Confused by all the divisions in the Presbyterian church?? I know I am (to be fair most denominations have more divisions than most of us can keep up with). Here's some clarification.
(1) Presbyterian Church of America (PCA): Formed in 1982 when North and South conservative denominations of Presbyterianism came together.
(2) Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA): Formed in 1982 with North and South mainline Presbyterian churches.
(3) Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC): Didn't join PCA in 1982, and took advantage of the escape clause from the PCUSA that allowed churches to branch off from the PCUSA in a 7 year period and keep their property. So they took advantage of this and formed their own denomination.
(4) Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC): This was a denomination of Presbyterianism formed by J. Gresham Machen in the 1920's (conservative theologically) that came from Northern Presbyterian churches that were more conservative.
There's more to be said to clarify, and I'm working on it, but this is helpful for now:)
Lig also said that the PCUSA says they have 2.3 million folks in their denomination but this has been decreasing by about 40,000 people every year since 1967 (this is probably not completely accurate...the point is the congregation is dwindling.)
The PCA is the largest of Presbyterian Congregations in the world with 450,000 folks.
If you guys know some stuff I don't let me know...I'm just trying to understand all of this!
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