Vanguard Presbyterian Church

In 2018 St. Louis Memorial Presbyterian Church, a local church federate to the Presbyterian Church in America, started the Revoice Conference, aimed at people sexually attracted to other people of the same sex. The conference argued that sex should only be practiced in marriage and that Christian marriage is only between a man and a woman. Therefore, Christians sexually attracted to other people of the same sex should be celibate.[5]

However, it was argued that Christians sexually attracted to other people of the same sex could identify themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual, since sexual attraction would be an essential element of the individual's identity. Such a position was the subject of controversy and decisions regarding ecclesiastical discipline were a source of conflict.[3][5]

A group of disaffected churches broke away from the Presbyterian Church in America and formed the Vanguard Presbytery. The denomination's first General Assembly took place on July 30, 2020.[6]

After the formation of the Vanguard Presbytery, the Reformed Presbyterian Church in the United States (RPCUS) – another splinter denomination from the Presbyterian Church in America, formed in 1973 – was dissolved and its local churches joined the new denomination.[7][8]

In May 2022 four congregations, including both who had joined from the former RPCUS, withdrew from Vanguard Presbytery to form a new denomination called Christ Reformed Presbyterian Church.[9][10][11]

The Vanguard Presbytery believe in being a “grassroots” denomination, handing more responsibility for church planting to local churches and presbyteries, supporting evangelism both in and outside the congregation (New Side), the office of evangelist as a third office (along with elder and deacon) a commitment to Calvinism and the Westminster Standards (Old School),[12] and Young Earth Creationism.[13]