Orthodox Presbyterian Church
| Orthodox Presbyterian Church | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Abbreviation | OPC |
| Classification | Protestant |
| Theology | Confessional Reformed |
| Governance | Presbyterian |
| Moderator | Jeffery A. Landis |
| Associations | North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council, International Conference of Reformed Churches |
| Region | United States |
| Headquarters | Willow Grove, Pennsylvania |
| Origin | June 11, 1936 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Separated from | Presbyterian Church in the United States of America |
| Separations | Bible Presbyterian Church (1937) |
| Congregations | 273 |
| Members | 31,112 |
| Ministers | 534 |
| Official website | www |
The Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) is a confessional Presbyterian denomination located primarily in the northern United States. It was founded by conservative members of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA) who strongly objected to the pervasive Modernist theology during the 1930s (see Fundamentalist–Modernist Controversy). It has had an influence on evangelicalism far beyond its size.
The Orthodox Presbyterian Church was founded in 1936, largely through the efforts of John Gresham Machen. Machen and others had founded Westminster Theological Seminary in 1929, in response to a re-organization of Princeton Theological Seminary. In 1933, Machen, concerned about liberal theology tolerated by Presbyterians on the mission field, formed the Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions. The next Presbyterian General Assembly reaffirmed that Independent Board was unconstitutional and gave the associated clergy an ultimatum to break their links. When Machen and seven other clergy refused, they were suspended from the Presbyterian ministry.
On June 11, 1936, Machen and a group of conservative ministers, elders, and laymen met in Philadelphia to form the Presbyterian Church of America (not to be confused with the Presbyterian Church in America, which came about decades later). Machen was elected as the first moderator. The PCUSA filed suit against the fledgling denomination for its choice of name, and in 1939, the denomination adopted its current name, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.
Machen died in January 1937. Later that year, a significant faction of the OPC, led by Carl McIntire, broke away to form the Bible Presbyterian Church, a denomination which, unlike the OPC, held to total abstinence from alcohol and premillennialism.
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