PRESBYTERIAN
CHURCH
The Reading Room - History
Presbyterianism in America - The 20th Century
By: Dr. John A. Battle (Professor of New Testament and Theology - WRS)
Introduction • Works Cited
The Presbyterian Church moves to a new gospel (1900-1934)
The Presbyterian Church divides and adjusts (1934-1967)
The Presbyterian Church realigns itself (1967-2006)
The Challenge of the Future
The Presbyterian Church realigns itself (1967-2006)
The final forty years of this century of Presbyterian history takes us from a church that confidently announces itself as a church for the times, to a church that is declining and fragmented, with little sense of unity. Alongside are smaller, more conservative Presbyterian churches that are staking out their claims in American Presbyterianism.
-------------------------------------
New divisions and consolidation
The decades of the 1960s and 1970s witnessed a sharp turn to the left by the mainline Presbyterian churches in America. Many ministerial candidates had been radicalized in their university and seminary training by the civil unrest of the Vietnam War era. While the laypeople tended to remain moderately conservative, the church leadership pushed a leftist agenda. One example is the support given by the World Council of Churches for pro-communistic revolutionary movements in Africa through its Program to Combat Racism.32 In a similar fashion, the UPCUSA in 1971 gave $25,000 to the Black Panthers and $10,000 to the Angela Davis Defense Fund,33 using money Presbyterians had donated for missions. Occasionally there was widespread opposition to these actions by church leaders. BPC minister Carl McIntire’s nationwide daily radio broadcasts34 constantly exposed these activities, and the secular press occasionally reported them as well.35
Many Presbyterians in the mainline denominations began to leave their denominations, and as the older generation died out, the churches were having difficulty holding the younger generation. This resulted in major declines in membership. In the ten years after the adoption of the Confession of 1967 the UPCUSA lost 684,000 members, over 20% of its total membership, with the largest numbers leaving in 1972-1973.36 Where did these hundreds of thousands of former UPCUSA members go? It is evident that only a very small percentage joined the smaller separated Presbyterian bodies. It appears that many of them either affiliated with no church at all, or joined other, non-Presbyterian churches.37
In 1960 Eugene Carson Blake, stated clerk of the UPCUSA, proposed a grandiose plan to merge several mainline Protestant denominations in America, including the mainline Episcopal and Methodist churches. Two years later, the Consultation on Church Union was formed (COCU). For forty years this agency tried to unite several denominations, but failed because of practical difficulties. Recently, in 2002, the organization was reorganized and renamed the Churches Uniting in Christ (CUIC). The PCUSA is a leading part of this group, which now includes several other denominations.38 This plan to merge with other churches shows the desire of the PCUSA to become larger through acquisition, even though Presbyterian doctrines would necessarily be left behind. Of course, by this time these mainline denominations have left behind not only their denominational distinctives, but even the common basic Christian doctrines that once provided the spiritual union of Protestant churches.
During this period the UPCUSA and the PCUS each has suffered a formal division, when conservatives pulled out of the denominations to start other church bodies. In 1973 dissatisfied Presbyterians separated from the Southern church, the PCUS, and formed the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA).39 Later, in 1982, the PCA absorbed into its membership from the Northern church tradition the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod. While still predominately a Southern denomination, the PCA continues to expand in other areas of the country as well. Likewise, the Northern church suffered a departure in 1981, when conservatives withdrew to establish the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC). While it is conservative in theology, the EPC differs from the other separated Presbyterian bodies in allowing the ordination of women ministers. Both the PCA and the EPC, while being separatist bodies, have a closer connection to the broadly evangelical position than the earlier breakaway churches (like the OPC and the BPC), being members of the National Association of Evangelicals.
Both the UPCUSA and the PCUS continued the same liberal policies as before, especially after the departure of some of the more vocal conservatives. Finally, after 122 years of separation, the two churches united in 1983. The new united church is called the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Since that time no significant divisions or unions have taken place among the major Presbyterian bodies in America.
-------------------------------------
Continuing decline and fragmentation in the PCUSA
Since the 1960s the Northern church membership has shrunk significantly. Even its union with the PCUS in 1983 did not stop the downhill slide—membership in the UPCUSA in 1980 was 3,262,086, and membership in the combined PCUSA in 1985 was 3,048,235, a decline of over 200,000 in only five years, even including the infusion from the PCUS. This membership decline has continued steadily since then. In 2003 it numbered 2,405,311—nearly a million lost in just over twenty years. Today it is about half in size what it was in 1960.40
Not only is the PCUSA in numerical decline, as are the other liberal mainline churches, but it is fragmenting also. Neo-orthodoxy has faded as a unifying theology, and several competing ideologies are now warring against each other. This decline of a unifying theology is a natural result of the existential philosophy undergirding much of neo-orthodoxy. Existentialism taught that we all are isolated by our own wills; our wills define us. This idea moved naturally into the prevailing postmodernist philosophy that there is no overarching truth applicable to all. Truth is relative. With this philosophy the church can contain mutually exclusive teachings in perfect harmony. Therefore, different, competing communities have formed in the church. There are the traditional moralists, and there are the gays and lesbians. There are the industrialists and the environmentalists. There are the evangelicals and the universalists. All are welcome and “celebrated.” The church supports many “caucuses” for women, blacks, youth, Middle Easterners, Hispanics/Latinos, Native Americans, and several other special interest groups. Whatever theological center of agreement there has been in the PCUSA is shrinking to the point of non-existence.
The PCUSA is trying to be the “big tent” that includes all sides of all issues (with the exception of the “politically correct” issues, where uniformity is enforced). Recently, however, the conflict over sexual morality has taken on serious tones for the church leaders. Recent General Assemblies have reaffirmed that sexual relations outside of marriage are out of accord with the Bible and church teaching. But homosexual interest groups have been fervently lobbying, supported by many Presbyterian leaders. In its last General Assembly (June 2006) the PCUSA seemed to reassert its position by approving a report by the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity that keeps the current ordination standards in the denomination’s constitution, but at the same time they allowed those who choose not to obey them to declare them to be non-essential. In other words, this requirement for chastity is “necessary,” unless the candidate and the church or presbytery decide that it is “not necessary.” This is the same strategy to circumvent the church’s standards that the modernists employed during the controversy surrounding the “five fundamentals” nearly a hundred years ago.
Reaction to the ruling has been swift. Several presbyteries and church organizations are threatening to withdraw from the church.41 It remains to be seen if that will happen. It seems strange that these conservatives failed to withdraw when the church allowed the ordination of candidates who denied fundamental Christian doctrines, but now threaten to withdraw when candidates are ordained who live an immoral lifestyle. Of course, either case shows the apostasy of the church.
-------------------------------------
The smaller Presbyterian denominations
A handful of smaller Presbyterian denominations continue to exist and grow in America. Edwin P. Elliott, editor of the Christian Observer magazine, has categorized the smaller of these denominations as Presbyterian “mini-churches” and Presbyterian “micro-churches.” These denominations include, in addition to the PCA, the OPC, the EPC, and the BPC, various continuing churches from the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and from the Associate and Reformed Presbyterian churches, especially the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (ARPC) and the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA). In addition, scores of smaller Presbyterian denominations and individual unaffiliated Presbyterian congregations exit.
Most of these smaller Presbyterian denominations are conservative, and many of them are growing. However, at present they comprise only about 20% of the total number of Presbyterians in America. In addition, there are some theological conflicts within these churches, such as the new Auburn Avenue theology, that may dilute their message as well as weaken these churches by internal dissention.42
Theological education has followed a similar pattern. While the number of pastoral candidates in mainline Presbyterian seminaries is in decline, more conservative schools show an increase, such as Westminster Theological Seminary, Westminster Seminary California, Reformed Theological Seminary, Covenant Theological Seminary, and Knox Theological Seminary. In addition several smaller conservative and confessional seminaries have begun and are growing.43
Next Page >
Find More Historical Articles →
WRS Journal Information
The WRS Journal (ISSN 1555-6786) is published semi-annually, with issues appearing every February and August. Circulation is currently approximately 800, with a production run of 1000 copies. Subscriptions for churches and school libraries in the U.S. are free. Individual subscriptions are available for $5 per annum (2 issues) for domestic addresses, and $10 per annum for international addresses (U.S. funds only). Please write or call to subscribe. You may also e-mail your subscription requests and/or comments to editor@wrs.edu. Back printed issues are available for $3.00 each, postage paid.
ADDRESS: The WRS Journal, 5 South G Street, Tacoma, Washington 98405 • (253) 272-0417
Opinions expressed in the WRS Journal are those of the contributors, and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the BPC on any given topic.
