Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Cameroon

Last updated April 30, 2019

The Eglise Presbyterien Camerounaise Orthodoxe EPCO is a Reformed Francophone Presbyterian denomination in Cameroon. It is a breakaway group from the French Eglise Presbyterien du Cameroon[EPC]. At the 10th General Assembly in January, 1967 the EPC joined the World Council of Churches and because of these decisions pastor Jean Andjongo started Eglise Presbyterienne Initiale. In 1967 the EPC appealed to court denouncing the illegal appropriation of churches, manses, schools by the new church. It turned out that the massage originated from a catechist Bille Ze Etienne. The authorities sentenced more than 100 pastors, but later they were released except for Jean Adjongo and Etienne, they were imprisoned, and sentenced to 2 and 4 years. The court decided in favor of Eglise Presbyterienne Initiale. It was supported by conservative American churches.

Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the Bight of Biafra, part of the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean. Although Cameroon is not an ECOWAS member state, it is geographically and historically in West Africa with the Southern Cameroons which now form her Northwest and Southwest Regions having a strong West African history. The country is sometimes identified as West African and other times as Central African due to its strategic position at the crossroads between West and Central Africa.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948. Its members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most jurisdictions of the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar, the Old Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, most mainline Protestant churches and some evangelical Protestant churches. Notably, the Catholic Church is not a member, although it sends accredited observers to meetings. The WCC arose out of the ecumenical movement and has as its basis the following statement:

The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches which confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Savior according to the scriptures, and therefore seek to fulfill together their common calling to the glory of the one God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
It is a community of churches on the way to visible unity in one faith and one eucharistic fellowship, expressed in worship and in common life in Christ. It seeks to advance towards this unity, as Jesus prayed for his followers, "so that the world may believe."

In 1970 the denomination was registered by the government. The name changed its name to the EPCO which experienced considerable growth in the following decades.

It has 400,000 members and 163 congregations and 365 house fellowships in 2004. It adheres to the Westminster Confession of Faith and its partner church is the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster.^[1]^[2]

The Westminster Confession of Faith is a Reformed confession of faith. Drawn up by the 1646 Westminster Assembly as part of the Westminster Standards to be a confession of the Church of England, it became and remains the "subordinate standard" of doctrine in the Church of Scotland and has been influential within Presbyterian churches worldwide.

The Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster is a Christian denomination founded by Ian Paisley in 1951. Doctrinally, the church describes itself as fundamentalist, evangelical, and separatist. Most of its members live in Northern Ireland, where the church is headquartered. The church has additional congregations in the Republic of Ireland, Great Britain and Australia, and a sister denomination in North America that has congregations in Canada and the United States. It also has a sister denomination in Nepal which was formed from the Nepal mission to the Unreached in November 2013.

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References

↑ "Address data base of Reformed churches and institutions". Reformiert-online.net. 2004-02-13. Retrieved 2015-05-20.
↑ "Nouveau ! Repertoire Telephonique Des Paroisses Du Cameroun - Joindre Les Freres Et Soeurs Encadreurs Devient Facile - Epco". Jeunessechretienneepco.blog4ever.com. 2011-01-18. Retrieved 2015-05-20.

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[1] "Address data base of Reformed churches and institutions". Reformiert-online.net. 2004-02-13. Retrieved 2015-05-20.

[2] "Nouveau ! Repertoire Telephonique Des Paroisses Du Cameroun - Joindre Les Freres Et Soeurs Encadreurs Devient Facile - Epco". Jeunessechretienneepco.blog4ever.com. 2011-01-18. Retrieved 2015-05-20.