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December 12: J. Wilbur Chapman

12 December, 2013 in December 2013 by davidtmyers | No comments

Mass Evangelism Crusades of an Astonishing Type —

chapmanJWilburWe have already considered the life and pastoral ministry of J. Wilbur Chapman on April 13, 1881 (see there).  Leaving the pastorate in some five churches, two of them being Presbyterian, we look at his appointment by the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America to the position of General Secretary of Evangelism on December 12, 1902.  immediately he was placed as an overseer of 51 evangelists in 470 cities of the nation.  But as important as that post was, it was the mass evangelism techniques that he authored that became astonishing instruments of the Holy Spirit to win the lost to Christ.

Chapman would go into a city like Pittsburgh or Philadelphia in Pennsylvania for a three to four-week evangelistic campaign.  He would then break down the cities into zones, with evangelists and song teams over each one of the zones. Then there would be simultaneous meetings every night with those teams in the zones of the cities.  Pittsburgh in 1904 was divided into nine zones. Philadelphia had forty-two sections divided into it. The conversions numbered in the thousands. At one of them in North Carolina, the Rev. David Otis Fuller was converted.

Chapman, in seeing the approaching liberalism of his own denomination, set the bar high with respect to belief in the Bible. He let go any of his evangelists who did not believe in the inerrancy of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.

The Presbyterian evangelist took this technique “on the road” as he ministered to eight cities in Australia, six cities in China, Korea, and Japan. By 1910, the evangelistic technique began to lose favor with the masses, and it was laid aside.

J. Wilbur Chapman became the moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in 1918. He died in that same year, but we remember him by his great hymn of “One Day” and “Jesus, What a Friend For Sinners” today in our churches.

Words to live by:  In the early days of our twentieth century, there was much spiritual fruit from the evangelistic efforts of J. Wilbur Chapman. It is a shame that we have forgotten his name and efforts for souls so much in our churches. We need evangelists today who will reach out with the gospel of Jesus Christ to lost men and women everywhere in our cities. Who will join me in praying that God will send a great revival of our church members in Presbyterian churches across this land? Who will join with me that God’s Spirit will bring another great spiritual awakening of the lost, driving them to embrace Jesus Christ as He is offered in the gospel?

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December 8: At the Crossroads

8 December, 2013 in December 2013 by archivist | No comments

As noted previously, the Rev. Donald Patterson brought the central sermon of the week of that first General Assembly for the PCA. His sermon was titled, At the Crossroads. As with the Message to All Churches, this sermon serves to set the standard for the young denomination, a standard which we would do well to regularly review. As Dr. Patterson states, “the primary purpose of Jesus Christ in the world must never become a secondary cause in His church.”

pattersonDr. Patterson was a son of the manse, his father having served for many years as a minister in the Presbyterian Church in the United States. He was graduated from Wheaton College and Columbia Theological Seminary. He served as pastor of the Commerce, Georgia Presbyterian Church, Perry, Georgia Presbyterian Church, West End Church of Hopewell, Virginia and the McIlwain Memorial Church of Pensacola, Florida and lastly as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Jackson, Mississippi.

Dr. Patterson was Chairman of the Steering Committee for a Continuing Presbyterian Church and Chairman of the provisional Committee of the Mission to the World, while also serving as a member of the Mississippi Valley Presbytery of the Continuing Presbyterian Church.

At the Crossroads
by the Rev. Donald B. Patterson, B.A., B.D., D.D.

No other figure of speech describes more adequately our situation tonight than does the one that states that we are “at the crossroads.” Having come to this place because of a deep conviction we have been laughed at, criticized, maligned, made fun of and even harassed, yet we have come. Some of us face uncertain days, while others breathe more easily for their “lives have fallen in pleasant places.”

None of us would deny that we are living in a new day with all kinds of exciting opportunities for Christian witness at home and overseas. The future is as bright as the promises of God. I am impressed by the fact that those giving thought to the formation of a new denomination are facing up to the principle that the primary purpose of Jesus Christ in the world must never become a secondary cause in His church.

As the apostle Paul set out on his third missionary journey he carried with him the half-Jewish, half-Asian-Greek Timothy and the Gentile Titus. He was joined by others as they visited churches established earlier. In the spring of 54 A.D. they came to the strategic city of Ephesus. The story of the evangelization of that city is one of the outstanding missionary accomplishments of history. We do not have all the records, but two years later it was said ” … all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.” (Acts 19:10)

Since the beginning of the Christian Church, it has been at its best when it is militantly evangelistic. Refined by violent opposition, a fierce dedication to take the Gospel to every man at any cost characterized our predecessors.

Unfortunately, the Church has not been able to maintain its most dedicated missionary enthusiasm for very long, and having failed to polarize public opinion about Jesus Christ it has retreated from the arena of open evangelism. The Church has hidden behind symbols of strength and power — protected by its theological positions — while whole generations of unimpressed, uncommitted and unevangelized people go by outside.

I may have misunderstood the Scripture, but my impression of the Church was that it was never meant to be some kind of a fortress out of reach of the people. The Church was to be an outgoing, proclaiming, evangelistic body of believers dedicated to the passion for the the world-wide evangelization of people.

As I understand the command of Jesus, we are to preach the Gospel to every person, but no generation of Christians has ever come close to fulfilling the Great Commission in its own times. The likelihood of our evangelizing the world seems so remote that few of us even think about it — much less pray about it.

In 1966 I attended the World Congress on Evangelism in Berlin where a population clock clicked off the increase in the world’s population while we sat in that meeting. Nothing made a more profound impression on me that week.

When Christ was on earth there were approximately 300 million people on earth. 1500 years later it is estimated that there were 500 million. 300 years later there were one billion. Then man doubled his number in the next one hundred years. In 1930 there were 2 billion people! Between 1930 and 1960 man added another billion. They are now estimating that by the year 2000 there will be 6.5 billion people.

There was a day when preachers were called the “prophets of doom,” but the title now goes to the scientists. The scientist with his charts and carefully researched prognostications is in the limelight. It has become obvious that if the Church is ever to evangelize the world it must greatly increase its level of missionary activity, or it will be too late to fulfill the Great Commission.

Facing the command of our Saviour and with some knowledge of the work of various mission organizations down through the years, it is my opinion that our fledgling denomination must search for a workable plan for world-wide evangelization. We must go back to the New Testament and base our global ministry on apostolic patterns and standards. Listen to what Paul wrote to Timothy: “I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.” (I Timothy 1:16)

In that first century Paul provided a working model that we would do well to follow — “all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.” (Acts 19:10). He reached the whole province — all the people! He effectively fulfilled the Great Commission for that time and place by carrying the Gospel to all the inhabitants of what is now Turkey.

You know the history of the church in that area. Luke wrote: “So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.” (Acts 19:20) Whatever Paul did at Ephesus needs to be repeated again throughout the whole 20th century world.

God’s command to Adam was “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it and have dominion.” (Gen. 1:28). Man has done that. He is now walking on the moon, living at the bottom of the ocean, doubling his store of knowledge every few years and now he says that he is close to reproducing living matter in the laboratory. He has so thoroughly carried out his original assignment that he has now produced a terrifying ecological imbalance that threatens to destroy him.

With the coming of Jesus Christ a new commandment was given. He discussed it often with His disciples. Listen to it again:

Matthew 28:18-20 “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.”

Mark 26:15 “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.”

Luke 24:46-48 “Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things.”

John 20:21 “Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.”

Acts 1:7,8 “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

Matthew 24:24 “And this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.”

Obviously, the task of world evangelization is to continue until the end of the world. The obligation is still binding. The Great Commission has not expired and is applicable today.

We have taken a strong stand on some of the complicated facets of Christian theology, but in the Great Commission there is a wonderful simplicity. Jesus is calling for uniformity of action and singleness of purpose: Christians are to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every living person. It is a call to action — a command to total evangelization — a commitment to proclaim the Gospel to every person.

The message of that first century Church was uncomplicated. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was crucified and buried, but on the third day He rose from the dead. Forty days later He ascended to the Father and He promised to return. The early declaration of faith did not reply to all the questions that men were asking, but it did give an understandable series of concepts for the evangelization of the people.

We must believe that we are justified in changing the religious beliefs and the moral behavior of the people. We must believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to God and that all other religions, beautiful and presently helpful as they may appear, are inadequate. Man is separated from God by his sins and he will invent substitutes. Without a living knowledge of God man has degenerated and developed his heathen religions and cultures. Underneath the surface there is still a hunger that is not satisfied apart from Christ.

The primary motivation for world evangelization is a love for our fellow men and a firm belief that all who do not accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ are hopelessly lost and condemned to eternal separation from God. If Jesus Christ is right, then all the world must be evangelized and we must make converts among all other religions.

The magnitude of the Great Commission is a frightening challenge to our embryonic denomination, especially in view of the lack of missionary vision in our time. We cannot answer for the ages that are past, but we are responsible for every man, woman and child in every community in every cultural group in our generation. It is for today that we must answer to God.

What we need today is a fresh look at what the Scriptures have to say about the sovereignty of God. He knows the end from the beginning and is working all things after the counsel of His own will. He is able to make the wrath of man praise Him. No man can stay His hand or say to Him: “What doest thou?”

Anybody can believe in the sovereignty of God when the situation is under control, but when things get out of hand, when right is on the scaffold and wrong is on the throne, it is then that the purposes of God are being worked out according to His plan.

This is no time for retrenchment — no time for retreat. The doors ARE open. The fields ARE white. The laborers ARE few. The closed doors are God’s responsibility while the open doors are ours! We are to pray the Lord of the harvest to send the laborers.

The success of world missions is not to be measured against past accomplishments or present gains, but by the realistic progress toward the fulfillment of the Great Commission and the response of the Church to pursue its task with faith and vision.

What will you do about it? As you stand at the crossroads, what will your decision be? I promise you difficulties and dangers. Messengers of the cross have been hunted and hounded, whipped and flogged. Some have given their lives. But the mandate has not been rescinded.

Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church and the Lord of history. Leaders come and go — nations rise and fall — civilizations wax and wane, but the worldwide mission of the Church will continue to the end of the age.

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December 7: Concluding Day of the First PCA General Assembly

7 December, 2013 in December 2013 by archivist | No comments

New Church Sends Communication to All Christian Churches

That was so good, let’s go over it again! Yesterday we presented the text of “A Message to All Churches”. Here today, an overview or summary of that document:—

It was at the close of the First General Assembly of what was originally named the National Presbyterian Church (a year later, renamed the Presbyterian Church in America) that a message was sent to all churches of Jesus Christ throughout the world from this new denomination.  With this Message, adopted on December 6th, and then sent on December 7, 1973, the elders of this new Presbyterian Church wished everyone to know of their principles and convictions which occasioned this new Church.

Sola Scriptura
Chief among them was the sole basis of the Bible being the Word of God written by inspired authors and carrying the authority of the divine Author.  They desired that all branches of the visible church would recognize their conviction that “the Bible is the very Word of God, so inspired in the whole and in all its parts, as in the original autographs, the inerrant Word of God.”  Further, it is the only infallible and all-sufficient rule of faith and practice.”  (Message to all Churches, p. 1)

Semper Reformanda
They also declared that they believed the system of doctrine found in God’s Word to be the system known as the Reformed Faith, as set forth in the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms. They wanted everyone to know that this Reformed Faith is an authentic and valid expression of Biblical Christianity.

A Message to Proclaim: Sola Christus, Sola Fides
A third conviction was expressed to renew and reaffirm their understanding of the nature and mission of the Church. To them, Christ is King and the only Law-giver, having established the Church as a spiritual reality.  It is composed of all the elect from all ages, manifested visibly upon the earth.

The chief end of man’s existence—our very reason for living—is to glorify God. That truth, reflected in the first answer of the Westminster Shorter Catechism aim, also implies that we give top priority to the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ which speaks of going into all the world, preaching the gospel, and disciplining all nations, bringing them into the church.

A Church to Uphold
Last, they sought a return to the historic Presbyterian view of Church government from the Session of the local church to the Assembly of all the local church representatives.

With a closing invitation to ecclesiastical fellowship with all who maintain their principles of faith and order, the address came to a close.

Words to live by:  Even though the name was changed from National Presbyterian Church to Presbyterian Church in America in the next year after the publication of this Address, the principles and convictions have remained the same in this now forty year old church.  If you are not in a Bible-believing, Gospel-preaching Presbyterian and Reformed church, prayerfully consider the testimony and witness of the Presbyterian Church in America.

To read the entire “Message to All Churches of Jesus Christ throughout the World,” click here.

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December 6: Day 3 of the 1st PCA GA

6 December, 2013 in December 2013 by archivist | No comments

The first General Assembly of the National Presbyterian Church, as it was initially named, took place in Birmingham, Alabama, December 4-7, 1973. On their third day of business, the Assembly adopted the Book of Church Order as part of its constitution, adopted by-laws of incorporation, and set up a committee to deliberate on charismatic gifts. In their evening service of worship that day, the Rev. Don Patterson brought a message entitled “At the Crossroads.” Then, concluding the day’s business, the Assembly adopted a number of recommendations which established the denomination’s board of foreign missions, and finally, adopted a public declaration, to be issued on the final day of the Assembly. This public statement, “A Message to All Churches of Jesus Christ throughout the World, from the General Assembly of the National Presbyterian Church,” was a declaration of the character and intent of the new denomination:


A MESSAGE TO ALL CHURCHES OF JESUS CHRIST THROUGHOUT THE WORLD, FROM THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE NATIONAL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Greeting:  Grace, Mercy and Peace be multiplied upon you!

As the National Presbyterian Church takes her place among the family of Churches of the Lord Jesus Christ, we take this opportunity to address all Churches by way of a testimony.We gather as a true branch of the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ. We affirm our allegiance to Him as the sole Head of the Church and the sole Law-giver in Zion. We remember that “the gates of hell shall not prevail” against His Church.

The constituency of this new denomination for the most part have separated themselves from the Presbyterian Church in the United 
States. The decision to separate has come only after long years of struggle and heartache on the part of many of us to return the Church to purity of faith and practice. Principle and conviction entered into that decision, reached only after much soul searching and earnest prayer. We have reluctantly accepted the necessity of separation, deeming loyalty to Christ to take precedence over relationship to any earthly institution, even to a visible branch of the Church of Christ.

In much prayer and with great sorrow and mourning we have concluded that to practice the principle of purity in the Church visible,
 we must pay the price of separation. We desire to elaborate upon those principles and convictions that have brought us to that decision.

We are convinced that our former denomination as a whole, and in its leadership, no longer holds those views regarding the nature and
 mission of the Church, which we accept as both true and essential. When we judged that there was no human remedy for this situation, and in the absence of evidence that God would intervene, we were compelled to raise a new banner bearing the historic, Scriptural faith of our forefathers.

First, we declare the basis of the authority for the Church. According to the Christian faith, the Bible is the Word of God written and carries the authority of its divine Author. We believe the Bible itself asserts that it has been given by inspiration, or, more literally, has been “God-breathed” (II Timothy 3:16). “No prophecy ever came by the will of man; but men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit” (II Peter 1:21). We declare, therefore, that the Bible is the very Word of God, so inspired in the whole and in all its parts, as in the original autographs, to be the inerrant Word of God. It is, therefore, the only infallible and all-sufficient rule of faith and practice.

This was the position of the founding fathers of the Presbyterian Church in the United States. We affirm with them in their “Address to All Churches” the application of this principle to the Church and her mission:

Let it be distinctly borne in mind that the only rule of judgment is the written Word of God. The Church knows nothing of the intuitions of reason or the deductions of philosophy, except those reproduced in the Sacred Canon. She has a positive constitution in the Holy Scriptures, and has no right to utter a single syllable upon any subject except as the Lord puts words in her mouth. She is founded, in other words, upon express revelation.Her creed is an authoritative testimony of God, and not speculation, and what she proclaims she must proclaim with the infallible certitude of faith, and not with the hesitating assent of an opinion.

We have called ourselves “Continuing” Presbyterians because we seek to continue the faith of the founding fathers of that Church.
 Deviations in doctrine and practice from historic Presbyterian positions as evident in the Presbyterian Church in the United States, result from accepting other sources of authority, and from making them coordinate or superior to the divine Word. A diluted theology, a gospel tending towards humanism, an unbiblical view of marriage and divorce, the ordination of women, financing of abortion on socio-economic grounds, and numerous other non-Biblical positions are all traceable to a different view of Scripture from that we hold and that which was held by the Southern Presbyterian forefathers.

Change in the Presbyterian Church in the United States came as a gradual thing, and its ascendancy in the denomination, over a long 
period of time. We confess that it should not have been permitted. Views and practices that undermine and supplant the system of doctrine or polity of a confessional Church ought never to be tolerated. A Church that will not exercise discipline will not long be able to maintain pure doctrine or godly practice.

When a denomination will not exercise discipline and its courts have become heterodox or disposed to tolerate error, the minority finds itself in the anomalous position of being submissive to a tolerant and erring majority. In order to proclaim the truth and to practice the discipline which they believe obedience to Christ requires, it then becomes necessary for them to separate. This is the exercise of discipline in reverse. It is how we view our separation.

Some of our brethren have felt that the present circumstances do not yet call for such a remedy. They remain in the Presbyterian Church in the United States. We trust they will continue to contend for the faith, though our departure makes their position more difficult. We express to them our hope that God will bless their efforts, and that there may come a genuine spiritual awakening in the Presbyterian Church in the United States.

We trust that our departure may cause those who control and direct the programs and policies of the Presbyterian Church in the United States to reexamine their own position in the light of the Word. Our prayer is that God may use this movement to promote spiritual awakening, not only in the new Church, but also in that from which we have separated. If in the providence of God, such were to occur, we would gladly acknowledge that the grounds for separation and division would have to be reassessed.

We declare also that we believe the system of doctrine found in God’s Word to be the system known as the Reformed Faith. We are 
committed without reservation to the Reformed Faith as set forth in the Westminster Confession and Catechisms. It is our conviction that the Reformed faith is not sectarian, but an authentic and valid expression of Biblical Christianity. We believe it is our duty to seek fellowship and unity with all who profess this faith. We particularly wish to labor with other Christians committed to this theology.

We further renew and reaffirm our understanding of the nature and mission of the Church. We have declared that Christ is King and only Law-giver in Zion. He has established the Church. His Church is a spiritual reality. As such it is made up of all the elect from all ages. This spiritual entity is manifested visibly upon the earth.

The Church visible is found wherever there are those who profess the true faith together with their children. As an assembly of those who do so profess this faith, we have established this denomination in the belief that it is a true branch of the Christian Church.

We believe the Church in its visible aspect is still essentially a spiritual organism. As such, its authority, motivation and power come
 from Christ, the Head, who is seated at the right hand of God. He has given us His rulebook for the Church, namely, the Word of God written. We understand the task of the Church to be primarily declarative and ministerial, not legislative or magisterial. It is our duty to set forth what He has given us in His Word and not to devise our own message or legislate our own laws.

We declare that the ultimate purpose of the Church is to glorify God. We believe this includes giving top priority to Christ’s Great Commission. We reaffirm the substance of the position taken by the founding fathers of our former Church regarding the mission of the Church:

We desire distinctly and deliberately to inscribe on our Church’s banner, as she now unfurls it to the world, in immediate subservience
to the authority of our Lord as Head and King of the Church His last command: “Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” We regard this as the great end of our organization, and obedience to it, as the indispensable condition of our Lord’s promised presence. It is the one great comprehensive objective, a proper conception of whose grandeur and magnitude is the only thing which, under the constraining love of Christ, can ever sufficiently arouse our energies and develop our resources so as to cause us to carry on with that vigor and efficiency, which true loyalty to our Lord demands, those other agencies necessary to our internal growth and prosperity at home.”

As a Church, we consciously seek to return to the historic Presbyterian view of Church government. We reaffirm in the words of that
 earlier “Address to All Churches” the following:

“The only thing that will be at all peculiar to us is the manner in which we shall attempt to discharge our duty. In almost every department of labor, except the pastoral care of congregations, it has been usual for the Church to resort to societies more or less closely connected with itself, and yet logically and really distinct. It is our purpose to rely upon the regular organs of our government, and executive agencies directly and immediately responsible to them. We wish to make the Church, not merely a superintendent, but an agent. We wish to develop the idea that the congregation of believers, as visibly organized is the very society or corporation which is divinely called to do the work of the Lord. We shall, therefore, endeavor to do what has never been adequately done— bring out the energies of our Presbyterian system of government. From the session to the Assembly, we shall strive to enlist all our courts, as courts, in every department of Christian effort. We are not ashamed to confess that we are intensely Presbyterian. We embrace all other denominations in the arms of Christian fellowship and love, but our own scheme of government we humbly believe to be according to the pattern shown in the Mount, and, by God’s grace, we propose to put its efficiency to the test.”

As this new member of the family of Churches of the Lord Jesus Christ comes into being, we necessarily profess the Biblical doctrine
 of the unity of all who are in Christ. We know that what happens in one portion of His Church affects all of the Body of Christ. We covet the prayers of all Christians that we may witness and serve responsibly. We desire to pursue peace and charity with love towards fellow Christians throughout the world.

To the Presbyterian Church in the United States, in particular, we express our continued love and concern. You are our spiritual mother, in your arms we were nurtured, under your ordinances we were baptized, in your courts we were ordained to serve our Lord and King, and to your visible organization we thought we had committed our lives. We sever these ties only with deepest regret and sorrow. We hope that our going may in some way recall you to that historic witness which we cherish as our common heritage.

We greet all believers in an affirmation of the bonds of Christian brotherhood. We invite into ecclesiastical fellowship all who maintain
our principles of faith and order.

We now commend ourselves to God and the Word of His power. We devoutly pray that the Church catholic may be filled afresh with 
the Holy Spirit, and that she may speedily be stirred up to take no rest until the Lord accomplishes His Kingdom, making Zion a praise in the whole earth.

December 7, 1973
[Note: Again, this document was adopted on December 6th, but publicly issued on December 7th.]

Words to Live By:
The Latin phrase Semper Reformanda can be translated as “always reforming.” Yet some people take that to mean “always changing,” when in fact what the phrase implies is “always pulling back to what the Scriptures teach.” The Scriptures are our standard, both as to how we are to live as individual Christians, and for how we are to live as the Church—the Body of Christ. It seems so easy to forget that. But we must constantly be reminded of who we are as Christians, and what we are to be about, as the Church. And that’s where a document like the Message to All Churches can be a reminder of where we have come from, and where we want to go. More than anything else, we must always remember that our message is that of a risen Savior, God’s own Son, who redeems an elect people from their sins, that they might glorify and enjoy Him through all eternity.

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December 4: 1st General Assembly of the PCA

4 December, 2013 in December 2013 by archivist | 2 comments

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the organization of the Presbyterian Church in America. The denomination’s First General Assembly met December 4-7, 1973. Policy wonks can view the Minutes of that First General Assembly, here.

They Had No Manual, but a New Presbyterian Church was Born

pcaga_1973Gathering in Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Alabama, were teaching and ruling elders ready to begin a new Presbyterian denomination.  Their date of gathering, or organization, was December 4, 1973, as date consciously chosen with an eye to the past. They began this new Reformed church on the same day and month as the organization date for the mother church that they were leaving, the Presbyterian Church, U.S., commonly known in those years as the Southern Presbyterian Church. That denomination had begun on December 4, 1861 as the Presbyterian Church of the Confederate States of America. Later, that name was changed to the Presbyterian Church in the United States, after the War between the States.

In choosing to organize the new denomination on that anniversary date, the new denomination was making a statement, laying claim as the faithful continuing church, the remnant leaving behind the unfaithful or disobedient. In fact, the Continuing Presbyterian Church was the name that they first gathered under in the years and months leading up to their official organization. That they did not desire to continue as yet another regional church was evidenced by the name they chose for the new denomination, the National Presbyterian Church (though a year later, that name was changed to the Presbyterian Church in America).

Ruling Elder W. Jack Williamson, ModeratorReformed men were obviously interested in reforming the church. And so ever since it was clearly discovered that the Presbyterian Church in the United States had apostatized with no hope to bring it back to its historic roots, men and women had been praying and working, and working and praying, for this historic occasion. Ruling Elder W. Jack Williamson was chosen as the first moderator, with Dr. Morton Smith elected as Stated Clerk.  Ministries then in planning and those already exercised in action, came together in rapid fashion: Mission to the World, Mission to the United States, Christian Education and Publications were organized by the delegates.  With godly and wise coordinators to lead them, the work began to raise up a church faithful to the Scriptures, true to the Reformed Faith, and obedient to the Great Commission of Jesus Christ.

› Photo from the First General Assembly in 1973, with W. Jack Williamson at the podium, and Rev. Frank Barker seated, at the right.

Words to live by:  There is usually great excitement over a new birth in a family.  And so there was great excitement over the birth of a new denomination. Southern conservative Presbyterians had gone through many of the same struggles that Northern conservative Presbyterians endured just a few decades earlier. In both cases, the Church had been hijacked by the liberals. But godly men and women stood for the faith once delivered  unto the saints, and wouldn’t let historical attachments hold them captive to a decaying visible church. They voted with their feet and came out and were now separate. Praise God for their obedience to the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.

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