Origin
The church was founded by Francis Schaeffer as a missionary of the Reformed Presbyterian Church (RPCES) in the United States. Schaeffer and his wife, Edith, began L'Abri ("the Shelter") and then started the International Presbyterian Church. They moved from Switzerland to England, bringing the church with them. The first congregation started in Ealing in 1969. [1] They also created congregations among Korean-speaking people, including the London Korean Church. [2] [3] [4]
Missionaries for the church worked in Timișoara, Targu Jiu, Verona, Italy, Ghent, Belgium and Baku, Azerbaijan. [5] [6]
In the 2010's, some dissatisfied evangelical congregations from the Church of Scotland have joined the International Presbyterian Church, with former ministers, elders (males only) and members creating four new Scottish congregations out of existing Church of Scotland congregations (although, one has since closed). These movements to another denomination was especially due to the liberalisation of the Church of Scotland on matters of human sexuality in the twentieth century. [7]
Organization
The IPC has four presbyteries, namely a British Presbytery, a European Proto-Presbytery, Korean Presbytery and a South-Korean Proto-Presbytery [8] which all follow a common Book of Church Order. The IPC website lists 48 congregations in total.
The British Presbytery comprises seventeen English-speaking congregations in the United Kingdom. They are:
England
- Brentford, Immanuel [9]
- Chester, Trinity Church [10]
- Coventry, Grace Church [11]
- Derby, Christ Church [12]
- Ealing [13]
- Hammersmith, Grace Church [14]
- Hounslow, Town Church [15]
- Ilford, All Nations Church [16]
- Leeds, Christ Church Central [17]
- Liss, St Peters [18]
- Luton, Ebenezer Chapel [19]
- Romford, Christ Church Romford [20]
- Southall, New Life Masih Ghar [21]
- York, Trinity Church [22]
- Exeter, All Saints
Scotland
- Aberdeen, Trinity Church [23]
- Inverness, Highland International Church [24]
- Larbert: Grace Church [25]
Formerly, there was Grace Community Church, based in Kyle of Lochalsh, Scotland. It closed during 2020.
These Presbyteries form a synod. [26]
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