I'm interested in learning what the differences are between the Presbyterian Church in America and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Any thoughts?

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Simple distinction:
OPC, formed 1936 by faithful ministers (and their congregations) who were forced out of the northern Presbyterian mainline (PCUSA)

PCA, formed 1972 by faithful ministers (and their congregations) who voluntarily left the southern Presbyterian mainline (PC,US--formerly PC, CSA)

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Rev. Bruce G. Buchanan
ChainOLakes Presbyterian Church, CentralLake, MI


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The names are different.

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Casey Bessette
Westminster OPC • West Suburbs of Chicago • My Blog: Paradise Regained

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Both are not perfect; get over it.

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Chris Coldwell
Lakewood Presbyterian Church (PCA), Member
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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.

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Rich
Okinawa, Japan

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I think in the book publishing world I have had similar problems.

I chose Naphtali Press to name my reformed publishing outfit (with good Scottish Covenanter pedigree as reason); and someone of very good Reformed pedigree told me this week it made him think "Mormon". Ooops.

Since being reformed, I have actually always thought to myself that the OPC had a better name than the rest of the Presbyterian Churches. I never thought of it from the perspective you described, Rich.

Before discovering the reformation, I simply never heard of any of these churches. I only knew "Presbyterian" and figured they were all the same.

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Christopher Reeder
Husband to Kara, Father to Abigail (7), Caleb (6), Grace (4 1/2), Zoë (2 1/2), Elijah (1) and Baby Girl due 8/6/08

Member: Pilgrim Presbyterian Church (OPC), Raleigh, NC

Me too. But maybe I am getting old and stodgy. I like the name. It sounds Historic.

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Are you looking more for what the differences are in faith/practice between OPC and PCA? Assuming "yes".... I know the PCA encourages infant baptism and such children receiving the Lord's Supper at an early age. I believe the OPC encourages infant baptism, but withholds the Lord's Supper until the child is older (teen-agish, right?).

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Kristine O.
Vancouver, WA
Hillcrest Chapel (non-denom.)
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Kristine,

That's actually not quite accurate. The practices are not quite monolithic enough in each to characterize them that way. I've seen young communicants in both denominations.

I've actually been wracking my brain for a fair way to characterize the differences but each time I come up with an idea I realize I could come up with an OPC or PCA that I know of that "breaks the rule" I'm thinking about. This is tough.

In broad categories, on the whole the OPC is a bit more conservative. The PCA is likely to have large congregations that are not strictly Reformed with people who are Presbyterian in the South because they've always been Presbyterian.

OPC congregations are typically pretty small. The OPC is about 1/10th the size of the PCA.

Maybe a good characterization is that being in the OPC is like being in a small town as opposed to a city - more likely to know your neighbors but also likely to be sometimes wary of strangers. The city dwellers may be too busy to get to know each other and too big for the leaders to keep good tabs on the goings on.

Again, these are broad brush strokes.

Interesting. Do you think any of the leadership might consider changing the name?

BTW, thank you for your service. My father served in the Corp in Korea.

Actually the National Presbyterian Church was formed in 1973 by faithful ministers (and their congregations) who voluntarily left the southern Presbyterian mainline. There was a "Convocation of Sessions" in the summer of 1973 that established the "Organizing Committee of 40" and the first General Assembly was in December of 1973.

The 1974 General Assembly a received a communications from the National Presbyterian Church, a congregation of the northern church in Washington DC. After a short discussion a new name, Presbyterian Church in America was adopted.

See A BRIEF HISTORY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA

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John Schultz
Member, Riveroaks Reformed Presbyterian Church (PCA)
Germantown, TN

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If they both hold to the same confessions why don't they join forces?

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That almost happened. I don't know the exact year but it was a very close vote.

Because OPC really stands for "Only Perfect Church" and they could never join with the PCA which, of course stands for "Partly Confessional Americans".

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Kevin Rogers
Sovereign Community Church, PCA
Moncton NB

In point of fact all confessional reformed churches sort of do that now by way of NAPARC.

As much as I am disgusted by the amount of disunity within the Reformed church and find the many fractions embarrassing, I would not be so quick to support such a merger. I find the two denominations are more alike on paper, but worlds apart in practice (generally speaking, there are exceptions within each side).

Well, the proposed OPC-PCA merger would have happened before the PCA's merger with the less confessional RPC-ES if my reading of that chronology is correct. If the OPC and PCA had merged when the PCA was more confessional, then perhaps the RPC-ES might have not merged with the new strongly confessional body. But, you sadly now have to deal with the situation that we now have.

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Scott
Dallas, Texas
PCA

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I believe they attempted to merge twice over a period of years; the OPC rejecting it the first time around, and the PCA doing likewise the second. I don't have the facts on hand, but that's what I seem to remember from readings and discussion.

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Adam J. Myer
Back to looking for a call...
Evergreen PCA
Salem, Oregon

The proposed mergers went:

PCA proposes "joining & receiving" (J&R) to both the OPC and the RPCES within a few months/years of forming (yes, the PCA had an immediate name change, just like the OPC).

Both smaller bodies voted to join the larger, which involved no negotiations of merging documents, etc. The churches were simply to adopt the PCA's documents and structure (the West. Stds. being basic to all).

The PCA voted to receive the RPCES, and rejected the OPC. This was blamed on the then-current Shepherd controversy at Westminster.

At a later date, the PCA revived the J&R process, and re-invited the OPC. However, at this point the OPC desired a true merger of churches, not a "falling in" with the PCA. However, the form and terms of union was not negotiable according to the PCA. So the second time, the OPC was the side that demurred.

Interestingly, while it seems true that the RPCES pulled the PCA in a decidedly "evangelical" direction, prior to the NPC/PCA formation (1973, my mistake above) the OPC and RPCES had for a number of years been in merger discussions, but they were not moving very quickly. The RPCES was itself a union of two bodies, one of which was the largest BPC synod now separate from Carl MacIntire. So, there was some impetus for a few years to repair the breach he precipitated with the OPC at its birth.

I have to say this is most interesting. I did not know about any of this before now. My knowledge ended with knowing the PCA formed by people who disagreed with issues inside the PCUSA.