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.
Montreat College is a private, Christian college in Montreat, North Carolina. Founded in 1916, Montreat College offers associate, bachelor's, and master's degree programs for traditional and adult students. The college's main campus for four-year traditional students is located in Montreat, North Carolina, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains outside of Asheville, North Carolina.
Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, currently branded as Louisville Seminary, is a seminary affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA), located in Louisville, Kentucky. It is one of ten official PC (USA) seminaries, though it currently identifies as an ecumenical seminary, with recent student enrollment representing many faith traditions.
Donald Paul Hustad was a recognized leader in evangelical church music for six decades. Although he was an esteemed musician, composer, and teacher, Hustad's richest legacy resides in his informed criticism of evangelical church music and his well-developed philosophy of worship communicated through lectures, articles, and books.
John Haddon Leith was a Presbyterian theologian and ordained minister who was the Pemberton Professor of Theology at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia from 1959 to 1990. He authored at least 18 books and countless essays on Christianity, over the years moving from a moderate to a strongly critical, conservative perspective on the Presbyterian Church (USA).
John A. Dalles is a clergyman and hymnwriter who was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A graduate of Penn State, Lancaster Theological Seminary and Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, he is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Having served the First Presbyterian Church of South Bend, Indiana and the Fox Chapel Presbyterian Church, from 1997 until 2019 he served as Senior Pastor of Wekiva Presbyterian Church in Longwood, Florida. Following his 22-year senior pastorate at Wekiva, he was the Interim Senior Minister and Head of Staff of the Shadyside Presbyterian Church, in Pittsburgh, 2019-2021.
Wekiva Presbyterian Church is a large congregation of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) founded in May 1977.
Russell Schulz-Widmar is a composer, author, and conductor, and a former Professor of Liturgical Music at the Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas. For much of his career he lived in Austin, Texas and upon retirement he has divided his time between Berlin, Germany and Dallas, Texas. He is married to Hubertus Schulz-Wilke.
George William Knight III was an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. He was a theologian, author, preacher, churchman, and adjunct professor of New Testament at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Taylors, South Carolina. Formerly, he was the founding Dean and Professor of New Testament at Knox Theological Seminary. Prior to his appointment at Knox Theological Seminary, he taught New Testament and New Testament Greek at Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. As a pastor, he planted Covenant Presbyterian Church in Naples, Florida and has served numerous other local churches in the Presbyterian Church in America and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. A former president of the Evangelical Theological Society, he has also taught and preached the Bible at many other seminaries and churches around the world. He has authored several works, most notably The Pastoral Epistles and a short commentary of Timothy and Titus as included in the Baker Commentary on the Bible. He received his theological doctorate from Free University of Amsterdam in 1968. Dr. Knight was a member of the General Assembly-appointed Ad Interim Committee to study the number of ordained offices in the Presbyterian Church in America according to Scripture. His Ad Interim Report of the Number of Offices by George W. Knight IIIArchived 2011-09-27 at the Wayback Machine was incorporated into the polity of the Presbyterian Church in America. He also served on an ad interim committee to study the issue of marriage, divorce and remarriage, which brought about the 1992 publication of a Position Paper of the Presbyterian Church in America on Remarriage and Divorce, 1992.Archived 2011-09-27 at the Wayback Machine.
Catherine Gunsalus González is an American historian, theologian, and ordained Presbyterian minister who is professor emerita of church history at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia.
Laura S. Mendenhall is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church USA and was previously the president of Columbia Theological Seminary. She is now the Senior Philanthropy Advisor for the Texas Presbyterian Foundation.
Christine Roy Yoder is J. McDowell Richards Professor of Biblical Interpretation at Columbia Theological Seminary, and an ordained minister of word and sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA). She is currently serving as interim dean of faculty and vice president for academic affairs.
Rodger Nishioka is an American preacher, Seminary professor, and Christian educator. He currently serves as director of Adult Educational Ministries at Village Church in Prairie Village, Kansas. He was previously the Benton Family Associate Professor of Christian Education at Columbia Theological Seminary. Nishioka is noted for his work with young people and his reputation as a popular "keynoter" at inter-denominational Christian youth conferences.
Rachel Henderlite was an American religious leader who was the first woman to be ordained a pastor of the Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS), which later merged with the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (1983) to become the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. She held professorships at several American colleges and seminaries, wrote six books, and was active in various ecumenical efforts.
Kimberly Bracken Long is currently the editor of Call to Worship: Liturgy, Music, Preaching, and the Arts, the liturgy journal for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). She is also the pastor of two small United Methodist churches: Antioch United Methodist Church and Spedden United Methodist Church. She was ordained as a minister of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and a professor of sacramental and liturgical worship in the tradition of the reformed church at Columbia Theological Seminary. Her work has been influential in turning greater attention towards the meaning and place of sacraments and liturgical language in worship. Her most recent work focuses on the theology and history of marriage, with a particular emphasis on inclusive marriage liturgy. She is married to professor of preaching Thomas G. Long.
Martha L. Moore-Keish is an American theologian ordained in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Her work is primarily focused on Reformed theology, liturgical theology and ecumenical theology, including engagement with interfaith issues around the world. She currently engages this work as the J.B. Green Associate Professor of Theology at Columbia Theological Seminary.
Bon Air Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), which began in 1884, is an historic Presbyterian church and preschool located on Huguenot Road in Bon Air, Virginia, a census-designated place (CDP) in Chesterfield County, Virginia, in the United States. The church and its location are thought to be named after the French term for "good air". The name choice may have been influenced by the 18th century settlement in the region of religious refugee French Huguenots and by the later popularity of the settlement as a summer resort and park accessible by streetcar from Richmond. Bon Air Presbyterian Church first began worshiping in a little Victorian Gothic building known as the “Union Chapel", located on Buford Road, south of the James River in the Southside of Richmond. "Union Chapel" served the Bon Air Presbyterian congregation until 1963. The number of members grew, and a new church building was erected at 9201 West Huguenot Road in North Chesterfield, Virginia to meet the needs of the larger congregation.
Ruth Carolyn Duck is an ordained pastor in the United Church of Christ, a liturgical theologian and retired professor of worship who taught for 27 years at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois. Duck is best known for her work as a composer, writer and adaptor of hymns. In 1973, she was part of the committee at the Ecumenical Women's Center of Chicago that produced Because We Are One People, the first 20th century collection of original and adapted hymns that promoted the use of “non-sexist language”. Since that time, Duck has written over 150 hymns, edited three books of sources for worship services and written on the topic of Trinitarian theology, all with an eye toward facilitating the use of gender inclusive language in the context of Christian worship. She is a leading, contemporary champion for and developer of inclusive language worship sources.
Protestant liturgy or Evangelical liturgy is a pattern for worship used by a Protestant congregation or denomination on a regular basis. The term liturgy comes from Greek and means "public work". Liturgy is especially important in the Historical Protestant churches, both mainline and evangelical, while Baptist, Pentecostal, and nondenominational churches tend to be very flexible and in some cases have no liturgy at all. It often but not exclusively occurs on Sunday.
