Be ye separate, part 1

Bible Presbyterian Church
May 20, 2007
Collingswood, New Jersey

Just looking at this church’s slogan in the yellow pages of the phone book (Theologically Reformed, Evangelistically Committed), I could see that it would be different from the first three I had visited. The slogans of the first three churches are designed to encourage folks to come in and check the place out. The slogan of Bible Presbyterian, however, will simply puzzle anyone who is not already conversant with church-speak, and will puzzle even some people who have been churchgoers all their lives.

On the Internet, I learned that that this group is an offshoot of an offshoot of my own denomination, the Presbyterian Church (USA). The details are complex, but basically what happened seems to be that, during the fundamentalist controversies of the 1920s and 1930s, a group of conservatives left the mainstream denomination of the Presbyterian Church. They called themselves the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC). Soon after that split, they discovered quite a bit of dissension among their ranks. One group was theologically very conservative, but not so concerned with cultural and political conservatism. The other group, led by Carl McIntire, was not only religiously conservative, but also culturally and politically conservative. McIntire’s group split from the OPC church in 1937, and became the Bible Presbyterian Church (BPC). The Bible Presbyterians were strong on temperance (they preached total abstinence). So Bible Presbyterians are the practically the original religious right, as well as heirs of the original generation of fundamentalists.

In the mid 1950s there was a split within the Bible Presbyterians, and the folks who left eventually became what is today the Presbyterian Church of America (PCA). According to the article in Wikipedia, the Presbyterian Church of America should not be confused with the Presbyterian Church in America, which was formed forty years later. Being Presbyterian, I probably should understand all this, but I was quite confused by this history. And I haven’t even mentioned all the various permutations of denominational names that groups used throughout the twentieth century as they split, merged, and re-formed for various reasons. Here are a few: United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (UPCUSA); Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUSA); Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod (RPCES); Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America, General Synod (RPCNAGS – yes, they had the word nags right in their name, which does seem a tad clueless in terms of marketing skills); and Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC).

In spite of all the hours and days that have been spent debating names and groups, most non-Presbyterians probably just associate all Presbyterians with one general group, the BCP (Boring Church People).

Reading all this, I repent of complaining about the names associated with Episcopalians. Presbyterians seem to have decided to make naming themselves a part-time job.
Among Presbyterians, distinctions among the various groups can loom large, so it can be disconcerting when they discover that most everyone else just lumps them all together. For example, Presbyterian Church in America folks generally dislike being confused with the mainline denomination, Presbyterian Church (USA). But the distinction is usually quite lost on outsiders.

Sometimes it’s not enough to tell someone you’re, say, Lutheran or Presbyterian – they want to know which kind of Lutheran or Presbyterian you are. And those people tend to care deeply whether or not you are the right kind. Then again, in other cases, you make the distinction quite pointedly “I’m Lutheran – Missouri Synod Lutheran,” and you can see that the person you are talking to has no idea what in the world you are getting at. You are trying to convey to someone that you are a stickler for the pure gospel, and for sound, classical theology, but all they hear is something about being German: “Lutheran, eh? Then you don’t mind if I have a beer? "

I learned one other amazing thing about Bible Presbyterian Church: Francis Schaeffer was the first minister to be ordained in this denomination! He is famous for establishing the Christian community L’Abri in Switzerland, and for writing many books that influenced both the Christian right and some of the Jesus people in the early seventies. One of the first books I read as a very new Christian was his How Should We Then Live? It affected me and many of my friends deeply.

I also discovered that the first General Synod of the Bible Presbyterians was held in the Collingswood church, which is where I’ll be visiting – it’s the very cathedral of this denomination.

The church is a big brick building with an attached school, on a major intersection. They have posted a large Ten Commandments sign on the corner of the school building attached to the church, facing the intersection. (Unfortunately, one of the words in the Commandments is misspelled: adultry. Everyone needs a good copyeditor.)

I decided to wear a skirt, heels, and nylons to this church. For the previous three visits I had felt comfortable in my black pantsuit (a friend had suggested I wear the same clothes to church for all 52 weeks, which was a tempting idea), but I thought that perhaps this might be a group that frowns on women in slacks.