The Presbyterian Church (USA), abbreviated PCUSA, 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.
Presbyterianpolity is a method of church governance typified by the rule of assemblies of presbyters, or elders. Each local church is governed by a body of elected elders usually called the session or consistory, though other terms, such as church board, may apply. Groups of local churches are governed by a higher assembly of elders known as the presbytery or classis; presbyteries can be grouped into a synod, and presbyteries and synods nationwide often join together in a general assembly. Responsibility for conduct of church services is reserved to an ordained minister or pastor known as a teaching elder, or a minister of the word and sacrament.
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 Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland was formed in 1893. The Church identifies itself as the spiritual descendant of the Scottish Reformation. The Church web-site states that it is 'the constitutional heir of the historic Church of Scotland'. Its adherents are occasionally referred to as Seceders or the Wee Wee Frees. Although small, the church has congregations on five continents.
The Presbyterian Church in Canada is a Presbyterian denomination, serving in Canada under this name since 1875. The United Church of Canada claimed the right to the name from 1925 to 1939. According to the Canada 2021 Census 301,400 Canadians identify themselves as Presbyterian, that is, 0.8 percent of the population.
Washington Presbytery, of the Presbyterian Church (USA) is the association of PCUSA churches in Washington and Greene counties in Pennsylvania.
David Steele, Sr. was a Reformed Presbyterian or Covenanter minister.
Synod of the Trinity is an upper judicatory of the Presbyterian Church headquartered in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. The synod oversees sixteen presbyteries covering all of Pennsylvania, most of West Virginia, and a portion of eastern Ohio.
John Thomson or Thompson was born in Ireland and became a minister in the Presbytery of Philadelphia, later the Synod of Philadelphia. He served as a missionary in both Virginia and North Carolina, where he died a natural death in 1753. He is buried in the cemetery of Centre Presbyterian Church in Mooresville, North Carolina.
The Brush Run Church was one of the earliest congregations associated with the Restoration Movement that arose during the Second Great Awakening of the early 19th century. In 1811, a congregation of Christian reformers known as the Christian Association of Washington (Pennsylvania) reconstituted itself as a church and constructed a new building to replace the temporary log building where they began. Because it was built on the farm of William Gilchrist, near a stream called Brush Run, both the building and the congregation became known as Brush Run Church. It was the center of activity for Thomas and Alexander Campbell, father and son respectively, in their movement for Christian reform on the American frontier. The meeting house was later used as a blacksmith shop, then as a post office and finally it was moved to Bethany, Virginia.
Thaddeus Dod was a prominent Presbyterian minister in Western Pennsylvania. He is one of the founders of Washington & Jefferson College.
The Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA) is a Presbyterian church with congregations and missions throughout the United States, Japan, and Chile. Its beliefs—held in common with other members of the Reformed Presbyterian Global Alliance—place it in the conservative wing of the Reformed family of Protestant churches. Below the Bible—which is held as divinely inspired and without error—the church is committed to several "subordinate standards," together considered with its constitution: the Westminster Confession of Faith and Larger and Shorter Catechisms, along with its Testimony, Directory for Church Government, the Book of Discipline, and Directory for Worship.
Church of the Covenant is a Presbyterian Church located in Washington, Pennsylvania. It operates under the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. denomination under the Synod of the Trinity and the Presbytery of Washington. The church has historically maintained a strong relationship with the neighboring Washington & Jefferson College. The church was founded through the 1960 merger of the Second Presbyterian Church, which was itself a daughter work of the First Presbyterian Church 1793, and the Third Presbyterian Church.
Robert Adam Holliday Lusk was a Reformed Presbyterian or Covenanter minister of the strictest sort, in a century which, according to Presbyterian historian Robert E. Thompson, was marked by increasing relaxation into less stringent manifestations of doctrine and practice amongst all branches of Presbyterianism. His career crossed paths with many prominent ministers and he was involved in numerous ecclesiastical courts at pivotal moments in the history of the Reformed Presbyterian Church. Amongst Reformed Presbyterians, he was an "Old Light," and amongst "Old Lights," he would lay claim to be an "Original Covenanter." He was descended from a long line of Scotch-Irish, and the Lusks had fled from Scotland to Ireland, escaping religious persecution; many of them settled in America prior to the American Revolutionary War.
Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church is a Presbyterian church in Dunbar, Pennsylvania. One of the first Presbyterian churches west of the Allegheny Mountains, it was founded in 1772 along with its sister Churches Tyrone, Middle, Sewickley, and United Presbyterian Churches. The original church was a simple log structure and was built by Scotch-Irish immigrants.
The Reformed Presbyterian Church in Taiwan was officially established in 1971 when the First Presbytery was formed as a result of the union of various conservative Presbyterian and Continental Reformed congregations planted by various missionary groups. Its origin could be traced back to the 1950s when the very first missionaries of those Presbyterian and Continental Reformed missionaries arrived in Taiwan.
Presbyterianism has had a presence in the United States since colonial times and has exerted an important influence over broader American religion and culture.
Bethel Presbyterian Church is a Presbyterian Church located in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. It operates under the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. denomination under the Synod of the Trinity and the Pittsburgh Presbytery. The adjacent cemetery holds the remains of 14 Revolutionary War soldiers from the area. The municipality of Bethel Park was named after the church.
The Unitarian Church in Ireland presently consists of two Congregations, Dublin and Cork, part of the Synod of Munster, in the Republic of Ireland, which has itself been part of the Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland since 1935. Some congregations remain closely associated with the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches. These churches would abide by the traditional Unitarian principles of Freedom, Reason, and Tolerance.
