| Bible Presbyterian Church | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Classification | EvangelicalProtestant |
| Orientation | Orthodox |
| Theology | Reformed |
| Polity | Presbyterian |
| Origin | 1937 Collingswood, New Jersey |
| Separated from | Orthodox Presbyterian Church |
| Separations | Evangelical Presbyterian Church, American Presbyterian Church, Faith Presbytery, Bible Presbyterian Church |
| Congregations | 28 |
| Members | 3,500 |
| Official website | https://bpc.org/ |
TheBible Presbyterian Church is anAmerican Protestant denomination in theReformed tradition. It was founded by members of theOrthodox Presbyterian Church over differences oneschatology andabstinence, after having left thePresbyterian Church in the United States of America over the rise ofmodernism.
The denomination comprises 28 churches, 27 in the United States and 1 church inAlberta, Canada divided between the Great Western Presbytery, the Eastern Presbytery, the Great Lakes Presbytery, and the Florida Presbytery. The highest governing body is the Synod.
The Bible Presbyterian Church (BPC) was formed in 1937, predominantly through the efforts of suchconservativePresbyterianclergymen asCarl McIntire,J. Oliver Buswell andAllan MacRae.Francis Schaeffer was the first minister to be ordained in the new denomination (1938). The FirstGeneral Synod of the Bible Presbyterian Church was held in 1938 inCollingswood, New Jersey.
TheBible Presbyterian Church (BPC) and theOrthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) split in 1937. The two groups were previously (in 1936) known as the Presbyterian Church of America (not to be confused with the similar but laterPresbyterian Church in America). The name had to be abandoned because of a successful lawsuit in civil court by the mainline denomination regarding name infringement – a trademark-violation issue. After leaving the mainlinePresbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA), considerable dissension became apparent among the conservative separatists themselves, and it became evident that two separate denominations were forming. The OPC became identified by Reformed Orthodoxy, and a predominance of amillennial eschatology and leadership of professors at Westminster Seminary. The OPC held to a fundamentalism in doctrine but did not identify with the cultural fundamentalism that characterized the BPC and much of the evangelical world at that time. Machen tried to mediate between the two groups, but he fell ill and died in 1937.
The BPC espoused a conservatism that showed a keen interest in cultural andpolitical matters, Communism in particular. The BPC saw the missions of the PCUSA as largely bankrupt due to the influence of Communism on the missionaries in China.Pearl S Buck, a pulitzer prize winner, was a Presbyterian Missionary and member of the mainline mission board. She had to resign from the mainline missions agency for comments in favor accommodating communism in China. She denigrated what Machen's conservatives stood for. The foreign missions leaders and J Gresham Machen hated what the mainline missions had become, seeing them as nothing more than liberal humanitarianism. Since the BPC men were in charge of Machen's Mission Board, they saw the mission ofIndependent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions (IBPFM) as more integral to the reformed witness than did the OPC. The BPC maintained a strong commitment to foreign missions as part of their commitment to the Great Commission. McIntire was defrocked alongside J Gresham Machen for his refusal to resign from the IBPFM. For decades afterward McIntire voiced his opposition to Communism and promoted conservative politics in conjunction with his BPC church planting efforts. The IBPFM is still an agency of the BPC.
Two main issues made the existence of these factions within the OPC evident. One issue had to do with a conflict over the use ofalcoholic beverages. The OPC condemned drunkenness, but nevertheless did not agree that Scripture required Christians to totally abstain from drinking alcoholic beverages, while the BPC (according to the prevailing conservative cultural view of Prohibition) asserted that the Bible prohibited the consumption of alcohol entirely (see alsoChristianity and alcohol). The BPC of the 21st Century holds to the same biblical view as the OPC that alcohol is permitted in moderation.
The second issue was over eschatological liberty. The Bible Presbyterians were concerned about a growing movement to scrutinize ministers with apremillennial eschatology. Premillennialism stems from a literal reading of Matthew 24, Daniel 7, and Revelation 20. The amillennialism of the OPC is a less-literal reading which often takes eschatological passages figuratively. On one side the BPC ministers thought liberalism came from a loose reading of Scripture. And on the other the OPC sensed a theological error that could lead to liberalism. Both sides sensed a growing disunity. Though the IBPFM, the mission agency that caused the original split with the PCUSA, was chaired and run by premillenarists, missions was not the main concern of the theologians at Westminster Seminary.
Another aspect of this eschatology conflict is the commitment to reformedcovenant theology versus the toleration ofdispensationalism. Those on the BPC side had come to tolerate, and some used, the popularScofield Reference Bible, whose notes taught a theological system called dispensationalism. Covenant theology is the main view held by most Reformed churches. Scofield's notes were under considerable criticism by faculty members ofWestminster Theological Seminary, who led the OPC. The OPC considered the dispensational form of premillennialism a serious error. Many in the BPC saw the criticisms against Scofield's notes as a swipe againsthistoric premillennialism itself. Many more churches joined the BPC in 1938. One contributing factor of the exodus was the failure of Milo F. Jamison, a dispensationalist, to be elected Moderator of the General Assembly. The Bible Presbyterian Church has always maintained the unity of the covenant of grace (a decidedly non-dispensational position), and, in later years, passed resolutions against dispensationalism in its annual Synod meetings. The BPC is now in formal fraternal relations with the OPC, and many of these theological differences have been resolved.
From 1955 to 1956, a fairly acrimonious split occurred in the Bible Presbyterian Church, resulting in the Bible Presbyterian Church Collingswood Synod and the Bible Presbyterian Church Columbus Synod.
While the Bible Presbyterian Church Collingswood Synod remained under the influence of McIntire, the BPC Columbus Synod, which included such men as Francis Schaeffer andJay E. Adams would eventually move beyond its Bible Presbyterian Church heritage and eventually would take the name theEvangelical Presbyterian Church in 1961 (which is not to be confused with thecurrent denomination of the same name, founded in 1981). In 1965, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church merged with theReformed Presbyterian Church, General Synod, a denomination of "new light"Covenanter descent, to form theReformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod (RPCES). The RPCES would eventually merge with the Presbyterian Church in America in 1982.
Shortly before the split, the Bible Presbyterian Church had establishedCovenant College andCovenant Theological Seminary, both of which would be supported by the BPC Columbus Synod/Evangelical Presbyterian Church and both would follow the Evangelical Presbyterian Church into first the RPCES and then the PCA.
The remaining synod retained the name "Bible Presbyterian Church." In the 1970s, a group of churches split from the denomination, espousing a premillennial eschatology. In addition, the separate churches split for advocatingexclusive psalmody andabstinence from alcohol.[1][2] This denomination, known as the American Presbyterian Church, has remained small since its formation. In 2022, it was composed of 2 churches, which together had 60 members.[3][1]
On March 28, 2008, the South Atlantic Presbytery voted by a wide margin to disassociate from the Bible Presbyterian Synod, in opposition to formal relations recently established between the Synod and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. The presbytery took the name Faith Presbytery, Bible Presbyterian Church.
Today the North American body has 33 congregations. Bible Presbyterians do not have synod-controlled boards for missions and education, but annually approve independent agencies for mission work, as well as colleges and seminaries.
The BPC publishes and maintains for public use theWestminster Shorter Catechism website.
TheWestminster Confession of Faith,Larger Catechism, andShorter Catechism was adopted in the first Bible Presbyterian Synod in 1938. The Synod adheres to the 1788 American Revision of the Westminster Confession.[4]
The denomination describes itself as anevangelistic andconfessional church which believes in historicCalvinism.[5] It holds to thefive fundamentals and describes itself as being opposed tomodernism, compromise,indifferentism, and worldliness.
| No. | Year | Date | City | Venue | Moderator | Stated Clerk | Assistant Stated Clerk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 1938 | Sep 6-8 | Collingswood, NJ | Rev J U Selwyn Toms | Rev Dr H McAllister Griffiths | ||
| 2nd | 1939 | Nov 14-16 | Collingswood, NJ | Rev Dr Harold S Laird | Rev G Douglas Young | ||
| 3rd | 1940 | Oct 22-24 | Chester, PA | Rev DrAllan A MacRae | Rev G Douglas Young | ||
| 4th | 1941 | Oct 14-16 | Charlotte, NC | Rev Edgar A Dillard | Rev G Douglas Young | ||
| 5th | 1942 | Nov 5-10 | St. Louis, MO | Rev J Gordon Holdcroft | Rev Stanley P Allen | ||
| 6th | 1943 | Oct 14-19 | Wilmington, DE | Eld Roland K Armes | Rev Stanley P Allen | ||
| 7th | 1944 | Oct 12-17 | Greenville, SC | Rev Dr JOliver Buswell, Jr | Rev Stanley P Allen | ||
| 8th | 1945 | May 24–29 | Harvey Cedars, NJ | Harvey Cedars Bible Presbyterian Conference | Rev Flournoy Shepperson, Sr | Rev Stanley P Allen | |
| 9th | 1946 | May 23–28 | Collingswood, NJ | Bible Presbyterian Church of Collingswood | Rev Dr Carl McIntire | Rev Robert Hastings | |
| 10th | 1947 | Jul 17-22 | Tacoma, WA | Tacoma Bible Presbyterian Church | Rev Dr Roy T Brumbaugh | Rev Robert Hastings | |
| 11th | 1948 | May 13–19 | Nashville, TN | Bible Presbyterian Church of Nashville | Rev Francis A Schaeffer | Rev Robert Hastings | |
| 12th | 1949 | May 16–31 | Baltimore, MD | Bible Presbyterian Church of Baltimore | Eld Dr Peter Stam, Jr | Rev Robert Hastings | |
| 13th | 1950 | Jun 1-6 | St Louis, MO | First Bible Presbyterian Church of St Louis | Rev G Douglas Young | Rev Robert Hastings | |
| 14th | 1951 | May 31 - Jun 5 | New York, NY | Shelton College | Rev John W Sanderson, Jr | Rev Robert Hastings | |
| 15th | 1952 | Aug 21-26 | Pasadena, CA | Highland College | Rev DrRobert G Rayburn | Rev Robert Hastings | |
| 16th | 1953 | Jun 4-9 | Elkins Park, PA | Faith Theological Seminary | Rev William A Mahlow | Rev Robert Hastings | |
| 17th | 1954 | Jun 3-9 | Greenville, SC | Bible Presbyterian Church of Greenville | Rev Dr Linwood G Gebb | Rev Robert Hastings | |
| 18th | 1955 | Jun 2-8 | St Louis, MO | Rev DrJ Oliver Buswell, Jr | Rev Robert Hastings | ||
| 19th | 1956 | Apr 5-11 | St Louis, MO | Rev Dr R Laird Harris | Rev W Harold Mare | ||
| 20th | 1956 | Nov 23-27 | Collingswood, NJ | Rev Dr Carl McIntire | Rev A Franklin Faucette | Rev Emanuel Peters | |
| 21st | 1957 | Nov 2-6 | Collingswood, NJ | Rev DrClyde J Kennedy | Rev A Franklin Faucette | Rev John E Janbaz | |
| 22nd | 1958 | Oct 22-27 | Collingswood, NJ | Rev Dr Charles E Richter | Rev A Franklin Faucette | Rev John E Janbaz | |
| 23rd | 1959 | Oct 21-26 | Collingswood, NJ | Rev Dr Arthur G Slaght | Rev A Franklin Faucette | Rev Robert B Vandermey | |
| 24th | 1960 | Oct 19-24 | Collingswood, NJ | Rev John E Janbaz | Rev A Franklin Faucette | Rev Robert B Vandermey | |
| 25th | 1961 | Oct 19-24 | Collingswood, NJ | Rev Dr J Philip Clark | Rev A Franklin Faucette | Rev Robert B Vandermey | |
| 26th | 1962 | Oct 17-22 | Collingswood, NJ | Rev Dr Albert B Dodd | Rev A Franklin Faucette | Rev Robert B Vandermey | |
| 27th | 1963 | Oct 16-22 | Cape May, NJ | Christian Admiral | Rev Dr George W Fincke, Jr | Rev A Franklin Faucette | Rev James Blizzard |
| 28th | 1964 | Oct 14-20 | Cape May, NJ | Christian Admiral | Rev Dr Lynn Gray Gordon | Rev A Franklin Faucette | Rev James Blizzard |
| 29th | 1965 | Oct 19-25 | Cape May, NJ | Christian Admiral | Rev Dr Carl McIntire | Rev A Franklin Faucette | Rev James Blizzard |
| 30th | 1966 | May 18–23 | Boston, MA | Statler Hilton Hotel |
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