page_title: Presbyterian Church in America
section_title: Nationwide growth
hierarchical_section_title: Presbyterian Church in America / History / Growth / Nationwide growth
caption_attribution_description: English: A photograph of New Hope Christian church from the winter of 2011
context_page_description: The Presbyterian Church in America is the second-largest Presbyterian church body, behind the Presbyterian Church, and the largest conservative Reformed denomination in the United States. The PCA is Reformed in theology, presbyterian in government, and active in missions. It is characterized by a blend of Reformed practice and broad evangelicalism.
context_section_description: In 1983 several PCUS churches had joined the PCA, instead of merging with the UPCUSA into the current PC (U.S.A.); others joined the recently formed Evangelical Presbyterian Church, unrelated to the 1950s and 1960s body of that name. 
  A clause in the Plan of Union between the two mainline bodies allowed dissenting PCUS congregations to refrain from joining the merger and to join a denomination of their choosing.
  At the 20th anniversary of the PCA in 1993 there were 1,086 congregations and 242,560 members.
  The PCA Historical Center, a repository of archives and manuscripts, is located in St. Louis, Missouri.
  The PCA is one of the denominations in the United States, with some 1,700 churches and missions throughout the US and Canada. There were some 335,000 communicant and non-communicant members as of December 2000.
  In 2004 the former PC(USA) member First Presbyterian Church in Charleston, MS voted to join the PCA rather than the EPC, which allows women as church officers. Hospers Presbyterian Church in Hospers, Iowa was also PC(USA), joined the PCA in November 2006. Park Cities Presbyterian Church was formed when about 1,500–2,000 former Highland Park Presbyterian Church (Dallas, Texas) member separated from the PC(USA) and joined PCA.
  In 2013 and 2014 a few disappointed conservative PC(USA) congregations from New York state and from the Presbytery of Sheppards & Lapsley (Unity Presbyterian in Weogufka, AL, and Southwood Presbyterian in Talladega, AL) in the state of Alabama and Smyrna Korean Presbyterian Church in Enterprise, AL joined the Presbyterian Church in America instead of ECO or EPC, which have women ministers. Several PC(USA) breakaway groups like New Covenant Presbyterian Church in McComb, MS which broke from J.J. White Memorial Presbyterian Church in 2007, and First Scot's Presbyterian Church, PCA in Beaufort, South Carolina (formerly First Scots Independent Presbyterian Church) voted to affiliate with the PCA. As well as several independent Anglo and till now unaffiliated Korean Presbyterian churches like Greater Springfield Korean Church in Agawam, Massachusetts.
  According to the PC(USA) statistics 7 PC(USA) congregations with 550 members joined PCA, excluded the seceder groups since 2005.
  Doctrinal debate in the Reformed Church in America led some RCA congregations like Grace Reformed Church in Lansing, Illinois (Pastor Andy Nearpass), the Peace Community Church from Frankfort, IL (Rev. Dr. Kurt Kruger), Crete Reformed Church in Crete, IL (Pastor David Smith), First Reformed Church in Lansing, IL (Pastor Ben Kappers), Mission Dei Church in New Lenox, Illinois (Pastor Paul Vroom) and University Reformed Church in East Lansing, Michigan (Pastor Kevin DeYoung) to join the PCA as a conservative alternative.
  The three main issues were RCA position on homosexuality, the adoption of the Belhar Confession and complementarianism. Beyond the three reasons University Reformed Church mentioned: "We have a deep desire to belong to a family of churches where who we are as a congregation fits squarely with what our denomination does and believes." "We want to raise up pastors who do not fear that the ordination process is against them"."We want to work alongside churches that share our convictions." "We want to be in a denomination that sees us as occupying center ground, notsome extreme right flank". "The denomination(RCA) has moved away from churches like ours." "We want to work alongside churches that share our convictions." "In practice, the RCA is already well down this path [of endorsing homosexual activity] and that given the way our classical structure works those who stand for biblical orthodoxy can do little to stop it. We believe laboring in such a mixed denomination undermines the true nature of biblical unity, hinders our witness for Christ, and does not represent the most effective avenue for ministry for URC in the years and decades ahead." "URC would be able to serve with greater integrity and disciple our people (especially ministerial candidates) more effectively if we were in a denomination that shares
caption: The Monsey Church, founded 1824, left the Christian Reformed Church in North America for the PCA in 2005
exif: {"Image Make": "Apple", "Image Model": "iPhone 4", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Microsoft Windows Photo Viewer 6.1.7600.16385", "Image DateTime": "2011:02:19 11:22:29", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "2328", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "N", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[41, 67/10, 0]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "W", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[74, 207/50, 0]", "GPS GPSAltitudeRef": "0", "GPS GPSAltitude": "93269/606", "GPS GPSTimeStamp": "[18, 38, 2383/50]", "GPS GPSImgDirectionRef": "M", "GPS GPSImgDirection": "44921/147", "Image GPSInfo": "4792", "Image XPKeywords": "[105, 0, 80, 0, 104, 0, 111, 0, 110, 0, 101, 0, 32, 0, 76, 0, 97, 0, 116, 0, ... ]", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "5152", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6025", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/736", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2011:01:07 13:38:48", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2011:01:07 13:38:48", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "3514/369", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4281/1441", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Average", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "77/20", "EXIF SubjectArea": "[1295, 967, 699, 696]", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1936", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2592", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "864/455", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Sharpness": "Hard", "EXIF Padding": "[]"}