Someone tell me about the Evangelical Presbyterian Church?

ICTHUS · 05-29-2003, 04:47 AM

G'day mates,

I have a friend who is Evangelical Presbyterian. Now, when I started to ask her about her church, it got into discussing the use of Tradition from the Early Church in the formulation of doctrine and theology (i.e. it is my understanding that St. Augustine, (just as an example) was a major predestinarian thinker, and that many Protestant churches use his writings as inspiring proof (in addition to Holy Scripture) of their theology)

However, she said that the EPC doesn't look at or use the writings of the Early Church Fathers AT ALL. My understanding of Sola Scriptura is that:

All extra-scriptural sources MUST submit to Holy Scripture, since inspired Tradition cannot contradict what is proven to be God breathed, (namely, Holy Scripture).

And I would agree with this...please forgive this ignorant Papist
:-) and fill me in, if anyone knows anything about this denomination?

God bless you in Christ,
Ryan

MisterAgreeable · 05-29-2003, 09:33 AM

I went to an EPC for a year or two. They're Calvinistic and (unsurprisingly) very presbyterian in nature. They adhere to the Westminster Confession, sort of. I remember not being sure about what they meant. They say "We believe in the WC" though in fact only ephasize these "seven essentials." It could just mean they allow their members to be a bit more liberal, but leadership mush accept the whole WC. I think they liked some particular revision of the WC - nothing controversial in it that I recall.

I guess you could say they fall in line as being way more conservative than the PCUSA, but a bit more liberal than the PCA. As a rule they tend to believe in the charasmatic gifts and are premillenialists, though that's not a requirement of the denomination.

Women can be deacons and elders there, that's sort of a big difference, though again, they leave it up to the local church.

I guess you could say they wanted to make a presbyterian denomination that required as a baseline Calvinism and a fairly "traditional" adherence to Christian doctrine, and left a lot of the usual points of contention among denominations to be decided by the local churches.

idance4jc · 07-16-2003, 10:57 PM

good answer. my dad is an EPC pastor. we used to belong to the RCA but because of theological differences with the majority of the other churches in our clasis (similar to a presbytery) our church left the RCA and joined the EPC. we considered joining the PCA but they were more conservative about some things than our church was. when we changed denominations our big thing was that we were changing our denomination so that we wouldn't have to change our beliefs. i don't remember all of the things we disagreed with the PCA on but i know that they weren't major things. one that comes to mind is whether or not drama can be included in normal services. we include dramas sometimes, the PCA doesn't.

Luke · 07-16-2003, 11:01 PM

I didn't even know the PCA banned that (although I don't disagree with them).

Grace & Peace
Luke

**+Donny** · 07-16-2003, 11:58 PM

People use dramas in worship services? Now im confused.

ThePlaidRanger · 07-17-2003, 12:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by +Donny

People use dramas in worship services? Now im confused.

Come on, Donny - haven't you ever visited your local Harvest Growth & Seeker Baptiminian Church of Jabez?

**+Donny** · 07-17-2003, 05:15 PM

Well, I went to a SBC, but they were very very very bent on tradition. When my pastor was trying to implement elders, one lady actually stood up and said (paraphrased): "I have been to baptist churches for 50 years and I ain't never heard the word elder." And you wonder why we split. My pastors would cite scripture, and they would cite the bylaws....