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Sunday School (20th Century) - Coggle Diagram
Sunday School (20th Century)
OPC
Compare and Contrast w/ ARP
History
Formed
:
Founded in 1936 by conservative members of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA), including John Gresham Machen.
Why?
objected to the rise of Liberal and Modernist theology
Evangelicals
This was a term that Protestants used to differentiate themselves from the Roman Catholics. Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, etc. gladly accepted this title in the 19th century.
It comes from the Greek word, euangelion, which means Good News.
1 more item...
A Quick Sketch
Machen was born in 1881 in Baltimore, and was raised in a wealthy family, and grew up as a member of the Southern Presbyterian Church.
Was raised in a wealthy family, and grew up as a member of the Southern Presbyterian Church.
After he studied at John Hopkins and Princeton University, he traveled to Europe before taking a teaching position at Princeton. Though he had grown up in the Southern Presbyterian church, he was now ordained in the Northern Presbyterian church.
Only Perfect Church
PCA
Compare and Contrast w/ ARP
contrast
Women serving as deacons, ruling/teaching elders,
compare
Vision:
https://pcanet.org/vision/
NPARQ
History
Formed: 1973 in Briarwood Church in Birmingham, AL
Why?
3 Reasons for breaking away
Slogan: “faithful to the Scriptures, true to the reformed faith, and obedient to the Great Commission.”
Faithful to the Scriptures:
Sola Scriptura
Put them at odds w/ theological liberalism which denied the inerrancy and authority of God's Word, including the obvious teachings of Jesus' divinity.
True to the Reformed Faith
Adherence to the Westminster standards.
Obedient to the Great Commission:
Heavy focus on evangelism and missions
Mission to the World has 519 career missionaries in almost 60 nations. Even larger reach when you take into account two year missionaries, short term missionaries, chaplains, and all of their partner ministries.
Illustration of when I first attended a PCA church
1) Doctrinal Concerns: Opposition to perceived liberal trends in PCUS seminaries (Union) and agencies.
2) Ecclesiastical Autonomy: Rejection of proposed UPCUSA-PCUS merger plans lacking property-rights protections for dissenting congregations.
3) Social Policy Disputes: Resistance to women’s ordination and progressive stances on civil rights
It was originally a part of the PCUS (Southern), but liberalism had leeched itself to the denomination, and the conservatives believed it was a lost cause.
Originally was known as National Presbyterian Church until the next year when changed to Presbyterian Church of America.
It is the fastest growing denominations in the US, and it is the second largest Presbyterian denomination, behind the ever-shrinking PCUSA, which currently has slightly over a million members. The PCA has nearly 400,000 members.
Government (John Perez)
The church is ruled by the session which is comprised of two types of elders; teaching and ruling.
The next level of government is the presbytery, which rules of regional affairs.
Lastly, there is the General Assembly, which has jurisdiction over national matters.
The two different types of elders is an expression of their commitment to parity among the elders, meaning there is equal authority among the two types of elders.
Each congregation is governed by the Book of Church Order, comprising the Form of Government, the Rules of Discipline and the Directory for Worship
Women may serve the church in non-ordained roles, but they cannot serve as ordained officers of the church.
Issues they are grappling with:
Social
Sexuality and Gender
Side B or Revoice
Complementarianism: Debating the extent of women’s participation in non-ordained leadership roles.
Racial Reconciliation - Implementing the 2016 resolution through initiatives like the African American Presbyterian Association
Theological
Covenant Seminary in St. Louis Missouri
Federal Vision: Condemnation of this sacramental theology (2007) as undermining justification by faith alone
Neo-Calvinism: Balancing Kuyperian cultural engagement with separatist tendencies.
Many of the disagreements have been brought to the forefront due to social justice and racial issues.
separatist impulses that prioritize ecclesial purity over societal transformation
Abraham Kuyper’s comprehensive worldview—which calls for redeeming all spheres of society under Christ’s lordship
Creation Science: Tensions between young-earth creationists and proponents of analogical day or evolutionary creation frameworks.
Review of how we arrived at the inception of our sister denominations; the OPC and PCA
1) Old School/New Schol Division
Old School - strict confessional adherence and suspicion of revivalist “excesses.” They expelled New School synods they viewed as tainted by theological liberalism and Congregationalist ecumenism
New School assemblies increasingly embracing abolitionist rhetoric while Old School moderates prioritized denominational unity
Civil War
In 1861, Southern presbyteries withdrew from the PCUSA to form the Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America (later renamed the Presbyterian Church in the United States, or PCUS)
This southern branch was known for having a more cautious approach to social reform and emphasis on states’ rights ecclesiology.
the Northern PCUSA continued wrestling with modernist theological currents, culminating in the Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy of the 1920s–1930s
Confessional Revisions - talks of revising the Westminster standards
Ecumenical Partnerships: - Proposed mergers with the Northern United Presbyterian Church in the USA (UPCUSA)
Educational Shifts: - PCUS seminaries like Union Theological Seminary in Richmond adopted critical biblical scholarship methods, prompting conservatives to establish alternative institutions like Reformed Theological Seminary