Presbyterian Church in America

The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) contributes to the ethos of the Atlanta community by teaching and encouraging its members to integrate life and faith. Unlike many activist organizations that lobby local, state, and federal governments for the enactment of laws, neither the PCA nor its churches attempts to represent its members in public matters. The PCA does encourage its members to be active in political and civic organizations. Consequently, the denomination is well represented in prison ministries, adoption services, pregnancy crisis centers, disaster relief, and many other such organizations in the communities where the churches are located. The PCA does humbly petition the government, when appropriate, regarding the significant moral issues that trouble our communities and nation.

The Presbyterian Church in America also cooperates with other denominations and churches where there are common goals. One example is Quest Atlanta ’96, in which 25 denominations and some 1,500 churches are working together. Quest Atlanta ’96 is committed to unite the body of Christ to welcome the world during the Olympic Games in an effort to proclaim and demonstrate the love of God.

The PCA is one of the faster growing denominations in the United States, with over 1450 churches and missions throughout the USA and Canada. There were over 306,000 communicant and non-communicant members as of December 2000.

“Reformed” defines the doctrinal beliefs of the PCA, which holds that the purest expressions of scriptural doctrine are found in the Calvinistic creeds, particularly the Westminster Confession of Faith.

The PCA’s representative form of church government is rooted in its name — presbyterian. Local churches are governed by elders (presbyters) elected by the church members. This form of government extends through the regional presbyteries, which facilitate connectionalism, to the national General Assembly, which expresses PCA’s connectionalism and the bond of union between/among all the churches.

Most of the work of the denomination is coordinated in the PCA Office Building in Lawrenceville. That work is carried out by four program committees — Mission to the World, Mission to North America, Christian Education and Publications, and Reformed University Ministries. In addition, there is the Office of the Stated Clerk, which is responsible for the administration of the General Assembly; the PCA Foundation, which teaches more effective stewardship; and PCA Retirement & Benefits, Inc, which provides life, disability, retirement plan benefits and a relief fund for PCA pastors, lay church workers, and the staffs of PCA committees, agencies, and institutions.

(From pcanet.org)

미국장로교(PCA·Presbyterian Church in America) 교단은 자유주의 신학의 도전과 성경의 권위를 추락시키는 변질된 신앙을 바르게 세우고 교회의 타락을 막기 위해 성경적이고 복음적이며 보수적 개혁주의 신앙을 고수하기 위해 세워진 미국교단으로 1973년 12월4일 지금의 PCUSA(Presbyterian Church of United States)로부터 독립되어 탄생됐습니다. 현재 북미주와 캐나다에 1700여교회 및 50여개의 노회가 있습니다. 

■한인교회 소속
신학 노선을 같이하는 한인 목회자들이 1990년대에 PCA교단에 가입하기 시작하면서 소속됐고 현재 한인교회는 350여 교회와 500여명의 한인목회자들이 가입돼 있다. 대표적인 한인교회로는 오정현목사가 시무했던 남가주 사랑의 교회와 원로 이원상목사가 시무했던 워싱턴중앙교회 등이 있습니다. 
(한국일보 기사에서)