Date Founded: 1782
Members/Number of Clergy: 34,911/249 as of 2008.
Headquarters: 1 Cleveland St, Ste 110, Greenville SC 29601-3646
Schools & Seminaries: Erskine College and Erskine Theological Seminary
Publications: ARP Magazine
Website: http://arpchurch.org/
Blog: http://arpc.wordpress.com/
Core Beliefs:
"The Bible alone, being God-breathed, is the Word of God Written, infallible in all that it teaches, and inerrant in the original manuscripts." (2008 Minutes of Synod).
"The Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church has rightly concluded that Scripture does not permit women to serve in the office of elder, and that the role of spiritually authoritative teaching and discipline in the church is reserved for male leadership." (Women in the Life of the Church, A Position Paper Approved by the General Synod of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, June, 2005.)
"The General Synod of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church affirms the Biblical standard for marriage, one man and one woman." (Minutes of the General Synod, 2012, p. 564)
"We affirm that the account of the creation of Adam and Eve as found in Genesis 1 and 2 is history...." (Minutes of the General Synod, 2012, pp. 503, 505)
"In Christian love we declare that God’s Word clearly forbids homosexual practice as a sin against God." (Minutes of the General Synod, 1977, p. 444)
"...it is not for men basically to be the determiners of life and death, even for the unborn child. Therefore, in all instances, one should seek to preserve the life of the unborn child."
(Minutes of the General Synod, 1981, p. 402 & 403)
Short History: Split from the Church of Scotland in the 1730s as the Associated Presbytery and the Reformed Presbytery. First North American presbyteries were created in Pennsylvania between 1750 and 1770. In 1782 the Associate and Reformed presbyteries merged to create the Associate Reformed Synod in Philadelphia. By 1803 the church had grown, especially in the South, and was split into four Synods. The Synod of the Carolinas was the only one remaining by the end of the 19th Century. The other Synods were merged and absorbed by the United Presbyterian Church throughout the 19th Century.
The ARP Church has churches in Canada and the United States. Most members are clustered in the southeastern U.S.
For more details, see http://arpchurch.org/about-the-arp/history/
Local Churches: You can find a church using the church finder on the ARP Church website at http://arpchurch.org/arp-church-directory/. In Louisville, visit Midlane Park ARP Church at 6209 Six Mile Ln., Louisville, KY 40218.
