Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Information About NJ Presbyterian Churches

By Stephanie Sullivan


The Presbyterian Church refers to a global mainline Protestant Christian denomination. The abbreviation PC is often used to stand for Presbyterian Church. The establishment of the church within the United States occurred in 1983 when the United PC in the USA (UPCUSA) and the PC in the USA (PCUS) merged. The border and southern states housed most of the PC in US churches while congregations of the United PCUS were located all over the country. Today, NJ Presbyterian Churches are among PC churches that can be found anywhere within the United States of America.

At the end of 2014, PC denomination was estimated to have 1, 667, 767 members, 9, 829 congregations, and 20, 383 ordained ministers. Despite the big membership, it is observed that the congregation has been dropping for a long time. Adherents of PC (USA) average 3 million. Louisville, Kentucky is the place where denominational officers of the church are located. PC has a membership in many religious association including World Communion of Reformed Churches, World Council of Churches, and Christian Churches Together.

In sixteenth century, a Protestant Reformation occurred from which Presbyterians were birthed. The heritage and theology was begun by John Calvin who was a Swiss/French attorney as well as a theologian. Solidification of reformed thinking before Calvin was highly as a result of his writing.

Calvin had his capital in Geneva, Switzerland and from there the Reformed movement spread throughout Europe. The Scottish Reformation was began by someone named John Knox who as a colleague of Calvin in Geneva. When Knox returned to Scotland, he brought the Reformed thinking with him which was embraced quite eagerly by the people. The movement then spread to the rest of the world and has continued to spread ever since.

A lot of separations by independent denominations from the main church have occurred over the years. One among the earliest separation occurred in 1936 when Orthodox PC broke away from PC in the US. Separations have continued until recently when they have become a threat to the faith itself. Denominations that split claim to be dissatisfied with the direction the church is taking. Separated churches continue with reformed tradition.

In 1973, (PCA) separated from PCUS and is now number two in terms of size in whole of US. PCA split because of disagreements about acceptance of ordained female clergies. Shortly afterwards, EPC split too and by 1981, it had been incorporated. Ordained female clergies are not disallowed or allowed to practice in EPC, but rather the decision has to be made by the local presbyteries.

The everyday operations of PC are governed by a constitution. The constitution has two sections. The Book of Confessions (BoC) and Book of Order are the first and second sections respectively. The Book of Confessions outlines all beliefs of the PC through declaring creeds that lead and instruct leaders.

The Book of Order is for complementing BoC. The rationale for the church and a description of its functions and organization are written in BoO. All levels from top to bottom of the church are covered in this book too. The implementation of constitution is the responsibility of local leaders who then keep regional and top leader informed.




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