Tenth Presbyterian Church is a congregation of approximately 1,600 members located in Center City,

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Tenth is affiliated with the

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 ...

(PCA), a denomination in the

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 ...

(Calvinist) tradition. It is located at the southwest corner of 17th & Spruce Streets in Philadelphia's

Rittenhouse Square Rittenhouse Square is a neighborhood, including a public park, in Center City Philadelphia. The park is one of the five original open-space parks planned by William Penn and his surveyor Thomas Holme during the late 17th century. The neighborho ...

neighborhood, in the southwestern quadrant of Center City.

History

The original Tenth Presbyterian Church, founded in 1829 as a congregation part of 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 ...

, was located on the northeast corner of 12th & Walnut Streets. It established a daughter church in 1855–1856 called the West Spruce Street Presbyterian Church on the southwest corner of 17th & Spruce Streets. The two churches worked together, with the ministers exchanging pulpits each week. Because of membership decline in the original Tenth Church caused by population shifts, the two churches merged in 1893 at the 17th & Spruce Streets location, taking the name of the older church (Tenth Presbyterian Church). West Spruce Street/Tenth Church was designed by architect

John McArthur Jr. John McArthur Jr. (1823–1890) was a prominent American architect based in Philadelphia. Best remembered as the architect of the landmark Philadelphia City Hall, McArthur also designed some of the city's most ambitious buildings of the Civil War ...

, who was a member of the congregation. Its tower-and-spire was the tallest structure in Philadelphia from 1856 to the erection of the tower of

Philadelphia City Hall Philadelphia City Hall is the seat of the municipal government of the City of Philadelphia. Built in the ornate Second Empire style, City Hall houses the chambers of the Philadelphia City Council and the offices of the Mayor of Philadelphia. It ...

in 1894, also designed by McArthur. In 1893, architect

Frank Miles Day Frank Miles Day (April 5, 1861 – June 15, 1918) was a Philadelphia-based architect who specialized in residences and academic buildings. Career In 1883, he graduated from the Towne School of the University of Pennsylvania, and traveled to Europe ...

was hired to perform major alterations to the church's exterior and interior decoration. The church's steeple with its 150-foot wooden spire was weakened due to structural decay of the timber frame, and was removed in 1912 due to fears that it would collapse. The Philadelphia Presbytery (PC-USA) was a conservative bastion during the fundamentalist-modernist controversy of the 1920s and 1930s, and Tenth Presbyterian was no exception. Under the influence of longtime pastor

Donald Barnhouse Donald Grey Barnhouse (March 28, 1895 – November 5, 1960), was an American Christian preacher, pastor, theologian, radio pioneer, and writer. He was pastor of the Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 1927 to his de ...

(1927–1960), the congregation became the conservative Presbyterian church in Center City, and it has remained a conservative and evangelical congregation until this day. Under

James Montgomery Boice James Montgomery Boice (July 7, 1938 – June 15, 2000) was an American Reformed Christian theologian, Bible teacher, author, and speaker known for his writing on the authority of Scripture and the defence of Biblical inerrancy. He was also the ...

(1968–2000), the congregation continued to be a center of conservative Reformed theology. Tenth membership continued to grow after World War II, and ministry efforts to college students gave the congregation a metropolitan focus. Tenth pres 17-spruce

Under Boice's pastorate, Tenth grew from 350 members to a congregation over 1,200. In 1979, following a denominational ruling by the

United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America The United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (UPCUSA) was the largest branch of Presbyterianism in the United States from May 28, 1958, to 1983. It was formed by the union of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of Ameri ...

requiring congregations to elect both men and women as ruling elder, Tenth Presbyterian left the UPCUSA in 1980, joining the more conservative

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, ...

. Three years afterward, Tenth followed the RPCES into the

, a church of Southern origin. After a lengthy property battle, the congregation was allowed to leave the UPCUSA while keeping its Byzantine-style property. Tenth Presbyterian is considered the "big-steeple" PCA congregation in the northeastern United States. The church sponsors an extensive global missions program, and an outreach to the neighborhood includes a strong connection to the rising generation of doctors, interns, and residents attending the medical schools in the neighborhood.

Senior Ministers

Some notable staff members of the church from its founding include: *Thomas McAuley, D.D., LL.D. Senior Pastor. 1829–1833 *

Henry Augustus Boardman Henry Augustus Boardman (January 9, 1808 – June 15, 1880) was an American minister and author. Boardman was born in Troy, N Y, January 9, 1808. His parents were John Boardman and Clarinda (Folger) Starbuck, and he often said that he was the pr ...

, D.D. Senior Pastor. 1833–1876 *Marcus A. Brownson, D.D. Senior Pastor. 1897–1924 *

Donald Grey Barnhouse Donald Grey Barnhouse (March 28, 1895 – November 5, 1960), was an American Christian preacher, pastor, theologian, radio pioneer, and writer. He was pastor of the Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 1927 to his deat ...

, Th.D., D.D. Senior Pastor. 1927–1960 *

Mariano Di Gangi Mariano Di Gangi (23 July 1923 in Brooklyn – 18 March 2008 in Ottawa) was a minister of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Biography A native of Bushwick, Brooklyn, Di Gangi graduated from Brooklyn College in 1943 and earned a Bachelo ...

, D.D. Senior Pastor. 1961–1967 *

, Th.D., D.D. Senior Minister. 1968–2000 * Philip G. Ryken, DPhil Senior Minister. 1995–2010, now president of Wheaton College
Liam Goligher
D.Min. May 22, 2011 – Present Notable members have included

C. Everett Koop Charles Everett Koop (October 14, 1916 – February 25, 2013) was an American pediatric surgeon and public health administrator. He was a vice admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, and served as the 13th Surgeon Ge ...

Surgeon General of the United States The surgeon general of the United States is the operational head of the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (PHSCC) and thus the leading spokesperson on matters of public health in the federal government of the United States. Th ...

during the Reagan administration and one-time head of Pediatrics at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Ministries

*Three Sunday services with approximately 1,400 people in weekly attendance
ACTS Ministries
mercy ministries to the poor and homeless near Tenth Church *Tenth College Fellowship is a group for college students, helping them to be connected in the church and to grow spiritually during their college years. *Maranatha is the youth group for students in grades 7–12, begun in 1984 and still continuing to meet weekly on Sunday nights and sponsor other events throughout the year.
Tenth Church Preschool
provides high-quality preschool education, nurturing children through music, literature, learning and play while fostering community for parents. *Medical Campus Outreach is a ministry to medical and other health professional students on medical campuses in and around Philadelphia. *Small group Bible studies meet weekly in host homes across the city of Philadelphia and throughout the suburbs in Pennsylvania and New Jersey *Various other discipleship groups, support groups, and prayer groups meet regularly in the church facilities and elsewhere

References

External links

Official website

Tenth Presbyterian Church
at Philadelphia Architects and Buildings {{Authority control Churches in Philadelphia Presbyterian Church in America churches in Pennsylvania 19th-century Presbyterian church buildings in the United States Religious organizations established in 1829 Churches completed in 1856 1829 establishments in Pennsylvania Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia