Presbyterianism is a Reformed (Calvinist) Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders. Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word Presbyterian is applied to churches that trace their roots to the Church of Scotland or to English Dissenter groups that formed during the English Civil War.
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.
The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (LCMS), also known as the Missouri Synod, is a confessional Lutheran denomination in the United States. With 1.7 million members as of 2022 it is the second-largest Lutheran body in the United States, behind the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The LCMS was organized in 1847 at a meeting in Chicago, as the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States, a name which partially reflected the geographic locations of the founding congregations.
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 United Church of Christ (UCC) is a socially liberal mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Restorationist, Continental Reformed, and Lutheran traditions, and with approximately 4,600 churches and 712,000 members. The UCC is a historical continuation of the General Council of Congregational Christian churches founded under the influence of New England Puritanism. Moreover, it also subsumed the third largest Calvinist group in the country, the German Reformed. Notably, its modern members' theological and socio-political stances are often very different from those of its predecessors.
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 of Eastern Australia (PCEA) is a small Presbyterian denomination which was formed in Sydney on 10 October 1846 by three ministers and a ruling elder. As of December 2024 it consists of 11 pastoral charges with a total of 14 regular preaching places, 6 serving ministers, 2 ministers without charge, 3 retired ministers and a community of about 500.
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.
The Evangelical and Reformed Church (E&R) was a Protestant Christian denomination in the United States. It was formed in 1934 by the merger of the Reformed Church in the United States (RCUS) with the Evangelical Synod of North America (ESNA). A minority within the RCUS remained out of the merger in order to continue the name Reformed Church in the United States. In 1957, the Evangelical and Reformed Church merged with the majority of the Congregational Christian Churches (CC) to form the United Church of Christ (UCC).
The Protestant Reformed Churches in America is a Protestant denomination of 33 churches and over 8,000 members.
Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA) is a Presbyterian denomination headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. In Kenya, 10% of the population is Presbyterian. It was started by missionaries from Scotland, most notable of whom was Dr John Arthur. It has its headquarters in Nairobi South C.
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.
West Presbyterian Church was a congregation and two houses of worship in Manhattan, New York City. The congregation was founded in 1829 and merged in 1911 with Park Presbyterian Church to form West-Park Presbyterian Church. The first house of worship, also known as the Carmine Street Presbyterian Church, in Greenwich Village, was used from 1832 to 1865, and the second, on West 42nd Street between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue, from 1865 until 1911, when it was sold and demolished. Proceeds from the sale were used, in accordance with the merger agreement, to build and endow a church for an underserved neighborhood, Washington Heights: Fort Washington Presbyterian Church. In addition, the West Church congregation had earlier established two mission churches which eventually merged to become Good Shepherd-Faith Presbyterian Church. West-Park, Fort Washington, and Good Shepherd-Faith are all active today.
The congregation of North Presbyterian Church, at 525 West 155th Street in Manhattan, New York City, is a combination of three former congregations: North Presbyterian Church, Washington Heights Presbyterian Church, and St. Nicholas Avenue Presbyterian Church.
First Presbyterian Church is a Presbyterian Church (USA) church located in Muscatine, Iowa, United States. It, along with the attached Sunday School building, were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.
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.
The Brick Presbyterian Church is a large congregation at Park Avenue and 91st Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. A congregation of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), it is known for its Day School and music programs. It was founded as an offshoot of First Presbyterian Church. Its first building, in Lower Manhattan, opened in 1768. The Park Avenue location opened April 14, 1940.
First Presbyterian Church is a historic Presbyterian congregation in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, founded in 1882 by Rev. A. B. Coit. It was the first church in the town and predated Hattiesburg's own incorporation by two years. In 1973 it left the Presbyterian Church in the United States to become a charter member of the more theologically conservative Presbyterian Church in America.
The Church of the Covenant, often referred to as "the church of the United Nations" due to its proximity to the headquarters of the United Nations, is a late-19th-century church located on 42nd Street in New York City. The original Church of the Covenant was founded in 1860 by the Rev. Dr. George L. Prentiss. In 1870, the church established a mission called Covenant Chapel, which grew and eventually become self-supporting and stronger than the founding church. In 1893 the name "Church of the Covenant" was transferred to Covenant Chapel, while the remaining members of the original church group merged with the Brick Church. In 1947, the Adams-Parkhurst Presbyterian Church merged into the Church of the Covenant.
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