CHURCH HISTORY 101
So, how many of
you here this morning are life long Presbyterians? Do we have any former or current Catholics?
Methodists? Baptists? Episcopalians? Lutherans? Mormons? Congregationalists?
Not many of us have
always been Presbyterian. One of the
requests for me to preach on this summer was the history of the Presbyterian
church, which I’ll bet not too many of you are well versed in.
As a matter of
fact, I’ll bet most of you aren’t even very knowledgeable on the history of the
Christian church, either.
Most of us know
the Jesus part and know that the Catholic church fits in there somewhere and
then sometime later along came the Protestants and the Presbyterians … but for
the most part …we are pretty fuzzy on filling in the details.
So, this morning
I am going to give you a quick down and dirty history lesson. I know many of you are already nodding
off. BUT hang in there … I even promise
to throw in a joke here and there just to keep you awake.
Okay, after Jesus
was resurrected and ascended back to heaven, the apostles and others spread the
Gospel to the surrounding towns and communities. Some, like Thomas, went as far away as India
(I’ll talk about that in two weeks).
Anyway, for the
first 300 years or so Christians were persecuted and abused – however their
growth continued.
Then, around 320
A.D., the Roman Emperor Constantine, was preparing for battle. In the distance he saw a huge cross in the
sky with the words “By This Conquer” written inside. So he had the shields of his soldiers
inscribed with the cross … and he ended up decisively winning the battle.
Being
superstitious by nature, he felt he had received a sign from God (maybe he had)
and made Christianity the state religion.
Well, that changed
everything. Over the centuries the
church grew in size and power – both politically and spiritually.
In 1054 the
Eastern Orthodox (Greek speaking) and the Western Roman Catholic (Latin
speaking) churches split – and actually remain split to this day.
Since the
Presbyterian Church traces its roots through the Western
Church, we’re going to stay with
the Roman Catholic church for now.
Later in that
same century Pope Gregory VII became the first pope to actually claim to be
God’s sole representative on earth. From there, there was no turning back.
With increased
power came abuse. Priests read and
preached in only Latin, only the clergy could read the Bible, communion was
served only to the elite and in the fifteenth century the church began selling “indulgences”
designed to raise money to support the church.
Indulgences were like a “get out of jail free” card that assured you of
going to heaven. And best of all you
could buy “indulgences” for your deceased relatives.
In 1517, Martin
Luther, a Roman Catholic priest, finally had enough and nailed his famous 95
theses or points – primarily against the system of indulgences (among other
things) – to the door of the Wittenberg church.
Thus began the Reformation.
Okay, time for a
joke: A teacher asked the children in her Sunday School class, “If I sold my
house and my car, had a big garage sale, and gave all my money to church (think
indulgences), would I get to heaven?”
“NO!” the
children all answered.
“If I cleaned the
church every day, mowed the lawn, and kept everything neat and tidy, would I
get to go to Heaven?”
Again the answer
was, “NO!”
“Well,” she
continued, “then how can I get to heaven?”
God’s grace was
the hoped for answer…but in the back of the room, a five year old boy shouted,
“You gotta be dead!”
Back to Martin
Luther. Although Luther is considered
the Father of the Reformation, John Calvin was a close relative, so to
speak.
If you were here
four Sundays ago you heard all about Mr. Calvin. He and Luther agreed on many principles, like
having the bible available to all (which was helped by the invention of the
printing press), preaching in the native tongue, communion served to all
regardless of status and NO INDULGENCES.
But they also
disagreed on some pretty basic tenets.
Calvin believed that communion was not a magical event, but, as we
previously discussed, was infused with Christ’s spirit. He also favored a church government that he
felt patterned the early church, where all clergy were equal, where there was
no bishop. He believed in a democratic
form of church government – one man, one vote. He felt that with no pope or
bishop that the church as a whole was less prone to err than if any one man was
left to make all the decisions.
And so, the
Presbyterian church was born. Anybody
know what does the word Presbyterian mean?
It comes from the Greek Presbuteros
meaning Elder. Did you know that the word ELDER (or Presbuteros) is used 72 times in the New Testament?
Soon the
Presbyterian church was springing up all over Europe. Unfortunately,
some were facing persecution. By the mid 1600’s many Presbyterians were heading
west to America
hoping for religious freedom. And finding just that, the church spread
throughout what were to become the 13 original Colonies.
In the late
1600’s, the Rev. Francis Makemie, often referred to as the “Father of American
Presbyterianism,” began organizing the various collection of independent
Presbyterian churches together. In 1706 succeeded in forming the 1st
American Presbytery in Philadelphia.
Starting to nod
off? Time for another joke. “I hope you didn’t take it personally,
Reverend, when my husband walked out during your sermon,” an embarrassed woman
said after church.
“I did find it
rather disconcerting,” the preacher replied.
“It’s not a reflection
on you, sir,” insisted the churchgoer.
“Cliff has been walking in his sleep ever since he was a child.”
Okay, everything
seemed to be going just fine till the first major schism reared its ugly head
in the 1740s. It was known as the Old
Side/New Side controversy.
I won’t bore you
with the details – suffice it to say it had to do with revivals and the
importance of an educated clergy.
Over the course
of the next 17 years, the number of New Side ministers tripled, while the Old
Side decreased by one. The result: in
1758 the breach was healed and the church once again was united.
Interesting
fact: There was only one minister to
sign the Declaration of Independence:
John Witherspoon – an ordained Presbyterian clergyman. Witherspoon was also the president of Princeton
University – a college established
by the Presbyterian church in the mid 1700’s.
The 1800s brought
more growth and the church expanded rapidly:
membership grew from 20,000 to 220,000 between 1800 and 1837 alone.
In 1837 was the
next BIG split in the church where half the churches were forced out of the
denomination and formed a new branch of the Presbyterian church. The rift in
the church was known the New School/Old
School division.
The New School folks were more liberal, were
more ecumenical in nature, and generally were considered abolitionists – they
were against slavery. While the Old
School folks were more conservative and wanted to maintain the status
quo.
It was during the
mid 1800’s that missionaries were sent to various countries throughout Africa
– with particular note – to Cameroon. The missionary effort was successful to the
point that today there are over 1.8 million members of the Presbyterian church
in Cameroon AND a significant number who are members of THIS Presbyterian
church here in San Jose.
There are a
couple of significant dates in the 20th century: in 1930 the PCUSA’s
constitution is amended to allow women to be ordained elders.
And then in 1956
Margaret Towner is the first woman ordained as a minister in the Presbyterian
church.
The 1900’s was
also a time of separation and reunification – too many to go over this
morning. The major unification happened
in June of 1983 where the southern-based PCUS and the northern-based UPCUSA
reunited after 120 years of separation.
Yikes! I think we
need another break! This one is for Susan, our new choir director. I do hope it doesn’t get to this point! J
There was a
church where the preacher and the minister of music were not getting
along. As time went by, this spirit
began to spill over into the worship service.
The first week
the preacher preached on commitment and how we should all dedicate ourselves to
God. The music director led the hymn, “I Shall Not Be Moved.”
The second week
the preacher preached on tithing and how we all should gladly give to the work
of the Lord. The director led the hymn, “Jesus Paid it All.”
The third week
the preacher preached on gossiping and
how we should all watch our tongues. The music director led, “I Love to
Tell the Story.”
With all this
going on, the preacher became totally disgusted over the situation and the
following Sunday told the congregation that he was considering resigning. The music director led, “Oh, Why Not
Tonight.”
As it came to
pass, the preacher did resign. The next
week he informed the church that it was Jesus who led him there and it was
Jesus who was taking him away. The music leader led the hymn, “What a Friend We
have in Jesus.”
Ah, Susan looks
to nice to fight with … right Susan? Ah,
but she is a lawyer in her “other” life!
Now some other
facts about the church: 2.3 million
members in 11 thousand congregations, with over 21,000 ordained ministers and
more than 94,000 elders. The average church has 208 members. About 50% of congregations have less than 100
members.
The largest
congregation in the US
is in Atlanta – Peachtree with a
reported membership of over 8500 people. Compare that with the largest
congregation in the world: Myungsung
Presbyterian Church in Seoul, South
Korea with a membership of 70,000 – just a
bit larger than STHPC.
While the PC(USA)
is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the United
States – there are also other Presbyterian
denominations: like the PCA, the OPC, the Cumberland PC, and the Associate
Reformed PC. There is also a PC of Korea
in the US – of
which the Korean church that meets here after us is a part.
We are a diverse
lot … even in this congregation. And as
was pointed out earlier – it is partly because no one will tell you what you
have to believe in order to be Presbyterian.
All are welcome.
I do hope you
feel at home here. God is good! All the time!
AMEN!
