Comparison To Other Presbyterian Denominations
The PCA is more socially and theologically conservative than the larger PC(USA). The PCA requires ordained pastors and elders to subscribe to the theological doctrines detailed in the Westminster Standards, with only minor exceptions allowed, while the PC(USA)'s Book of Confessions allows much more leeway. The PCA ordains only men who profess either traditional marriage or celibacy, while the PC(USA) allows the ordination of both women and non-celibate gays and lesbians as clergy. Like the PC(USA), however, the PCA accommodates different views of creation and strives for racial reconciliation. The PC(USA) speaks predominantly for pro-choice on abortion, the PCA is unilaterally pro-life, believing life begins at conception. The PC(USA) is a major supporter of the World Council of Churches and The National Council of Churches. The PCA has no participation in either organization. In the PCA all church buildings belong to the local church; in the PC(USA) the church property owner is the presbytery.
The PCA is generally less theologically conservative than the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (which split from mainline Presbyterianism much earlier), but more conservative than the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (which split from the mainline more recently), though the differences can vary from presbytery to presbytery and even congregation to congregation. The PCA, as mentioned above, does not acknowledge the ordination of women as teaching elders (pastors), ruling elders, or deacons; the EPC considers this issue a "non-essential" matter left to the individual ordaining body. While most OPC congregations allow women only to teach children and other women in Sunday school, some churches in the PCA allow women to do anything a non-ordained man can do. While the OPC and the PCA both adhere to the Westminster Standards, the OPC is generally more strict in requiring its officers to subscribe to those standards without exception. Nonetheless, the two denominations enjoy fraternal relations and cooperate in a number of ways, such as sharing control of a publication company, Great Commission Publications, which produces Sunday school curricula for both denominations.
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