Originally Posted by SemperFideles

Another difference:

The folks that formed the PCA in 1972 got to keep that name without threat of lawsuit.

The OPC was originally called the PCA when it formed but was sued by the PCUSA over the name and had to change its name to the OPC.

I'll be honest with you, I think the name of the OPC is a hinderance to its broader appeal and it might have grown more rapidly in recent years if it didn't have the name.

I was not a complete novice to Reformed theology when I moved to CA in 1999. I was concerned because there was only an OPC in town and I had just become Presbyterian (in a Springfield PCA congregation) a couple of years prior. It had been quite a leap for me and my wife to leave "interesting" worship for the sake of sound doctrine in a PCA Church.

I didn't know anything about the OPC except it's name. The term Orthodox in its name instills the idea of being old, stodgy, etc. I pictured all the men in suits and all the women in bonnets singing with dour expressions.

I know that sounds funny to some now but I think I can safely say that, at the time, I represented what a typical evangelical in the process of reforming is thinking. My vocabulary has always been above-average so imagine what others are thinking.

I don't know the solution because I love the OPC. There's no point in going back in time but I sometimes wonder how the OPC might have grown with a different name.