Presbyterian Church in America

Presbyterians trace their history to the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. The Presbyterian heritage, and much of its theology, began with the French theologian and lawyer John Calvin (1509–64), whose writings solidified much of the Reformed thinking that came before him in the form of the sermons and writings of Huldrych Zwingli. From Calvin's headquarters in Geneva, the Reformed movement spread to other parts of Europe. John Knox, a former Catholic priest from Scotland who studied with Calvin in Geneva, Switzerland, took Calvin's teachings back to Scotland and led the Scottish Reformation of 1560. As a result, the Church of Scotland embraced Reformed theology and presbyterian polity. Immigrants from Scotland and Ireland brought Presbyterianism to America as early as 1640, and immigration would remain a large source of growth throughout the colonial era. Another source of growth were a number of New England Puritans who left the Congregational churches because they preferred presbyterian polity. In 1706, seven ministers led by Francis Makemie established the first American presbytery at Philadelphia, which was followed by the creation of the Synod of Philadelphia in 1717.

The family tree of Presbyterian denominations in the United States, courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society

Notable Churches

First Presbyterian Church in Eutaw, Alabama, a historic Southern Presbyterian Church

Bethel Presbyterian Church in Clover, South Carolina, founded 1764, the oldest of the founding churches

First Presbyterian Church, Greenville, Alabama, founded 1820

Trinity Presbyterian Church Montgomery, Alabama

The PCA has its roots in theological controversies over liberalism in Christianity and neo-orthodoxy that had been a point of contention in the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. (formerly the Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America) which had split from the mainline Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A along regional lines at the beginning of the Civil War. While the Fundamentalist–Modernist Controversy had led to a split in the PC-USA in the mid-1930s, leading to the formation of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and Bible Presbyterian Church, the PCUS remained intact. However, beginning in 1942, as the PCUS began to experiment with confessional revision, and later, when neo-orthodoxy and liberalism began to become influential in the PCUS' seminaries, and attempts were made to merge with the more liberal PC-USA and its successor, the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., renewal groups began to be formed, including the Presbyterian Churchmen United, which had been formed by more than 500 ministers and ran 3/4-page statements of their beliefs in 30 newspapers,[5] the Presbyterian Evangelistic Fellowship, conducted revivals in PCUS churches, the Concerned Presbyterians, and the Presbyterian Churchmen United (PCU), an organization of conservative pastors in the Southern Presbyterian Church.[6] They sought to reaffirm the Westminster Confession of Faith as the fullest and clearest exposition of biblical faith, which many conservatives felt that presbyteries had been violating by receiving ministers who refused to affirm the virgin birth and bodily resurrection, and to expect all pastors and leaders to affirm the inerrancy of scripture. Opponents of the merger took specific issue with the United Presbyterian Church's adherence to the Auburn Affirmation and the Confession of 1967; the Southern Presbyterian denomination rejected the adoption of these confessions as official standards, noting amorphous biblical doctrine, lax sexual ethic, and conversations with other church bodies that rejected the Reformed faith, such as those explored by the Consultation on Church Union.[7]

It remains controversial as to whether racial tensions may have contributed to the formation of the PCA. Many in the PCA have adamantly maintained that race played little role in the genesis of the new denomination, but many outside the PCA have a historical memory of racial animus irrefutably contributing to the desire for exodus from the Southern Presbyterian denomination, the PCUS.[8] However, on June 23, 2016, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America voted to approve a statement on racial reconciliation that specifically recognized "corporate and historical sins, including those committed during the Civil Rights era, and continuing racial sins of ourselves and our fathers such as the segregation of worshipers by race; the exclusion of persons from Church membership on the basis of race; the exclusion of churches, or elders, from membership in the Presbyteries on the basis of race; the teaching that the Bible sanctions racial segregation and discourages inter-racial marriage; the participation in and defense of white supremacist organizations; and the failure to live out the gospel imperative that ‘love does no wrong to a neighbor’ (Romans 13:10)."[9] This admission of "historical sins" during the Civil Rights era has helped to ameliorate the conflict that some black members of the PCA may have felt about the denomination's failure to fully embrace and protect the rights of African Americans both within and outside of the church during the PCA's formative years.[10]

Conservatives also felt the church should disavow the ordination of women.[11][12] They also criticized the PCUS Board of Christian Education's published literature and believed that the denomination's Board of World Missions no longer placed its primary emphasis on carrying out the Great Commission.[13] In 1966, conservatives within the PCUS, concerned about the denominational seminaries founded Reformed Theological Seminary.

Finally, when word came out that a planned Plan of Union between the UPCUSA and PCUS lacked an "escape clause" which would have allowed for PCUS congregations that wanted no part in the planned union to leave without forfeiture of property, the steering committee of several of the renewal groups called for conservative PCUS congregations to leave.

In December 1973, delegates, representing some 260 congregations with a combined communicant membership of over 41,000 that had left the PCUS, gathered at Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Alabama, and organized the National Presbyterian Church, which later became the Presbyterian Church in America.[14][15]

After protests from a UPCUSA congregation of the same name in Washington, D.C., the denomination at its Second General Assembly (1974) renamed itself the National Reformed Presbyterian Church, then adopted its present name the next day. At its founding, the PCA consisted of 16 presbyteries.[16]

Within a few years the church grew to include more than 500 congregations and 80,000 members.

Fairfield Presbyterian Church, Fairton, New Jersey the oldest congregation in the denomination (founded in 1680), left the UPCUSA in 1971, joined the PCA in 1980

During the 1970s, the denomination added a significant number of congregations outside the South when several UPCUSA churches in Ohio and Pennsylvania joined. This move was precipitated by a case regarding an ordination candidate, Wynn Kenyon, denied by the Pittsburgh Presbytery because he refused to support women's ordination (a decision upheld by the UPCUSA General Assembly). The seceder churches formed the Ascension Presbytery, officially organised on July 29, 1975. That year, a minister of that presbytery described its history as follows:

The constituents of the Presbytery of the Ascension were almost exclusively members, in one way or another, of the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (UPCUSA). ...

Walter Kenyon was an honors graduate of the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. ... Mr. Kenyon ... stated that he could not in good conscience participate in the ordination of a woman. He said that it was his understanding of Scripture that prevented such involvement, but went on to say that he would not stand in the way of such an ordination, if such was the desire of a church which he would happen to serve. Immediately there arose much dissent, and such dissent grew until the overwhelming majority of the church endorsed the judicial verdict which banned Kenyon and all future Kenyons from the pulpits of the UPCUSA. Furthermore, there was both explicit and implicit action which was taken against those men already ordained.

The Rev. Arthur C. Broadwick (and the Union United Presbyterian Church USA of Pittsburgh) and the Rev. Carl W. Bogue Jr. (and the Allenside UPCUSA of Akron, OH) were already involved in litigations which involved this issue. ... When the Permanent Judicial Commission of the UPCUSA ruled that Mr. Kenyon could not be ordained it effectively elevated this doctrine concerning social relationships to the place of being a major doctrine of the church. ...

Such action by the Permanent Judicial Commission led to a crisis for all of those pastors and elders who held to the traditional views on this question and who were now considered heretics. Accordingly, to uphold the peace, unity and purity of the church, most of the men who made up the membership of the charter presbytery peaceably withdrew from the UPCUSA. ...

A fitting conclusion to this description of the genesis of the Presbytery of the Ascension is the mention of the Presbytery's new affiliation, the Presbyterian Church in America. In the Fall of 1974, men who were affected by the drift of the Kenyon Case, sent four representatives, from an informal committee which was considering alternatives to the UPCUSA (i.e., in case that body should make a ruling against Mr. Kenyon which would affect the church as a whole), to the second General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America (which became the Presbyterian Church in America). These four pastors were the Rev. A.C. Broadwick, the Rev. K.E. Perrin, the Rev. R.E. Knodel Jr., and the Rev. W.L. Thompson, on behalf of the larger concerned group, seeking a historically Reformed body which was also evangelical and mission minded. While this small entourage went to Macon, Georgia with many suspicions and questions, they returned overjoyed that there was an option such as the Presbyterian Church in America.

Adopted from Reformationanglicanism.blogspot July 29, 1975 A.D. Ascension Presbytery (PCA) Officially Formed

— [17]

For example, seceders from Union UPCUSA formed Providence Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh under the leadership of Broadwick.[18]

Dozens of churches from the Midwest become part of the Presbyterian Church in America leaving the Synod of the West of the PC(USA) then the United Presbyterian Church in the USA. This become Siouxlands Presbytery composed of only South Dakota, but in 1982 the Joining and Receiving took place with the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod, boundaries were expanded to cover Minnesota, North Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa.[19]

In the state of Michigan dissenting Christian Reformed and RCA church members, about 75 households formed Covenant Presbyterian Church in Holland, MI in 1996 under the leadership of Tom Vanden Heuvel, former pastor of First Christian Reformed Church (Grand Rapids, Michigan), who cited that Christian Reformed Church(CRC) has departed from its original commitment to the clarity of Scripture, the authority of Scripture. In that time another CRC church joined the PCA in Texas, as well as in New York, the Monsey Christian Church.[20]

Dissenting conservative Southern Presbyterian Churches joined the PCA until the early 1990s.[21][22] Early PCA growth was largely through secessions from the Southern Presbyterian Church (PCUS), which from 1983 to 1990 allowed churches to leave with their property. About 110 to 120 churches did come in during that period of time to the PCA with their properties, allowed by various PC(USA) Presbyteries. Since that time, PCA growth has been largely through church planting and local congregational outreach rather than by transfers of entire churches from other denominations. PC(USA) ministers are now required to agree with the ordination of women, which the PCA opposes. However, since 1996 about 23 PC(USA) congregations have joined the PCA.[23] As of the 2014 PC(USA) General assembly, most churches withdrawing from the PC(USA) are joining the Evangelical Presbyterian Church or the newly formed ECO due to their acceptance of women ministers, though since then many conservative PC(USA) groups and even whole congregations have affiliated with the PCA.[24]

Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which joined the PCA as part of the merger with the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod

In 1982, the PCA merged with the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod (RPCES), with 25,673 communicant members and 482 ministers in 189 congregations in the United States as well as in a few Canadian provinces.[25] Discussions had begun in 1979 with the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod, which had itself come about due to a merger between the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (formerly the Bible Presbyterian Church – Columbus Synod and not the current denomination of the same name) and the Reformed Presbyterian Church, General Synod (a group of "New Light" Covenanters). The RPCES brought to the PCA a more broadly national base of membership with a denominational college, Covenant College, and a seminary, Covenant Theological Seminary. Previously, the PCA had relied on independent evangelical institutions such as Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi and Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The PCA had originally invited three denominations to the merger, including the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) and the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA).[26] The OPC voted to accept the invitation to join the PCA, but the PCA voted against receiving them. The PCA presbyteries did not approve the application by the required three-quarters majority, and so the proposed invitation process was terminated without the OPC presbyteries voting on the issue.[27] The RPCES was the only church to carry through with the merger. The merger was called "Joining and Receiving." When a sufficient number of RPCES and PCA presbyteries voted in favor of the plan, the final votes occurred at the respective annual meetings, both held in Grand Rapids, Michigan: the RPCES Synod voted to join the PCA on June 12, 1982, and the PCA General Assembly voted to receive the RPCES on June 14. The Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod agencies and committees were united with their PCA counterparts. The history and historical documents of the RPCES were incorporated into the PCA. Graduates from Covenant College and Seminary were also officially recognized.[27] The move reflected a rare phenomenon in American Protestantism of two conservative denominations merging, an occurrence that was far more common among mainline, moderate-to-liberal bodies in the 20th century (such as the UPCUSA/PCUS reunion). In 1982 the RPCES had 25,718 communicant members in 187 congregations served by 400 pastors. The PCA had 519 churches, 91,060 communicant members, and 480 pastors. After the merger the PCA membership was 706 churches, 116,788 communicant members, and 1,276 teaching elders.[28]

In 1986 the PCA again invited the Orthodox Presbyterian Church to join them, but without success. Not everyone agreed with the decision. In the four years after 1986, there was a voluntary realignment as congregations left the OPC for the PCA, mainly from California, Montana and Pennsylvania, but also from as far as Alaska.[29] By the 1970s, the OPC had grown a new ‘pietist/revivalist’ wing under the influence of Jack Miller. According to Tim Keller, the New Life Churches and their Sonship course represented classic revivalism, and it did not fit well with the more doctrinalist cast of the OPC. The New Life Churches were made to feel unwelcome and nearly all left in the early 1990s to swell the pietist ranks of the PCA.[30]

The Monsey Church, founded 1824, left the Christian Reformed Church in North America for the PCA in 2005

In 1983 several PCUS churches had joined the PCA, instead of merging with the UPCUSA into the current PC (U.S.A.); others joined the recently formed Evangelical Presbyterian Church, unrelated to the 1950s and 1960s body of that name. A clause in the Plan of Union between the two mainline bodies allowed dissenting PCUS congregations to refrain from joining the merger and to join a denomination of their choosing.

At the 20th anniversary of the PCA in 1993 there were 1,086 congregations and 242,560 members.[31]

The PCA Historical Center, a repository of archives and manuscripts, is located in St. Louis, Missouri.

The PCA is one of the denominations in the United States, with some 1,700 churches and missions throughout the US and Canada. There were some 335,000 communicant and non-communicant members as of December 2000.[15]

In 2004 the former PC(USA) member First Presbyterian Church in Charleston, MS voted to join the PCA rather than the EPC, which allows women as church officers.[32] Hospers Presbyterian Church in Hospers, Iowa was also PC(USA), joined the PCA in November 2006. Park Cities Presbyterian Church was formed when about 1,500–2,000 former Highland Park Presbyterian Church (Dallas, Texas) member separated from the PC(USA) and joined PCA. In 2013 and 2014 a few disappointed conservative PC(USA) congregations from New York state[33] and from the Presbytery of Sheppards & Lapsley (Unity Presbyterian in Weogufka, AL, and Southwood Presbyterian in Talladega, AL) in the state of Alabama and Smyrna Korean Presbyterian Church in Enterprise, AL[34] joined the Presbyterian Church in America instead of ECO or EPC, which have women ministers.[35][36][37] Several PC(USA) breakaway groups like New Covenant Presbyterian Church in McComb, MS which broke from J.J. White Memorial Presbyterian Church in 2007,[38][39][40] and First Scot's Presbyterian Church, PCA in Beaufort, South Carolina (formerly First Scots Independent Presbyterian Church) voted to affiliate with the PCA.[41][42] As well as several independent Anglo and till now unaffiliated Korean Presbyterian churches like Greater Springfield Korean Church in Agawam, Massachusetts.[43][44] According to the PC(USA) statistics 7 PC(USA) congregations with 550 members joined PCA, excluded the seceder groups since 2005.[45]

Doctrinal debate in the Reformed Church in America[46] led some RCA congregations like Grace Reformed Church in Lansing, Illinois (Pastor Andy Nearpass),[47] the Peace Community Church from Frankfort, IL (Kurt Kruger), Crete Reformed Church in Crete, IL (Pastor David Smith),[48] First Reformed Church in Lansing, IL (Pastor Ben Kappers),[49] Mission Dei Church in New Lenox, Illinois (Pastor Paul Vroom)[50][51] and University Reformed Church in East Lansing, Michigan (Pastor Kevin DeYoung)[52] to join the PCA as a conservative alternative.[53][54]

The three main issues were RCA position on homosexuality, the adoption of the Belhar Confession and complementarianism. Beyond the three reasons University Reformed Church mentioned:

We have a deep desire to belong to a family of churches where who we are as a congregation fits squarely with what our denomination does and believes." "We want to raise up pastors who do not fear that the ordination process is against them"."We want to work alongside churches that share our convictions." "We want to be in a denomination that sees us as occupying center ground, notsome extreme right flank". "The denomination(RCA) has moved away from churches like ours." "We want to work alongside churches that share our convictions." "In practice, the RCA is already well down this path [of endorsing homosexual activity] and that given the way our classical structure works those who stand for biblical orthodoxy can do little to stop it. We believe laboring in such a mixed denomination undermines the true nature of biblical unity, hinders our witness for Christ, and does not represent the most effective avenue for ministry for URC in the years and decades ahead." "URC would be able to serve with greater integrity and disciple our people (especially ministerial candidates) more effectively if we were in a denomination that shares our complementarian convictions, rather than in one that is moving full speed ahead in the other direction." "We(URC) are troubled by the weak form of confessional subscription in the RCA, the process for examining ministerial candidates, and our formal ecumenical ties with liberal denominations like the UCC, ELCA and PCUSA". "We have often heard from visitors that though they lived in Lansing for years they never thought to visit URC because it was an RCA church or because of things they had heard about liberal leanings in the RCA. How many others might be staying away because our denominational affiliation gives them the wrong idea about who we are and what we believe?"We do not recommend our RCA seminaries. "We want to be in a denomination that sees us as occupying center ground, not some extreme right flank". "The RCA connection inhibits interest in planting churches, the vision for training up pastors, and placement for new pastors." "we also feel a measure of distance between us and most churches in the denomination".[55]

Each of the churches was allowed to withdraw with their respective properties and assets after paying a varying settlement fee to the Illiana-Florida Classis. But if a church should withdraw from the PCA within five years of the approval of the agreement, then the property is to revert to the Classis of Illiana-Florida.[56] the University Reformed Church was also granted dismissal by the RCA Classis on March 21, 2015.[57]

Kevin DeYoung the pastor of University Reformed Church summarized the reasons of withdrawing from the Reformed Church in America[58] and affiliate with the PCA:

Let me simply say at this point that our reason for seeking to leave the RCA is not one thing, but many things. From the adoption of the Belhar Confession, to the removal of the conscience clauses related to women’s ordination, to the growing acceptance of homosexual practice in the denomination, we believe the RCA has changed significantly in the last several years. The denomination has moved away from churches like ours. Our request is that we may be able to move too.[59][60]

The Presbyterian Church in America motto is "Faithful to the Scriptures, True to the Reformed faith, Obedient to the great commission of Jesus Christ." The PCA professes adherence to the historic confessional standards of Presbyterianism: the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Westminster Shorter Catechism, and the Westminster Larger Catechism. These secondary documents are viewed as subordinate to the Bible,[62] which alone is viewed as the inspired Word of God.[63][64]

"True to the Reformed Faith:" https://www.pcaac.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/PCA-Clerks-of-Session-Handbook.pdf

As might be expected given Presbyterianism's historically high esteem for education, the PCA has generally valued academic exploration more highly than revivalist traditions of evangelicalism. Apologetics in general and presuppositional apologetics has been a defining feature with many of its theologians and higher-ranking clergy, and many also practice "cultural apologetics" by engaging with and participating in secular cultural activities such as film, music, literature, and art to win them for Christ.

Additionally, the PCA emphasizes ministries of mercy such as outreach to the poor, the elderly, orphans, American Indians, people with physical and mental disabilities, refugees, etc. As a result, the denomination has held several national conferences to help equip members to participate in this type of work, and several PCA affiliates such as Desire Street Ministries, New City Fellowship, and New Song Fellowship have received national attention for their service to the community at large.

The PCA is anti-abortion and opposes euthanasia, according to the official statement adopted at the 16th General Assembly in 1988: "Euthanasia, or "mercy-killing" of a patient by a physician or by anyone else, including the patient himself (suicide) is murder. To withhold or to withdraw medical treatment, as is being discussed here, does not constitute euthanasia and should not be placed into the same category with it."[65]

The PCA is against divorce, except in cases of adultery or abandonment (desertion).[66][67]

The PCA takes the following position on homosexuality: "Homosexual practice is sin. The Bible teaches that all particular sins flow from our rebellious disposition of heart. Just as with any other sin, the PCA deals with people in a pastoral way, seeking to transform their lifestyle through the power of the gospel as applied by the Holy Spirit. Hence, in condemning homosexual practice we claim no self-righteousness, but recognize that any and all sin is equally heinous in the sight of a holy God."[68] The PCA officially opposes same-sex marriage. However, according to the Pew Forum study conducted in 2014, about 50% of the members believe that homosexuality should be accepted and 40% same-sex marriage.[69] Roy Taylor, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the PCA, has said that the PCA "believes that, from creation, God ordained the marriage covenant to be a bond between one man and one woman" and that "divinely sanctioned standard for sexual activity is fidelity within a marriage between one man and one woman or chastity outside of such a marriage. Throughout history, there has often been a conflict between the unchanging standards of biblical ethics that the Church seeks to maintain and the changing social practices of the culture."[70][71] In 2020, the PCA's Committee Report on Human Sexuality concluded that it is generally unwise for Christians to identify themselves as gay Christian even if they abstain from homosexual activities due to homoerotic desires being sinful in nature.[72] Furthermore, the PCA officially affirmed the Nashville Statement[73] at their annual General Assembly in 2019.

However, the denomination has had mixed statements concerning the ordination of celibate or non-practicing gay men. A 1977 statement of the General Assembly had restricted from ministry only "practicing homosexuals"—as opposed to non-practicing.[74] That precedent has since been called into question. Between 2018 and 2021, denominational conservatives lobbied for a series of investigations and a judicial case against celibate PCA pastor Greg Johnson on account of his 2019 admission in Christianity Today that, as a gay atheist who converted to Christianity in college, his sexual orientation had nevertheless never changed.[75] Critics sought Johnson's removal for identifying as a gay or same-sex attracted man and for arguing against Sexual orientation change efforts as ineffective. Johnson requested investigation by his regional presbytery, which exonerated him in 2019 and again in 2020.[76] In 2020, Johnson's exoneration was appealed to the denomination's Standing Judicial Commission.[77] On October 22, 2021, that denominational court ruled in Johnson's favor by a vote of 16 to 7.[78] While Johnson has stated that he has never been sexually active,[75] significant opposition to Johnson's openness about his sexual orientation led the denomination's General Assembly in 2021 to propose changes to its constitution to prevent other celibate nonstraight people from ordination to ministry in the PCA.[79]

In 2014, in response to media confusion between the PCA and the PCUSA, the stated clerk's office issued the following:[80]

There are several Presbyterian denominations in America. Sometimes people mistakenly attribute the views or actions of one Presbyterian denomination to another. The "Presbyterian Church in America" (PCA) is an evangelical denomination in the Reformed theological tradition. The PCA, like other Evangelical, Conservative, Orthodox, and Traditional Christians from many denominations, believes that, from creation, God ordained the marriage covenant to be a bond between one man and one woman, and that understanding is what the Church has always believed, taught, and confessed. Therefore, we believe that the divinely sanctioned standard for sexual activity is fidelity within a marriage between one man and one woman or chastity outside of such a marriage. Throughout history, there has often been a conflict between the unchanging standards of biblical ethics that the Church seeks to maintain and the changing social practices of the culture. The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) has not redefined marriage nor does it intend to do so.

— L. Roy Taylor, Stated Clerk, General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America

John Calvin the founder of the Reformed family of Protestantism

The PCA is more socially and theologically conservative than the PC(USA). The PCA requires ordained pastors and elders to subscribe to the theological doctrines detailed in the Westminster Standards, with only minor exceptions allowed, while the PC(USA)'s Book of Confessions allows much more leeway. The PCA ordains only men who profess traditional marriage, while the PC(USA) allows the ordination of both women and (in certain Presbyteries) non-celibate gays and lesbians as clergy.[86] Like the PC(USA), however, the PCA accommodates different views of creation.[87] The PCA strives for racial reconciliation.[88] The PCA is unilaterally anti-abortion, believing life begins at conception. Unlike the PC(USA), the PCA has no ecumenical relationship with organizations which accept denominations that they perceive to have strayed from orthodoxy, such as the World Council of Churches or World Communion of Reformed Churches. Due to problems related to church property when splitting from the PC(USA), in the PCA all church buildings belong to the local church, which gives the PCA a slightly more congregational church structure than most other Presbyterian structures.[89]

The PCA is generally less theologically conservative than the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC, founded in 1936), but more conservative than the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC, founded in 1981) and the Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians (ECO, founded in 2012), though the differences can vary from presbytery to presbytery and even congregation to congregation. The PCA, as mentioned above, will not ordain women as teaching elders (pastors), ruling elders, or deacons, while the EPC considers this issue a "non-essential" matter left to the individual ordaining body, and ECO fully embraces women's ordination. However, there is an increasingly strong movement in the PCA to allow ordination of women as deacons including overtures in the General Assembly.[90] A number of PCA churches are known to have non-ordained women deacons and deaconesses.[91] The EPC is also more tolerant of the charismatic movement than the PCA. However, there is a strong New Calvinist movement in the PCA that practices contemporary music, adheres to a continuationist position on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and engages in civil dialogue with differing theological views.[92] This is not surprising since PCA has issued, from its inception, a pastoral letter to all the PCA churches to tolerate the charismatics within its ranks.[93]

The PCA has little doctrinal quarrel with the OPC. Both denominations have similar views on the Federal Vision, creation and justification. While most OPC congregations allow women only to teach children and other women in Sunday school, some moderate PCA congregations allow women to do anything a non-ordained man can do. While the OPC and the PCA both adhere to the Westminster Standards, the OPC is generally more strict in requiring its officers to subscribe to those standards without exception. It is hard to find any doctrinal differences between these two denominations. In recent years the OPC and PCA published substantial similar reports on the Creation Days, the debate about Justification and the issue of the Federal Vision. They have identical positions on social issues like women in combat, Freemasonry and abortion. The only divergence of any significance is the matter of charismatic gifts. The OPC maintains a strict cessationist position, while the PCA allows presbyteries to ordain non-cessationists if they do not believe that ongoing gifts are on par with Special Revelation. Many PCA churches have moved toward contemporary worship, while the OPC is dominated by traditional Reformed worship. The southern roots of the Presbyterian Church in America were tempered somewhat by the merger with the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod and the northern roots of the OPC was also tempered by the influence of Van Til and Kuyper.[94] Nonetheless, the two denominations enjoy fraternal relations and cooperate in a number of ways, such as sharing control of a publication company, Great Commission Publications, which produces Sunday School curricula for both denominations.

In 1995, the PCA was described as one of the fastest-growing denominations in the United States, having experienced steady growth since its founding in 1973.[107] In 2009, the PCA reported "a net loss in members for the first time."[108] In 2016, the denomination reported growth over a five-year period.[109][110] From 2017 to 2021, the PCA reported having 374,736 in 2017, 384,793 in 2018, 383,721 in 2019, 383,721 in 2020, and 378,389 in 2021.[111]

As of December 31, 2011, the Presbyterian Church in America had 1,771 churches (includes established churches and new church plants) representing all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico[112] and 5 Canadian provinces. There were 351,406 communicant and non-communicant members.[113] The PCA has 83 presbyteries or regional governing bodies. The latest formed in January 2014.[114] In 2012 the PCA had 1,777 congregations – 1,474 particular and 303 mission churches – that means a net increase of 6, membership developed by 12,613 total of 364,019. The number of ordained PCA ministers are 4,321.[115][116][117]

The PCA had 384,793 members in 1,927 congregations served by 4,951 ordained ministers in 2017.[118][119][120]

Less than 50% of the PCA churches send statistical report, and the stated supply believes the membership of the PCA experienced modest growth.[121]

The PCA is one of the most diverse Protestant denominations in the US with about 20% non-white members.[122]

More than 250 churches of the denomination are ethnic Korean churches with 9 non-geographical Korean language presbyteries, which is about 15% of the total.[123][124]

The PCA has grown tenfold in thirty years. This was partly the result of the union with the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod and the voluntary realignment of some Orthodox Presbyterian Churches.[125] For example, in Georgia the PCA has 14 congregations and 2,784 member in 1973, but in 2006 there were 93 congregations and 22,000 members. In 2015 there were about 150 congregations. This is more than tenfold growth of the denomination in the Peach State.[126]

The PCA is among the top 5 denominations that are most aggressive in church planting in North America.[127]

The greatest concentration is in the states of the Deep South, with more scattered strength in the Upper South, the upper Ohio Valley, and the Southwest. Two-thirds of PCA churches and members are found in the Southeast, and 25 churches are in the Metro Atlanta area.[128]

The state of Florida has the most PCA churches with more than 160 congregations, but Alabama, South Carolina and North Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, and Texas in the South and Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia on the East Coast remain strongholds for the denomination. In the five southeastern US States (Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Florida, and Georgia) the PCA had 742 congregations, making up more than one third of the total 1,771 churches.[129] Mississippi has the highest percentage of adherents per 1,000 people, followed by Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee, Delaware, and Georgia.[130] Numerous mega churches can be found in the American South and East as well as in Illinois, but the largest and the second largest churches in the denomination are Korean churches. A Korean congregation, Sarang Community Church of Southern California in Anaheim, CA, is the biggest congregation in the denomination with as many as 11,000 members.[131]

Grace Toronto PCA owns the historic St. Andrews Church

When the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod merged with the PCA, Canadian congregations entered the union. Since the merger, other congregations have been added through evangelism. Canadian churches report that "secularism and unbelief provide an opportunity to evangelism".[132] There are more than 22 congregations in Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.[131]

The PCA has a presbytery in Chile with more than five congregations and missions.[133]

The Potomac Presbytery proposed to elect a provisional presbytery in the Latin American county of Paraguay with 4–5 congregations and church plants in Asunción and the nearby cities. The Presbytery worked in the country for 15–20 years. The goal is to establish a National Presbyterian Church in Paraguay.[134]

The membership of the PCA is predominantly Caucasian (80%), but the denomination includes more than 260 Korean-American Churches in 9 Korean Presbyteries.[135] The first Korean Presbytery was formed in 1982; since then the number of presbyteries has grown to 9, namely the Korean Capital Presbytery, the Korean Central Presbytery, the Korean Eastern Presbytery, the Korean Northeastern Presbytery, the Korean Northwest Presbytery, the Korean Southeastern Presbytery, the Korean Southern Presbytery and the Korean Southwest Presbytery, and the recently formed Korean Southwest Orange County Presbytery.[114][136][137]

Korean PCA churches have contributed significantly to the denominational leadership and the church at large. In 2013, Michael Oh was appointed CEO of Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization.[138] In 2014, Lloyd Kim was appointed coordinator of Mission to the World.[139] In 2017, PCA elected its first non-Anglo moderator, Alexander Jun.[140] The same year, Joel Kim was appointed as president of Westminster Seminary California.[141] In 2019, Walter Kim was elected president of National Association of Evangelicals and in 2020, Julius Kim was selected as president of The Gospel Coalition.[142][143]

Koreans comprise approximately 15% of the denomination, and the majority of them are located in the West coast and Northeast regions. In recent years several independent Korean congregations have joined the PCA to be a part of a conservative Presbyterian denomination.[124] The largest PCA church is a Korean church located in Anaheim, CA called Sarang Community Church of Southern California and the second largest, Korean Central Presbyterian Church in Centreville, Virginia. All the Korean churches in the PCA appoint non-ordained deaconesses and women encouragers (Kwonsa) who are elected and installed so that women can care for other women in the church. Such has been the practice of all Korean Presbyterian churches since its inception which is practiced across denominational boundaries.

There are about 40 Hispanic American PCA churches in Alabama, Florida, California, Georgia, Illinois, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and also in Virginia.[144]

Approximately 15 Brazilian or Portuguese-speaking congregations was affiliated with the denomination in 2011, mainly in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Georgia, New Jersey and Florida.[145]

Several multi-ethnic African American, Haitian, Japanese, Nepali, Albanian, Indian, Sudanese, Indonesian Russian ethnic churches belong to the Presbyterian Church in America and the denomination begun to build relationship with the First Nations/Native American groups in the United States and Canada.[146]

The PCA has congregations outside North America. These International congregations can be found in the Grand Cayman Island, in Okinawa, Japan, South Korea, Prague and various cities (Berlin, Cologne, Stuttgart and Munich) in Germany.[131]

Additionally, the denomination has its own agency for sending missionaries around the world (Mission to the World)(MTW). Through Mission to the World well over 600 foreign missionaries are working in about 60 nations. Mission to North America serves PCA churches and presbyteries through the development of evangelism and church planting in Canada and the USA. An average of 3 new churches are planted in a month in the 2 nations and currently has more than 300 mission churches in the United States alone. More than 40% of all congregations are less than 25 years old, due to church planting.[107] The PCA puts into the field the world's largest Presbyterian mission force after that of the Global Missions Society of the Presbyterian Church in Korea (HapDong) with over 2,500 missionaries.[89][147]

The PCA church planters must raise their own support and the denomination turned to the use of church planting networks of like-minded churches to found church planters. The PCA frequently use the evangelist model of starting a new church where the evangelist under the oversight of the Presbyteries home missions committee has the power of the sessions in his own person. The PCA supports one foreign missionary for every three congregations.[148]

Further, there are more than 100 chaplains in the military, hospitals, prisons and 45 college and university campus ministers. The church has high emphasis on education.[149]

The PCA has its own ministry to students on college campuses, the Reformed University Fellowship, its own camp and conference center, the Ridge Haven Conference and Retreat Center[150] (Ridge Haven in Brevard, North Carolina), and its own liberal arts college (Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia, near Chattanooga, Tennessee) and seminary (Covenant Theological Seminary in Saint Louis, Missouri). Covenant Theological Seminary is a fully accredited theological institution that offers several academic degrees: Master of Divinity, Master of Arts, Master of Theology and Doctor of Ministry. The Seminary is home to the Francis Schaeffer Institute.[151] The PCA also publishes its own denominational magazine, byFaith.

The church maintains headquarters in Lawrenceville, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. The site was once the headquarters of the PCUS, but all offices of the united PC(USA) were moved to Louisville, Kentucky in 1988.[152]

The PCA Ministry Buildings in Lawrenceville is the location from which the ministries of the denomination are coordinated. These ministries are Mission to the World, Mission to North America, Christian Education and Publications, Administrative Committee and Reformed University Fellowship (RUF).[153]