October 25 Today in OPC History

On October 25, 1939, the Legal Committee of the General Assembly of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) responded to a communication from counsel for the Presbyterian Church in the USA (PCUSA). According to the communication, a considerable body of complaints had been received by the PCUSA stated clerk over the failure of congregations of the OPC to use the word Orthodox. The Legal Committee stated that it had no jurisdiction over the names of particular congregations in the OPC, but that it would inform the congregations concerned of the objections offered. It was the hope of the Legal Committee that further cooperation of pastors and congregations might avert further court proceeding against the four thousand-member OPC by the two million-member-plus PCUSA. At the same time, the Legal Committee stated that it was working to defend, by all the means of its power, the legal and constitutional rights of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church to the end that the OPC might enjoy freedom from persecution by the PCUSA through legal proceedings.

Picture: Paul Woolley, member of the 1939 Legal Committee