The Crisis in Existing Presbyterian Denominations

The Evangelical Reformed Presbyterian Church began in 2004 as a growing number of pastors, sessions, and individual church members expressed deepening concern about spiritual conditions in existing Presbyterian denominations.

  Today many Reformed denominations are no longer carefully and consistently guarding the Gospel. They permit the preaching of false gospels of justification by faith plus works, regeneration through water baptism, and other serious errors, alongside the one true Gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone. This is not a new situation, but has developed over a period of more than 30 years. 

  These teachings, and other errors that accompany them, have made serious inroads in the churches. The Gospel of Jesus Christ and the authority of Scripture are under attack to a degree that has not been true since the Reformation. These developments have sapped spiritual vitality, undermined true Protestantism, and have impeded the church's efforts to carry out the Lord's Great Commission.

Causes of the Crisis

 The spiritual crisis in Presbyterian churches has many underlying causes, including these:

· Loss of Biblical Authority

Departure from unwavering commitment to the complete inerrancy, infallibility, and authority of the Bible, and the abandonment of sound principles for interpreting Scripture, have led to the rise of man-centered interpretations.

· Loss of Doctrinal Integrity

In more and more churches, pastors and elders are permitted to say that they sincerely receive and adopt the Scriptures and the confessional standards of the church on the one hand, while on the other hand they are permitted to teach false doctrines that are clearly contrary to the Bible and those standards.

· Un-Biblical Church Government

Growth of complex organizational structures, entrenched denominational bureaucracies, and complicated and inconsistently-applied rules of government have impeded efforts to deal with the spiritual crisis through Biblical church discipline. Sadly, in many church bodies today, compliance with man-made rules has become more important than adherence to Biblical truth.

Needed: A New Presbyterian Denomination

Over a period of many years — as far back as the 1970s — men who remain committed to the one true Gospel and the authority of the Bible have attempted to right these wrongs within existing denominations. Their efforts have failed, because they have met strong resistance from those who preach “another gospel” (Galatians 1:6-10), those who do not uphold the absolute inerrancy of Scripture, and those who cooperate with them. These elements now hold sway in existing denominations.

The present crisis bears a striking resemblance to the conditions that led men and women to leave the Presbyterian Church in the USA (PCUSA) in the late 1930s and form the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, the Bible Presbyterian Church, and other bodies.

As Dr. J. Gresham Machen wrote at that time, when such conditions exist then conservatives must, with great regret, leave their existing denominations whatever the cost, and stand up for the true faith.

Motivated by the conviction that there can be no church unity unless it is founded on the truth, whole congregations as well as groups of church members have begun to leave the OPC, PCA, ARPS, and other denominations.

A growing number of Reformed Christians believe that a new Presbyterian denomination is the need of the hour. The Evangelical Reformed Presbyterian Church has been established, in reliance on God's grace, to meet that need. There is a groundswell of interest in the emergence of the ERPC.

If you seek a denomination that

• is committed to proclaiming and guarding the authentic Gospel

• uncompromisingly defends the inerrancy, infallibility & authority of Scripture

• holds to the grammatical-historical interpretation of Scripture

• is unequivocally committed to the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms as subordinate doctrinal standards

• is truly and vigorously Protestant

• is evangelical in its outreach to a lost world, and

• is established on sound, Scriptural principles of church government —

then we hope you will prayerfully consider joining with us.

For More Information

• Visit our website, www.erpchurch.org

• E-mail us at info@erpchurch.org

• Write to us at P. O. Box 2383, Westminster, Maryland 21158

• Phone us toll-free at 1-888-368-4351