American Presbyterianism

Help With The “Nones”

by on December 18, 2023 | 2 Comments

People who once identified with a Christian religious tradition but now identify with none are the fastest growing group in America today. Sociologist Stephen Bullivant labels these individuals “nonverts” and argues in his book of the same title that these individuals have . . . Continue reading →

We’ve Been Dating It All Wrong: Richard Denton And The Arrival of American Presbyterianism

by on August 1, 2023 | 2 Comments

Pre-1700’s Presbyterianism in America is shrouded in mystique. Some would say it did not really exist since there was no formal Presbytery established until 1706. Too often it is made to appear that Presbyterianism suddenly dropped into the colonies out of nowhere, . . . Continue reading →

Irony and the Presbyterian Church in America (Part 3): Strategic Planning And Corporate Culture Change

by on July 14, 2023

When the 35th GA convened at Memphis’ Cook Convention Center June 12–14, 2007, the PCA was changing from the inside out. Its expanded Overtures Committee met for the first time, and the CMC (Cooperative Ministries Committee) was begun. CofCs (Committee of Commissioners) . . . Continue reading →

Irony and the Presbyterian Church in America (Part 2): The Urban Turn

by on July 7, 2023

The 14th GA met in the elegant Academy of Music (a performing arts center) in the city center of Philadelphia, June 23–27, 1986. In addition to sweltering summer temperatures, a sanitation strike threatened conveniences. Nevertheless, the Assembly met in city center Philadelphia, . . . Continue reading →

Irony and the Presbyterian Church in America (Part 1): The First General Assembly

by on June 30, 2023 | 2 Comments

Every re-telling may choose its focus, phrasing, and pace. Think of the following as a tour guide through a relatively short sliver of ecclesiastical history. Many of the same events, persons, emphases would come across differently depending on the tour guide who . . . Continue reading →

The Simplicity of Biblical Polity

by on June 10, 2023

A “senior pastor” is one elder among many (as Peter, Paul, and the unnamed elders were at the Jerusalem Council, Acts 15:23) and has no extraordinary authority.* Unfortunately, some—usually large—presbyterian churches become de facto staff-led rather than elder-led. The senior pastor becomes . . . Continue reading →

Small Is Beautiful

by on May 29, 2023 | 5 Comments

If Google is a reliable search engine, the anniversary of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church on June 11 passed without any mention by the press. The reasons are not hard to fathom. The OPC is small, and it lacks a celebrity. In an . . . Continue reading →

What The Dying Of The PCUSA Means

by on May 17, 2023 | 16 Comments
PCUSA Logo

When, Dean Kelley published Why Conservative Churches Are Growing (New York: Harper & Row, 1972), the Protestant mainline was already in crisis. They were shrinking, and, as Kelley’s title suggests, the “conservative” churches were growing. This book was published the year before . . . Continue reading →

Samuel Would Like A Word With Americans Hankering For A King

by on May 10, 2023 | 10 Comments
Samuel Relating to Eli the Judgements of God upon Eli's House, oil on canvas by John Singleton Copley, 1780. Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut.

Understandably, for many American Christians, the fight or flight instinct has kicked in. They are made to pay taxes to support institutions—for example, public schools—that demonstrably work against their interests and seek to subvert the authority of parents in the family by . . . Continue reading →

What’s In A Denominational Name?

by on April 29, 2023

Today, neither the Orthodox Presbyterian Church nor the Presbyterian Church in America bear their first chosen names. Different as the two denominations are, the reasons for their name changes and even their slates of rejected names are quite similar. And the names—those . . . Continue reading →

Give Me the Hills and Hollers, Or I Die!

by on March 20, 2023 | 9 Comments

So, in general, there is some awareness in the wider church of this reality in underserved America’s small-town and rural regions. There is still, however, a greater need to raise up an explicitly Reformed and Presbyterian witness to serve these areas.
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New Resource Page On Revivals And Revivalism

by on February 17, 2023 | 10 Comments

The nature, origins, and status of revivals and revivalism is a contested issue among scholars and popular writers on these topics. It is a question even whether revivals and revivalism are properly distinguished and if so how? There are narratives about revivals . . . Continue reading →

“Do You Know Of A Good P&R Church Nearby?”

by on January 24, 2023 | 8 Comments

It happens often—a friend or listener sends a message with the question: “Do you know of a good confessional Presbyterian or Reformed church near X?” All too often, after searching online, consulting denominational websites, even asking other friends, the answer is no. . . . Continue reading →

Review: Lane Tipton’s The Trinitarian Theology of Cornelius Van Til

by on December 22, 2022

We live in an age that has lost the plot. In this case it is not the world at large, but rather the broadly Protestant/evangelical world in the West—many things taken almost for granted by previous generations of Christians are met with . . . Continue reading →