The Bible Presbyterian Church is an

American Protestant Protestantism is the largest grouping of Christians in the United States, with its combined denominations collectively comprising about 43% of the country's population (or 141 million people) in 2019. Other estimates suggest that 48.5% of the U ...

denomination in the

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

tradition.

History

Origin

The Bible Presbyterian Church was formed in 1937, predominantly through the efforts of such

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

men as

Carl McIntire Carl Curtis McIntire, Jr. (May 17, 1906 – March 19, 2002), known as Carl McIntire, was a founder and minister in the Bible Presbyterian Church, founder and long-time president of the International Council of Christian Churches and the Ame ...

J. Oliver Buswell James Oliver Buswell, Jr. (January 16, 1895 – February 4, 1977) was a Presbyterian theologian, educator and institution builder. Education Buswell was born in Burlington, Wisconsin. He received an A.B. from the University of Minnesota (1917), a ...

and Allan MacRae.

Francis Schaeffer Francis August Schaeffer (January 30, 1912 – May 15, 1984) was an American evangelical theologian, philosopher, and Presbyterian pastor. He co-founded the L'Abri community in Switzerland with his wife Edith Schaeffer, , a prolific author ...

was the first minister to be ordained in the new denomination. The First

General Synod The General Synod is the title of the governing body of some church organizations. Anglican Communion The General Synod of the Church of England, which was established in 1970 replacing the Church Assembly (Church of England), Church Assembly, is t ...

of the Bible Presbyterian Church was held in 1938 in

Collingswood, New Jersey Collingswood is a borough in Camden County, New Jersey, located east of Center City Philadelphia. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the borough's population was 13,926,Orthodox Presbyterian Church The Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) is a confessional Presbyterian denomination located primarily in the United States, with additional congregations in Canada, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. It was founded by conservative members of the Presbyteri ...

in 1937, the latter formed slightly earlier in 1936 and a continuation of the Presbyterian Church of America (not to be confused with the similar but later

Presbyterian Church in America The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) is the second-largest Presbyterian church body, behind the Presbyterian Church (USA), and the largest conservative Calvinist denomination in the United States. The PCA is Reformed in theology and presb ...

). The name had to be changed because of a successful lawsuit in civil court by the mainline denomination regarding name infringement – a trademark-violation issue. After the conservative faction had left the

Presbyterian Church in the United States of America The Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA) was the first national Presbyterian denomination in the United States, existing from 1789 to 1958. In that year, the PCUSA merged with the United Presbyterian Church of North Americ ...

(PCUSA), considerable dissension became apparent among the conservatives themselves, and it became evident that there were two groups within the

Orthodox Presbyterian Church The Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) is a confessional Presbyterian denomination located primarily in the United States, with additional congregations in Canada, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. It was founded by conservative members of the Presbyteri ...

. The first group was more closely bound to traditional modes of worship, theological formulations, and the like. This group held to the classic formulations of

Reformed Reform is beneficial change Reform may also refer to: Media * ''Reform'' (album), a 2011 album by Jane Zhang * Reform (band), a Swedish jazz fusion group * ''Reform'' (magazine), a Christian magazine *''Reforme'' ("Reforms"), initial name of the ...

theology (as mediated through the

Westminster Confession The Westminster Confession of Faith is a Reformed confession of faith. Drawn up by the 1646 Westminster Assembly as part of the Westminster Standards to be a confession of the Church of England, it became and remains the " subordinate standard" ...

and the Catechisms) and piety, thus forming an "orthodox" faction. The other faction espoused a conservatism that showed a more keen interest in cultural and

political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

matters, and saw the actions of the PCUSA as symptomatic of a rejection of long-held principles of conservative

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

by much of the larger American society. This group was essentially

fundamentalist Fundamentalism is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that is characterized by the application of a strict literal interpretation to scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguishing ...

in nature, and became associated with the "Bible" faction. McIntire laid the basis for much of what was to come to be called the "

Christian right The Christian right, or the religious right, are Christian political factions characterized by their strong support of socially conservative and traditionalist policies. Christian conservatives seek to influence politics and public policy with t ...

" in American religion and politics. Two main issues made the existence of these factions within the Orthodox Presbyterian Church evident. The first had to do with a classic Reformed piety over against a piety of fundamentalism. It came down to a conflict over the use of

alcoholic beverages An alcoholic beverage (also called an alcoholic drink, adult beverage, or a drink) is a drink that contains ethanol, a type of alcohol that acts as a drug and is produced by fermentation of grains, fruits, or other sources of sugar. The cons ...

. The "orthodox" side condemned drunkenness, but nevertheless did not agree that Scripture required Christians to totally abstain from drinking alcoholic beverages, while the "Bible" side asserted that the Bible prohibited the consumption of alcohol entirely (see also

Christianity and alcohol Christian views on alcohol are varied. Throughout the first 1,800 years of Church history, Christians generally consumed alcoholic beverages as a common part of everyday life and used "the fruit of the vine" in their central rite—the Eucharist ...

). The second issue was over faithfulness to

covenant Theology Covenant theology (also known as covenantalism, federal theology, or federalism) is a conceptual overview and interpretive framework for understanding the overall structure of the Bible. It uses the theological concept of a covenant as an organ ...

versus the toleration of

dispensationalism Dispensationalism is a system that was formalized in its entirety by John Nelson Darby. Dispensationalism maintains that history is divided into multiple ages or "dispensations" in which God acts with humanity in different ways. Dispensationali ...

. Those on the "Bible" side had come to tolerate, and even use, the popular

Scofield Reference Bible The Scofield Reference Bible is a widely circulated study Bible edited and annotated by the American Bible student Cyrus I. Scofield, which popularized dispensationalism at the beginning of the 20th century. Published by Oxford University Press ...

whose notes taught the theological system called dispensationalism, rather than covenant theology historically held by most

churches. Scofield's notes were under considerable criticism by faculty members of

Westminster Theological Seminary Westminster Theological Seminary is a Protestant theological seminary in the Reformed theological tradition in Glenside, Pennsylvania. It was founded by members of the faculty of Princeton Theological Seminary in 1929 after Princeton chose to t ...

, who led the "orthodox" faction. Historic premillennialism was tolerated within the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, yet the dispensational form of premillennialism was considered to be serious error. Those who came to call themselves "Bible Presbyterians" saw the serious criticisms against Scofield's notes as a swipe against historic premillennialism itself, rather than merely the dispensational form of premillennialism, and wanted the freedom to use the Scofield Reference Bible. The formal exodus of Bible Presbyterian churches came about in 1938, only two years after the forming of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, immediately after the failure of Rev. Milo F. Jamison, a dispensationalist, to be elected Moderator of the General Assembly. The split was not on unkind terms, as was the case with the original split with the PCUSA. 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.

First split

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

and Jay E. Adams would eventually move beyond its Bible Presbyterian Church heritage and eventually would take the name the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in 1961 (which is not to be confused with the current denomination of the same name, founded in 1981). In 1965, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church merged with the

Reformed Presbyterian Church, General Synod The Reformed Presbyterian Church, General Synod was a Presbyterian denomination that came about due to a split amongst the Reformed Presbyterians, or Covenanters and existed between 1833 and 1965. History The division had come about in 1833 betw ...

, a denomination of "new light"

Covenanter Covenanters ( gd, Cùmhnantaich) were members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. The name is derived from ''Covenan ...

descent, to form the

Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod The Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod was a Reformed and Presbyterian denomination in the United States and Canada between 1965 and 1982. Formation The RPCES was formed in 1965 with the union of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, ...

(RPCES). The RPCES would eventually merge with the

in 1982. Shortly before the split, the Bible Presbyterian Church had established

Covenant College Covenant College is a private, liberal arts, Christian college in Lookout Mountain, Georgia, located near Chattanooga, Tennessee. As the college of the Presbyterian Church in America, Covenant teaches subjects from a Reformed theological wor ...

and

Covenant Theological Seminary Covenant Theological Seminary, informally called Covenant Seminary, is the denominational seminary of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). Located in Creve Coeur, Missouri, it trains people to work as leaders in church positions and elsewhe ...

, 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.

Second split

The remaining synod retained the name ''Bible Presbyterian Church.'' The group experienced another split in 1979; the American Presbyterian Church left the BPC over roughly the same concerns that led to the original OPC/BPC split decades earlier.

Third split

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 The Faith Presbytery, Bible Presbyterian Church (FPBPC) is a Calvinist, Reformed Christian denomination formed in 2008 by conservative Presbyterian clergy and churches who disassociated from the Bible Presbyterian Church, Bible Presbyterian Synod ...

Recent history

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.

Doctrine

The

Westminster Confession of Faith The Westminster Confession of Faith is a Reformed confession of faith. Drawn up by the 1646 Westminster Assembly as part of the Westminster Standards to be a confession of the Church of England, it became and remains the " subordinate standard" ...

, Larger Catechism and Shorter Catechism was adopted in the first Bible Presbyterian Synod in 1938. It agrees with the original manuscript of the Confession. The denomination describes itself as a confessional church which believes in historic

Calvinism Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Cal ...

. www.bpc.org/?paige_id=201
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Demographics

The denomination comprises 33 churches mostly in the United States and 1 church in

Alberta, Canada Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to t ...

and 4 presbyteries. These presbyteries are the Great Western Presbytery, the Eastern Presbytery, the Great Lakes Presbytery, and the Florida Presbytery. The highest governing body is the Synod.

General Synod

References

External links

Bible Presbyterian ChurchFar Eastern Bible CollegeWestern Reformed Seminary
by John Frame {{Authority control Presbyterian denominations established in the 20th century Presbyterian denominations in the United States Christian organizations established in 1938 Collingswood, New Jersey 1938 establishments in New Jersey Presbyterian denominations in Canada Fundamentalist denominations Conservatism in the United States