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Originally Posted by nleshelman  I hold to the Westminster Standards. My denomination has a couple of amendments to it much like most of the US Presbyterian churches. This is true of Reformed churches as well.
Considering the current mess that we are in (hundreds of P&R denominations and no established church) what should be our principles for uniting with other denominations?
I believe that when Jesus prayed for unity he meant it (Jn. 17). Should we be actively seeking to merge some of our P&R churches? Or should we allow the micro-presbyterian mess to continue?
Personally, I believe that considering the current mess- breaking off to form new micro-presbyterian churches is schismatic and sinful- but how do we stop this while maintaining the truthfulness of a pure confession? |
There are many reasons for the divisions. Many of them are historical. Others are rooted in different practices.
NAPARC and each church's various committees on ecumenicity are efforts at fellowship and possible union. There have been mergers in the past and there are ongoing talks and fraternal relations between various confessional Presbyterian and Reformed churches both in North America and abroad.
There are ongoing talks now between the United Reformed Church in North America (URCNA) and the Canadian Reformed (CanRef) church, both of whom subscribe to the Three Forms of Unity.
The OPC has had votes to vote itself out of existence three times. A merger in 1975 with the old Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod (now part of the PCA) was approved by the OPC but rejected by the RPCES, probably because they didn't want to refight the battles of the 1930's (BPC split) and 1940's (the Gordon Clark and related controversies) since the RPCES was a generally a broader church and the OPC has always been regarded by some as nitpickers. In 1981 the OPC voted to join and be received by the PCA but not enough PCA presbyteries approved it, although they did absorb the RPCES at that time. This gave the PCA much more of a nationwide as opposed to a southern presence and also gave it its denominational college and seminary. In 1986 the PCA approved a merger with the OPC but the OPC narrowly rejected it. Some think that the fact that the vote took place 50 years after the formation of the OPC in 1936 had something to do with it. At that time some of the more outspoken advocates for union with the PCA left and joined the PCA.
Generally worship in the PCA is more diverse than the OPC. For example, "praise and worship" is much more prevalent. (There are reasons for this as well, but that may be better left for another thread.) Some would also point to a denominational structure that is seen by many as increasingly bureaucratic as opposed to the deliberative General Assemblies of the OPC. Of course with the RPCNA you have exclusive psalmody, which I understand none of the other NAPARC churches hold to although they may all have EP congregations. I also am of the understanding that the RPCNA is the only one of the NAPARC churches that subscribes to the original WCF, although the ARP language on the magistrate is closer to the spirit of the original than the 1788 revision adopted by the PCA and OPC is. The ARP has adopted the two Arminianizing chapters from the 1903 PCUSA revision and also traces their history in the USA back to the mid 1700's. (The RCUS, another NAPARC denomination, dates to 1725.) These are just some of the issues that would have to be resolved in the minds of a sufficient majority before any union could take place.
There is at least one example of a church that subscribes to both the Three Forms of Unity and the Westminster Standards: The Reformed Churches of New Zealand (RCNZ). This
article on the RCNZ by my pastor, Rev. Jack Sawyer, may be of interest.