January 27 Today in OPC History

On January 27, 1958, Carl McIntire, a leader in the founding of the Bible Presbyterian Church, wrote a letter to the Presbyterian Guardian requesting that it clarify a brief news item that appeared in the previous June 15 issue, entitled “McIntire Dropped from the Bible Presbyterian Church.” He was eager to point out that he was still pastor of the Bible Presbyterian Church in Collingswood, New Jersey and a member in good standing of the Presbytery of New Jersey of the Bible Presbyterian Church. The report was inaccurate, he insisted, because the alleged action against him was “illegal and improper.”

The Guardian published McIntire’s letter in its March 15, 1958 issue. In an accompanying “editor’s note,” Leslie W. Sloat explained that the Guardian news item was based on public news reports. Sloat went on to observe: “The status of the Bible Presbyterian Church continues to be confused. The question is specific – is there one Bible Presbyterian Church existing in two synods (in that case of course no one has been ‘dropped’); or are there two separate and distinct ecclesiastical organizations … yet each maintaining the same identical name, Bible Presbyterian church. Dr. McIntire appears to hold the former view. Others we have talked to assert the latter to be the case. We have no way ourselves of solving the problem.” Sloat added that adherents of the group that eventually became known as the “Columbus Synod” of the Bible Presbyterian Church assured him that the original Guardian news item was correct.

Picture: Carl McIntire in 1957