church" . Retrieved January 21, 2022.
  4. "WCF -- Bible Presbyterian Church General Synod".
  5. "Bible Presbyterian Church General Synod".