The Reading Room - History

Historical Backgrounds of The Bible Presbyterian Church

Introduction • Early Tensions • Growing Pains • Reunion of Estranged Brothers
A Succession • Another Thread • Conclusion & Sources

By: Christopher K. Lensch (Associate Professor of OT - WRS)

Growing Pains

The Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. adopted its national constitution in 1789. It was the era of federalism, and Presbyterians were anxious to grow with the new country. To keep up with westward expansion, a cooperative agreement was arranged in 1801 between Presbyterians and Congregationalists to supply empty pulpits. There had been a history of cooperation between the two bodies before the war, and with the 1801 Plan of Union they readily agreed to share congregations and pastors in the noble enterprise of home missions.

For practical reasons the Presbyterian Church advanced more quickly in the bargain than their partners—on the desolate frontier most pastors preferred the protections and fellowship afforded by a presbytery over the local, democratic whims of the congregational system. While Presbyterians gained pastors and congregations faster than Congregationalists, there was a huge disadvantage.

Many of the Congregational pastors trained in New England who were becoming Presbyterian were infected with the heretical New Haven Theology. This was not a problem in 1801, but by 1830 the western presbyteries were becoming tolerant of a semi-Pelagianism that taught “…sin is not necessary, but it is inevitable.” This was an outright denial of original sin that offered an optimistic perspective on human nature. Optimism in human nature reflected the dangerous view of itinerant evangelists like Charles Finney that revivals did not come by the supernatural intervention of God’s Spirit, but by the right use of psychological means. Frontier churches were being filled by the dead wood of “easy believism,” led by Arminian Presbyterian pastors.

Conservative, “Old School” Presbyterians began to mobilize in the 1830s to preserve their church. Efforts had been taken to purge out the leaven through the normal channels of church discipline at the presbytery level. Celebrated ecclesiastical trials seemed to galvanize “New School” opposition.

Conservatives loyal to the Westminster Confession and to Presbyterian polity believed radical measures were called for. They barely missed achieving majority control of the national assembly in 1836; the next year, however, they had the votes necessary to take drastic action. They abrogated the 1801 Plan of Union and retroactively dismissed any churches that had come into the Presbyterian communion under the plan. All told, four western synods comprised of 28 presbyteries, 509 ministers, and 60,000 communicants were summarily stripped from their denomination.

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