Hello all,

It's time once again for one of Seth's random threads! This time around I am asking for Micro-Denominations. I'm not going to define Micro-denomination other than to say, I'm looking for Reformed denominations that are small. I'll leave the definition of "small" up to you all. Here is my list so far (in no particular order):

[b:c07c15830e]American Presbyterian Church[/b:c07c15830e] (3 churches)
http://www.americanpresbyterianchurch.org/

[b:c07c15830e]American Reformation Presbyterian Church[/b:c07c15830e] (I believe that the First Presbyterian Church of Rowlett, TX is in this group, though I could find no list of churches on the website)


[b:c07c15830e]Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church[/b:c07c15830e] (5 churches)
http://www.covref.org

[b:c07c15830e]Covenanting Association of Reformed and Presbyterian Churches[/b:c07c15830e] (3 churches)
http://www.gpcredding.org/new_home.html

[b:c07c15830e]Free Presbyterian Church[/b:c07c15830e] (21 churches)
http://www.christianobserver.org/Chu...s/freepres.htm

[b:c07c15830e]Free Reformed Churces of North America[/b:c07c15830e] (19 churches)
http://www.frcna.org

[b:c07c15830e]Heritage Netherlands Reformed Congregations[/b:c07c15830e] (13 churches)
http://www.hnrc.org

[b:c07c15830e]Presbyterian Reformed Church[/b:c07c15830e] (8 churches)
http://www.presbyterianreformed.org/

[b:c07c15830e]Reformed Presbyterian Church Hanover Presbytery[/b:c07c15830e] (5 churches)
http://www.rpchurch.org/polity.htm

[b:c07c15830e]Reformed Presbyterian Church, General Assembly[/b:c07c15830e] (12 churches)
http://www.rpcga.org/

[b:c07c15830e]Reformed Presbyterian Church in the United States[/b:c07c15830e] (9 churches)
http://www.rpcus.com


Ok, so who can add to this list?

__________________
Seth Stark
Member, Communion Presbyterian Church (ARP), Irvine, CA
Biola University, Graduate Student, M.A. - Science and Religion
Seth's Blog

I used to live in Rowlett. It's about 20 miles east of Dallas. I'm not familiar with this church. I might just have to go check them out some time. Here's the ARPC statment on their website : http://www.fpcr.org/ARPCNEWS/1994statement.htm

__________________
Jeffrey T. Maddox
Attending Redeemer Presbyterian Church (PCA)
Austin, TX

Seth,

You'll find more current information on the Free Presbyterian church at
www.freepres.org

I noticed that the information from the Christian Observer site is a little behind the times. There are 24 churches now, for instance.

__________________
Ruben
Moderator
F.P.C.I.
Indiana

Men can only be happy when they do not assume that the object of life is happiness. -George Orwell

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[quote:c479cd6dfe][i:c479cd6dfe]Originally posted by py3ak[/i:c479cd6dfe]
Seth,

You'll find more current information on the Free Presbyterian church at
www.freepres.org

I noticed that the information from the Christian Observer site is a little behind the times. There are 24 churches now, for instance. [/quote:c479cd6dfe]

Thank you!

[quote:37eae21c9c][i:37eae21c9c]Originally posted by jtm430[/i:37eae21c9c]
I used to live in Rowlett. It's about 20 miles east of Dallas. I'm not familiar with this church. I might just have to go check them out some time. Here's the ARPC statment on their website : http://www.fpcr.org/ARPCNEWS/1994statement.htm [/quote:37eae21c9c]

Hi Jeffrey,

Yes, I saw that statement. I could find any "Directory of churches" or list of the churches in the ARPC, though. Maybe if you go visit that church, they would be able to tell you more about it.

Thanks for the info!

I used to be a member of the Rowlett church. There are no other churches in this denomination. I do not recommend it.

__________________
Andrew Myers
Husband of Jessica, Father of Jackson, Katie and Samuel
Member, Presbyterian Reformed Church of Northern Virginia
Warrenton, VA USA
Editor, The Matthew Poole Project

"Let your Morning Thoughts, and your last Evening Thoughts, be what shall become of you to all Eternity." -- Matthew Poole

[quote:db6f426c46][i:db6f426c46]Originally posted by VirginiaHuguenot[/i:db6f426c46]
I used to be a member of the Rowlett church. There are no other churches in this denomination. I do not recommend it. [/quote:db6f426c46]

No other churches? That's odd.

I noticed on their website that a "Dallas Presbytery" has been formed (see http://www.fpcr.org/ARPCNEWS/05312002news.htm). How can they do that with only one church?

Also, why would you not recommend this church? Just because of the "denomination" it is in? I ask because I know nothing about it. Thanks!

The ARPC consists of one church in Rowlett, TX and one mission work in Princeton, TX, to the best of my knowledge. The "presbytery" consists of the Rowlett church's session. The ARPC has a "sister" presbytery in Maynmar as well. That's it.

Although this church/"denomination" claims to be Presbyterian and their website does in fact contains much Biblical literature that is commendable, nevertheless, it is far from Biblical in its church government and there are other graves areas of concern as well.

If you wish to speak further about this, we can do so outside of this forum.

The micro denomination really fall into three categories. Some, like the Free Presbyterian Church, the Free Church of Scotland, and the Free Reformed Church are related to denominations in Scotland or the Netherlands. Others are the result of schisms like the Heritage Netherlands Reformed Congregations. [You did not list the other Netherlands Reformed Congregations denomination from which they parted company. I doubt that they are larger then the Heritage group.] Still others are startups, usually independant Churches coming togather to form new Presbyteries.

Not mentioned were the several Bible Presbyterian Church denominations.

__________________
Thomas Yeutter,
Mason, MI
Member St. Patrick's Anglican Church, Comstock, MI

Ezra 7:10 For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach its statues in Isreal.

[quote:6b69faa3ec][i:6b69faa3ec]Originally posted by sastark[/i:6b69faa3ec]
[b:6b69faa3ec]American Presbyterian Church[/b:6b69faa3ec] (3 churches)
http://www.americanpresbyterianchurch.org/

[b:6b69faa3ec]American Reformation Presbyterian Church[/b:6b69faa3ec] (I believe that the First Presbyterian Church of Rowlett, TX is in this group, though I could find no list of churches on the website)


[b:6b69faa3ec]Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church[/b:6b69faa3ec] (5 churches)
http://www.covref.org

[b:6b69faa3ec]Covenanting Association of Reformed and Presbyterian Churches[/b:6b69faa3ec] (3 churches)
http://www.gpcredding.org/new_home.html

[b:6b69faa3ec]Free Presbyterian Church[/b:6b69faa3ec] (21 churches)
http://www.christianobserver.org/Chu...s/freepres.htm

[b:6b69faa3ec]Free Reformed Churces of North America[/b:6b69faa3ec] (19 churches)
http://www.frcna.org

[b:6b69faa3ec]Heritage Netherlands Reformed Congregations[/b:6b69faa3ec] (13 churches)
http://www.hnrc.org

[b:6b69faa3ec]Presbyterian Reformed Church[/b:6b69faa3ec] (8 churches)
http://www.presbyterianreformed.org/

[b:6b69faa3ec]Reformed Presbyterian Church Hanover Presbytery[/b:6b69faa3ec] (5 churches)
http://www.rpchurch.org/polity.htm

[b:6b69faa3ec]Reformed Presbyterian Church, General Assembly[/b:6b69faa3ec] (12 churches)
http://www.rpcga.org/

[b:6b69faa3ec]Reformed Presbyterian Church in the United States[/b:6b69faa3ec] (9 churches)
http://www.rpcus.com
[/quote:6b69faa3ec]

Wow! That's almost as many different denoms as Baptists have! Ok, so maybe not.

__________________
Josh Hicks, Chloë's Dad
Attending CCRPC, Member of TRBC
Reformers & Puritans -lllll- Puritan Pub
Board Rules - Signature Rules - Suggestion Box

What about the CRE (Confederation of Reformed Evangelicals)? Doug Wilson, Randy Booth, and Jeff Neill all pastor churches in this denomination. The church I attended in Lynchburg, Providence Church, is also CRE. The denomination is very small and only a few years old.

[quote:a4f3921124][i:a4f3921124]Originally posted by luvroftheWord[/i:a4f3921124]
What about the CRE (Confederation of Reformed Evangelicals)? Doug Wilson, Randy Booth, and Jeff Neill all pastor churches in this denomination. The church I attended in Lynchburg, Providence Church, is also CRE. The denomination is very small and only a few years old. [/quote:a4f3921124]

Craig,

Yes, I suppose the CRE would qualify, wouldn't it? The only reason I didn't list them is because they let baptist churches join (if I remember correctly - correct me if I'm wrong).

[quote:f9e6291c72][i:f9e6291c72]Originally posted by yeutter[/i:f9e6291c72]
The micro denomination really fall into three categories. Some, like the Free Presbyterian Church, the Free Church of Scotland, and the Free Reformed Church are related to denominations in Scotland or the Netherlands. Others are the result of schisms like the Heritage Netherlands Reformed Congregations. [You did not list the other Netherlands Reformed Congregations denomination from which they parted company. I doubt that they are larger then the Heritage group.] Still others are startups, usually independant Churches coming togather to form new Presbyteries.

Not mentioned were the several Bible Presbyterian Church denominations. [/quote:f9e6291c72]

Thomas,

I think you are correct with your "three types of microdenominations". I didn't include the Netherlands Reformed Congregations because I didn't know about them. Do you have a website for them?

Thanks for reminding me about the Bible Presbyterian Church. I know of the BPC, but are there other denominations which have splintered off from it?

Another micro-denomination I neglected to mention the first time is the

[b:79c6ab6539]Orthodox Christian Reformed Church[/b:79c6ab6539] (10 churches)
http://www.immanuelocrc.com/Secondna...urch_index.htm

[quote:713e199f1d][i:713e199f1d]Originally posted by VirginiaHuguenot[/i:713e199f1d]
The ARPC consists of one church in Rowlett, TX and one mission work in Princeton, TX, to the best of my knowledge. The "presbytery" consists of the Rowlett church's session. The ARPC has a "sister" presbytery in Maynmar as well. That's it.

Although this church/"denomination" claims to be Presbyterian and their website does in fact contains much Biblical literature that is commendable, nevertheless, it is far from Biblical in its church government and there are other graves areas of concern as well.

If you wish to speak further about this, we can do so outside of this forum. [/quote:713e199f1d]

Andrew,

I sent you a U2U.

[quote:48157b813b][i:48157b813b]Originally posted by sastark[/i:48157b813b]
[quote:48157b813b][i:48157b813b]Originally posted by yeutter[/i:48157b813b]
The micro denomination really fall into three categories. Some, like the Free Presbyterian Church, the Free Church of Scotland, and the Free Reformed Church are related to denominations in Scotland or the Netherlands. Others are the result of schisms like the Heritage Netherlands Reformed Congregations. [You did not list the other Netherlands Reformed Congregations denomination from which they parted company. I doubt that they are larger then the Heritage group.] Still others are startups, usually independant Churches coming togather to form new Presbyteries.

Not mentioned were the several Bible Presbyterian Church denominations. [/quote:48157b813b]

Thomas,

I think you are correct with your "three types of microdenominations". I didn't include the Netherlands Reformed Congregations because I didn't know about them. Do you have a website for them?

Thanks for reminding me about the Bible Presbyterian Church. I know of the BPC, but are there other denominations which have splintered off from it? [/quote:48157b813b]

I don't think the BPC qualifies as a micro-denomination. They have more than a few churches. The American Presbyterian Church is a split off from the BPC, I think.

__________________
Fredrick T. Greco
Senior Pastor, Christ Church PCA (Katy, TX)
Christ Church Blog

"The heart is the main thing in true religion...It is the hinge and turning-point in the condition of man's soul. If the heart is alive to God and quickened by the Spirit, the man is a living Christian. If the heart is dead and has not the Spirit, the man is dead before God." (J.C. Ryle)

You are correct. The Bible Presbyterian Church seems to now be one denomination. The two congregations that I knew of that were outside of the denomination are independant not a new/another denomination

The Orthodox Christian Reformed Church website seems to be out dated. I think one of those congregations is now in the United Reformed Church and the Wingham Ontario Congregation is now Protestant Reformed.

I discovered yet another micro presbytery.
Providence National Presbytery; Their web site is:

http://providencepresbytery.org/index.htm

Their may be distinguished from other Presbyterian bodies by their adherence to paedocommunion which they call covenant communion.

Does anybody know the results of last week's meeting sponsored by the Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church and the Reformed Presbyterian Church (Hanover Presbytery)? I believe they were meeting to propose a new combined micro-presbytery and was just wondering what came of that.

See http://www.refcm.org/crpc%20web%20stuff/crpcindex.htm

Andrew,

Yes, I know some of what happened. My father is a pastor in the Covenanting Association of Reformed and Presbyterian Churches, which is one of the groups that was invited to attend.

Because I do not want to be accused of slandering anyone, and because I do not want to be accussed of spreading gossip, I will simply say that a formation of a "larger" micro-denomination, for now, has been put off.

There is still the possibility of some sort of larger association of churches, but there are certain issues (or at least a certain issue) that hindered that from happening at this particular meeting.

If you want to talk about this more, please feel free to e-mail me (crusader1517@yahoo.com).

Thanks, Seth. I sent you an email.

That is what concerns me when people wish / say that the USA is a Christian nation.

Do we all have to paedo / credo
Take up offering in service / leave as you exit
Old style hymns / newer music with same words

Would we be Methoterianaptists?

__________________
For the sake of the Name,

John Hill
Faith Community - Woodstock, Ga
Adopted. Husband for 13 years. Father of 5 children.
http://faithcommunitychurch.org- My home church
Rocky Top, you'll always be, home sweet home to me.

Huh?

John, those who wish for a "Christian nation" - I assume you're referring to Theonomists - clearly define the distinction between the roles of