SOME HISTORICAL REFLECTIONS ON PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE U.S.A.


  1. The foundations of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) were laid by immigration from European and British Reformed churches. The largest numerical group in the origins of the Presbyterian Church were the Scotch and Scotch-Irish, but important elements were also present in Puritans from England and New England, each with their own emphases.
  2. The original American presbytery was organized by ministers to bring unity and order to previously unrelated congregations. From this first presbytery were to emerge a synod and later a General Assembly.
  3. The ethnic and theological diversity present in colonial Presbyterianism led to a requirement that ministers and church officers subscribe to the doctrinal and polity essentials of the Presbyterian heritage. This heritage was adapted to the American setting.
  4. The first division occurred in the eighteenth century, primarily over different views of what constituted a competent ministry, of the nature of revival, and of the authority of the governing bodies.
  5. When the General Assembly was created the Presbyterian Church adopted certain historic principles protecting the right of private judgment, the right of churches to govern themselves through officers of their own choice, and the right of denominations to determine and discipline their own members.
  6. The General Assembly early affirmed that the Presbyterian Church was one Church, that a representation of a larger portion of the Church should govern a smaller, and that a representation of the whole should govern all.
  7. The Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. split several times in the nineteenth century over the relative powers of the General Assembly to mandate educational and theological requirements of ministers, over different view concerning the way national and international missions should be conducted, and over the authority of the governing bodies to deal with social and political issues.
  8. At times the Presbyterian Church has emphasized the authority of the more inclusive governing bodies, and at others the rights and powers of the less inclusive governing bodies and, particularly, over how much discretion these bodies have to conduct their own programs and mission.
  9. The Presbyterian Church has also suffered from conflict over the extent of theological diversity that may be tolerated without loss of its unity and purity. The definition of essentials is left to the less inclusive governing bodies, subject to review by the more inclusive bodies.
  10. Twentieth century confessions and revised ordination vows are broader and less restrictive, but still expect ministers and other church officers to affirm the essential tenets of the Reformed faith.
  11. There have been several church unions in the twentieth century which have brought together Presbyterians with different gifts and emphases. Several restructures of the Presbyterian Church have occurred with a view toward enhancing mission implementation, some decentralizing denominational programs and others centralizing agencies.
  12. Some twentieth century divisions have been over differences in program and mission agenda and over the extent of theological and polity diversity which may be tolerated. In the twentieth century the extent of racial, ethnic, and gender diversity has been recognized, and attempts have been made to find ways to incorporate this diversity with its unique gifts into the life and governance of a Church which is predominantly white and traditionally governed by white male leadership, without assimilation and without destroying the identity of each group.
  13. Through all these changes in a Church which is committed to reform, the governing bodies have been the visible means of maintaining the unity of the Church; whereas controversy over differing agenda has often been the cause of division. What has united Presbyterians is the way they are willing to resolve differences, that is, through representative governing bodies. However, whenever one agenda seems to rule the Church, whenever its partisans appear to have captured the structures, and whenever efforts are made to require conformity, the result is lack of confidence in the structures, disaffection, and division.


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