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Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church. Presbyterian churches derive their name from the presbyterian form of church government by representative assemblies of elders. Many Reformed churches are organised this way, but the word Presbyterian, when capitalized, is often 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 PC (USA), is a mainline Protestant denomination in the United States. It is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the country. 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 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, 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 Confessing Movement is a largely lay-led theologically conservative Christian movement that opposes the influence of theological liberalism and theological progressivism currently within several mainline Protestant denominations and seeks to return them to its view of orthodox doctrine, or form a new denomination and disfellowship (excommunicate) them if the situation becomes untenable. Those who eventually deem dealing with theological liberalism and theological progressivism within their churches and denominations as not being tenable anymore would later join or start Confessional Churches and/or Evangelical Churches that continue with the traditions of their respective denominations and maintaining orthodox doctrine while being ecclesiastically separate from the Mainline Protestant denominations.
The mainline Protestant churches are a group of Protestant denominations in the United States and in some cases Protestant denominations in Canada largely of the theologically liberal or theologically progressive persuasion that contrast in history and practice with the largely theologically conservative Evangelical, Fundamentalist, Charismatic, Confessional, Confessing Movement, historically Black church, and Global South Protestant denominations and congregations. Some make a distinction between "mainline" and "oldline", with the former referring only to denominational ties and the latter referring to church lineage, prestige and influence. However, this distinction has largely been lost to history and the terms are now nearly synonymous.
The World Reformed Fellowship (WRF) is an ecumenical, Christian fellowship that advances partnerships among confessional Reformed churches around the world.
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The Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago is one of the largest congregations of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), located in the Magnificent Mile neighborhood of Chicago, directly across Michigan Avenue from the John Hancock Center.
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ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians is an evangelical Presbyterian denomination in the United States. As a Presbyterian church, ECO adheres to Reformed theology and Presbyterian polity. It was established in 2012 by former congregations and members of the Presbyterian Church (USA), abbreviated PC(USA). Denominational disputes over theology—particularly ordination of practicing homosexuals as pastors and gay marriage—and bureaucracy led to the founding of ECO. In 2018, ECO has over 383 congregations, 103,425 covenant partners and over 500 pastors. ECO churches are egalitarian in beliefs and ordain women as pastors and elders.
The Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, is a Presbyterian Church in America multi-site church with three campuses with approximately 2,000 total weekly attenders as of 2022.
The First Presbyterian Church of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania was established in 1875, and the present building on Center Street was completed in 1957. The Church had 2,609 members as of June 2015 but the Presbyterian Church, like every mainline Protestant denomination, has suffered a decline in national membership, especially over the past decade.
The Fellowship Community, formerly known as the Fellowship of Presbyterians (FOP), arose from a movement started by seven pastors from some of the largest PC(USA) churches in the United States in 2010. The movement gained momentum when they met in August 2011 at a planning and organizational meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota and began drafting essential tenets and refined polity for a new reformed body. A second gathering of the movement in January 2012 resulted in a new denomination known as Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians (ECO). The Fellowship Community maintains that it is committed to remaining in the PC(USA) and "is not a waiting room for departure". It remains true, though, that many congregations leaving the PC(USA) have had a connection to The Fellowship Community and that The Fellowship Community strategizes with congregations seeking dismissal from the PC(USA). Jim Singleton, one time president of The Fellowship Community wrote, "We are now in a time when many congregations feel the need to withdraw…"
References
- ↑ "Fifteen Largest PC(USA) Congregations Based on Membership Size, 2012" (PDF). Research Services, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). 2012.
- ↑ Cathy Wurzer, "Presbyterian pastor explains church's decisions on gay clergy", Minnesota Public Radio, July 9, 2010.
- ↑ John Crosby, "Letter to congregation" Archived 2019-02-04 at the Wayback Machine , July 12, 2018
- ↑ "Welcome". Christ Presbyterian Church.
- ↑ Rose French, "Edina pastor leads Presbyterian splinter group", The Star Tribune , January 24, 2012.
