May 9 Today in OPC History

Representatives of the Committee on Ecumenicity and Interchurch Relations (CEIR) in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church met with representatives of the Committee on Fraternal Relations in the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod, on May 9, 1968, at Calvary Presbyterian Church, Willow Grove, Pa. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the biblical principles concerning issues which have been historical differences between the RPCES or its antecedents and the OPC. Three more meetings followed in the next year after which the CEIR reported to the Thirty-Sixth (1969) General Assembly that it was unable to define any theological problem that would be an obstacle to the two churches joining together in organic union. The RPCES and OPC embarked on negotiations that would result in the two bodies meeting simultaneously on the campus of Geneva College in the summer of 1975 to vote on merging together. The OPC voted in favor of the merger, but the RPCES voted against it.

Picture: CEIR member John Hills