Evangelical Presbyterian Church (United States)
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| Evangelical Presbyterian Church (United States) | |
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| Classification | Protestant |
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| Orientation | Reformed Evangelical |
| Polity | Presbyterian |
| Headquarters | Livonia, Michigan |
| Origin | 1981 |
| Separated from | United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (UPCUSA) and the Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS, or the Southern Presbyterian Church); more recently from the Presbyterian Church (USA) |
| Congregations | 364 |
| Members | 140,000 |
| Official website | www.epc.org |
The Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) is an American church body holding to presbyterian governance and Reformed theology, expressed in an orthodox, conservative vein. The motto of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church is "In Essentials, Unity. In Non-Essentials, Liberty. In All Things, Charity; Truth In Love." The Office of the General Assembly is located in Livonia, Michigan, near Detroit.
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[edit] History
The EPC began as a result of prayer meetings in 1980 and 1981 by pastors and elders increasingly alienated by liberalism in the "northern" branch of Presbyterianism (the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., which merged with the Southern and border-state Presbyterian Church in the U.S. in 1983 to form the present Presbyterian Church USA). An important catalyst of their separation was the decision of a Maryland presbytery to permit a minister of the United Church of Christ who did not forthrightly affirm the divinity of Jesus to become pastor of one of its churches. Another important catalyst was another presbytery refusing to ordain a graduate of seminary, who, in good conscience, declared that he would refuse to participate in the ordination of a woman, although he affirmed that he would willingly serve in a pastorate with ordained women on the staff.[1]
The first general assembly of the church met at Ward Evangelical Presbyterian Church in suburban Detroit, Michigan in late 1981, drafting a list of essential beliefs. This list was intentionally short in order to help preserve the unity of the church around the essentials of the faith in theology, church government, and evangelism.[2]
At its foundation, the EPC adopted a list of essential beliefs, "The Essentials of Our Faith," to state what the EPC views as the sine qua non of Evangelical Christianity (see below), in part to seek to guarantee that it would not succumb to the theological problems that had plagued its parent denominations during the Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy. "The Essentials" is a fuller version of the "Five Fundamentals" that many PCUSA ministers had rejected in the "Auburn Affirmation" of 1923. Originally titled "The Fundamentals of Our Faith," the name was changed to avoid the negative connotations that the term "fundamentalism" had gained. This document has served to assure that the EPC has always kept what is of primary importance for all evangelical Christians (namely the Gospel, or Good News about Jesus), as well as to maintain the irenic orthodoxy that has always been the hallmark of the denomination. (See "Ethos," below.)
In the more than thirty years of its existence, the EPC has become active as a missional church,[3][4][5] through church planting in the United States as well as in a variety of foreign fields, particularly in the 10/40 Window. One significant step was the incorporation of the St. Andrews Presbytery (Argentina) as one of its presbyteries. This presbytery was released to independence as the national St. Andrews Presbyterian Church of Argentina after many years of mutual cooperation & benefit.
As of the 2007 General Assembly, the EPC has created[6] a temporary, non-geographic "New Wineskins Presbytery" (NWEPC) to provide a home for churches associated with the New Wineskins Association of Churches (NWAC)[7] that are seeking to find a new denominational home after finding that their current home in the PC(USA) is no longer suitable to them theologically, organizationally, or missionally. The New Wineskins Presbytery was dissolved in 2011 as its mission was completed.
Jeff Jeremiah, the stated clerk, announced at the 2012 General Assembly at the First Presbyterian Church of Baton Rouge, that the number of congregations had increased from 182 in 2007 to 364 in 2012, exactly doubling in number.
[edit] Essentials
The church has an official seven point statement of the "Essentials Of Our Faith".[8]
These Essentials are set forth in greater detail in the Westminster Confession of Faith.
The EPC has also adopted an explanation of the relationship between the "Essentials of Our Faith" and the Westminster Standards.[9]
[edit] Place in American Presbyterianism
As its name suggests, the EPC is an evangelical denomination. It associates mainly with Reformed bodies holding similar or identical beliefs regarding Christology, ecclesiology, and ethical/moral stances. As with practically all orthodox Presbyterian bodies, the EPC is committed to Biblical interpretation governed by the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms.
Being wholly within the main stream of Reformed, Westminsterian orthodoxy, the EPC is considerably more conservative than the PCUSA on matters such as theology and personal behavior. However, the ethos of the EPC (summarized in its motto) allows a greater degree of freedom in areas deemed to be non-essential to Reformed theology than the other major conservative Presbyterian bodies--the Presbyterian Church in America, the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church). For instance, the ordination of women is an issue that is left up to each ordaining body. (e.g., the local church session determines whether to allow women to serve as elders and deacons and the local presbytery determines whether or not to allow women to serve as ministers). By comparison, the PCA, ARP and OPC will not ordain women. Also, the EPC is far more tolerant of the charismatic movement than these older bodies; indeed, some of the more prominent charismatic Presbyterian churches in America are members of the EPC.
[edit] Ethos
The EPC has been described as the modern-day version of New School Presbyterianism,[10] while the PCA, ARP and OPC are essentially the modern-day equivalent of Old School Presbyterianism. The way that this is expressed is in the motto of the denomination: "In Essentials, Unity; In Non-Essentials, Liberty; In All Things, Charity. Truth in Love." Functionally, this works out with a three-tiered approach to theological issues. These may be thought of as "A," "B," & "C" issues.
"A" issues are those which have to do with the "Essentials of Our Faith." This is a summary of those issues which are foundational to Christian faith. In the EPC, there is no allowance for disagreement among church officers (ministers, elders, & deacons) on these issues. Indeed, it is expected that all communicant members will affirm these tenets of the faith.
"B" issues are those issues which are essential to the Reformed understanding of the faith, such as the so-called "Five Points of Calvinism," Covenant Theology, Presbyterian government, etc. The definition of "B" issues for the EPC is found in the Westminster Confession of Faith[11] & in the Westminster Larger Catechism[12] and Westminster Shorter Catechism.[13] As these issues aren't as foundational as the Essentials of Our Faith, the EPC allows ministers, elders, & deacons to state exceptions to the Westminster Standards, so long as these exceptions do not violate the system of doctrine contained therein. While non-ordained members aren't expected to adhere to the Westminster Standards, it is understood that the teaching position of the EPC is found in the Westminster Standards.
Finally, "C" issues are those on which Reformed, orthodox Christians can disagree, & which do not violate the system of doctrine of the EPC. As stated above, this would include the issues of women's ordination & the charismatic movement, as well as issues such as eschatology (views on the End times), worship preferences, liturgy, etc.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.opc.org/nh.html?article_id=290
- ^ Evangelical Presbyterian Church > History
- ^ http://www.epc.org/about-the-epc/missional-church-and-denomination/
- ^ http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/march/16.56.html
- ^ http://sites.silaspartners.com/CC/article/0,,PTID314526%7CCHID598014%7CCIID2265778,00.html
- ^ http://www.epc.org/general-assembly/EPNews2007/EPNews_6.28.07.html
- ^ http://www.newwineconvo.com/
- ^ Essentials Of Our Faith
- ^ www.epc.org Essentials of Our Faith
- ^ Fortson, S. Donald, The Presbyterian Creed: A Confessional Tradition in America, 17291870, Paternoster Press, 2008.
- ^ http://www.epc.org/mediafiles/westminster-confession-of-faith.pdf
- ^ http://www.epc.org/mediafiles/westminster-larger-catechism.pdf
- ^ http://www.epc.org/mediafiles/westminster-shorter-catechism.pdf
