Presbyterianism

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Presbyterianism

Presbyterian churches grew from the Western (Roman) Catholic tradition and underwent separation from Rome in the sixteenth century Protestant Reformation. Reformed Christianity, an international movement that sought to follow Scripture in all church life, gradually came to distinguish its Presbyterian from its Congregational sides. The Reformed have described themselves as "ecclesia reformata, sed semper reformanda," "church reformed, always being reformed."

Presbyterians accentuate a Christian theology balanced between deference to tradition and openness to the new work of God's Spirit in every age. Balance characterizes their distinctive eucharistic doctrine, as the Lord's Supper becomes the "real presence" of Christ spiritually for believers. They affirm the classic Nicene and Apostolic symbols. They speak of the sovereignty (power) of God, of redemption through Jesus Christ by God's grace alone, and of the depravity (flawed nature) of human beings.

Most Presbyterians exercise government through representative local sessions, regional presbyteries and synods, and national general assemblies. They believe also in sharing power between ministers of the word (sometimes called "teaching elders") and ruling elders, and they ordain both clerical and lay leaders. Because Presbyterians affirm that "God alone is Lord of the conscience" and that believers are subject to Scripture as the chief authority for faith and morals, Presbyterians have not usually legislated detailed doctrinal codes.

Following the biblical interpretation of John Calvin, creedal statements from the Westminster Assembly of mid-seventeenth century Britain and other Reformed confessions, Presbyterians formed congregations in most American colonies but concentrated in the middle colonies. In 1706 a first presbytery was formed with Scottish, Welsh, Scotch-Irish (Protestants from Northern Ireland), and English Puritan leaders present. Dutch, Huguenot, German, Native-American, African-American, and other ethnic groups were soon part of many colonial churches.

In the new United States of America, Presbyterians formed a General Assembly in 1789, with 419 congregations and fewer than 40,000 members (including baptized children not yet confirmed). Despite its small numbers, the Presbyterians had congregations in almost all the states, and its strength was considered second only to that of the Congregationalists, who were also Reformed.

Throughout the nineteenth century, Presbyterian churches grew, but their numbers increased more slowly than those of other, similar churches. Plagued by divisions concerning the nature of mission, the sin of slavery, the import of regional differences in culture, and the value of revivalism, Presbyterians spent considerable energy in debate and division.

In doctrine, Presbyterians together continued to emphasize the special work of the Holy Spirit in writing and interpreting of the Bible, a "spirituality of the Word." They also affirm especially the one church as the Body of Christ, the calling of all Christians to vocations that honor God, and serious attention to worship and stewardship in all of life. Family devotions, Sunday schools, and Sabbath observance (dedicating Sundays to worship, volunteer service, and nurture) were seen throughout the nineteenth century as indispensable for Presbyterian life. Presbyterians in 1900 owned more than two hundred colleges; more than a dozen theological seminaries; increasing numbers of orphanages, hospitals, camps, and conference grounds; and scores of boarding schools, especially for members of the racial and ethnic minorities within their membership. As a significant part of mainline, or mainstream, Protestantism, Presbyterian denominations have undergone many of the changes that have characterized American culture more broadly.

In the 1870s and 1880s, Presbyterian congregational and denominational life began to take on more formal tones. Denominational programs for funding and for mission became more numerous, and capital funds drives, weekly offerings, and special collections took the place of pew rents and annual tithes. Choirs grew more formal as well, and Sunday schools organized curricula, departments, and a hierarchy of superintendents. Ministers' studies soon became offices replete with typewriters, secretaries for those churches that could afford additional staff, and duplicating machinery as it became available. Associate and assistant pastors, directors of religious education, directors of music, youth directors, and custodians were common by the early decades of the twentieth century.

In 1960, though several Presbyterian denominations existed—including the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, which dates from 1810; the Orthodox Presbyterian Church from 1937; and the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church from 1822—only two denominations exceeded 250,000 in membership—the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (UPCUSA), with 9,383 congregations and 3,259,011 members; and the Presbyterian Church, U.S. (PCUS), with 3,995 congregations and 899,116 members. The UPCUSA had recently formed, in 1957, from a merger of the PCUS and the United Presbyterian Church in North America. Its headquarters were in New York City. The PCUS, or "Southern Presbyterians," had grown from denominational splits dating from the Civil War. Its offices in several cities were gathered in 1972 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Both denominations belonged to the National Council of Churches and to the World Council of Churches, and they helped form the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. Both afforded regional staff for mission, new church development, Christian education, and other specialized ministries. Although some congregations dissented, both denominations came in the 1960s to support the civil rights movement. First the UPCUSA ordained women, elders from the 1920s and ministers from 1956, and then the PCUS followed suit, ordaining women as both elders and ministers from 1964. First the UPCUSA in the late 1950s and then the PCUS a decade later began to lose members. A declining birth rate among Presbyterian women, diminished attention to evangelism and new church development as American demography made radical changes, discontent with the progressive stance of the denominations on matters of race and gender—all these and more reasons have been given for the membership losses. In 1974 dissenting congregations from the PCUS formed the Presbyterian Church in America, at first committed to racial segregation and consistently excluding women from ordination. Its membership grew from 67,345 in that year to 300,000 in 1996. Another small denomination, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, grew from dissenting congregations in both denominations. Still other churches, such as the Korean Presbyterian Church in America, have grown from Asian immigrant roots.

In 1983, in part because some dissenters had departed from them, the two major Presbyterian denominations were able to merge and formed the Presbyterian Church (USA). In 1998 it reported 2,631,466 members, and 3,637,375 inclusive of children and associate members.

Issues that plague American society more generally also divide the UPCUSA and other Presbyterian bodies—whether the government should outlaw abortion; the ordination of self-avowed, practicing homosexual Christians; the nature of social witness and evangelical proclamation; the relationship of church and state; the place of women and men in marriage and family relationships as well as in the leadership of the church; and a host of others. At present, the UPCUSA and other Presbyterian denominations forbid the ordination of practicing homosexual Christians, alienating many of the churches and many members sympathetic to gay rights.

Many in the UPCUSA, including the holders of the highest offices in the church in 1999, Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick and Moderator Douglas Oldenburg, speak positively of its future. Indeed, refocused emphases on evangelism, new church development, partnership in mission, congregational initiatives, increasing support for theological education, and a friendlier atmosphere in many churches indicate vitality. Still, the obstacles are daunting—the intractability of positions concerning issues, the lack of stability in many congregations, the diminishing network of church-related institutions, and the dearth of substantial theological conversation among the leadership indicate challenges ahead for the Presbyterians.