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| Tenth Presbyterian, 17th and Spruce, Philadelphia. Although the PCA originated with Southerners, Tenth pulled out from the liberals (PCUSA) c. 1980ish. We were present and participated in the vote, 793-5, if memory serves. Tenth joined the RPES (Reformed Presbyterian Evangelical Synod) which anticipated union with the PCA. Ergo, in a short space, one church, we were PCUSA, RPES, and then PCA. We were there, as members, during Pastorate of the Rev. Dr. James Montgomery Boice, a Pastor-Scholar and Statesman. We later became Reformed Episcopalians (REC), good then, but no longer. They've Tractated. Interestingly, local PCAers asked the REC to join them, but the PCAers were "reminded" by Bishop Hoffman of their Angican roots. Nontheless, the REC was kindly affectionate towards the PCA. |
This Day in Presbyterian
History:
Time
to Move for a New Church
The evidence was already
in, in fact, it was well in. All of the efforts of the conservatives in the
Southern Presbyterian Church (Presbyterian Church U.S.) had failed to stop the
tide of liberalism in that once great church. So after the last General
Assembly in 1971, something had to be done.
Gathering
together in Atlanta, Georgia, on July 15, 1971, a group of conservative
Presbyterians met to discuss the situation. Realizing that some key elders were
not present, they met two weeks later on July 30th at the Airport Hilton in
Atlanta, Georgia. This was a meeting which was filled with talk to the heavenly
Father as well as to those of like precious faith. They met all together and
then in small groups.
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| Again, Tenth Presbyterian, Philadelphia. The wooden spire was removed in 1912 due to structural deterioration. |
By
the morning of the next day, some statements were presented to the group. They
were as follows: “A plan for the continuation of a Presbyterian Church loyal to
Scripture and the Reformed faith: 1. To create a climate of opinion
favorable to the continuation of conservative presbyteries and churches loyal
to Scripture and the Reformed Faith, by promoting as strong an image as
possible of such loyalty through actions taken by synods, presbyteries, and
congregations. 2. To identify presbyteries and congregations willing to
take such a stand. And 3. To accept the inevitability of division in the
PCUS and to move now toward a continuing body of congregations and presbyteries
loyal to Scripture and the Westminster Standards.
This
intent was breathed in prayer in, in the discussion towards it, and breathed
out in prayer at the conclusion of it. Men who had been through the battle to
return the PCUS to the faith of the fathers wept at the very prospect of the
future. And when the vote came in favor of the three points, there were no high
fives, or shouts of victory, but rather silence, as one of the men there said,
a heavy silence of profound sadness. They were not merely leaving the southern
church. The southern church had left them and their ordained convictions for a
mess of liberal pottage, as Cain had done much earlier in his life.
A
timetable was then worked out followed by the organization of a Steering
Committee. The plans were set in motion for a Continuing Church, which in time
was named the Presbyterian Church in America.
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