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To: NoGrayZone; irishtenor; goodnesswins; RecoveringPaulisto; Lee N. Field; Persevero; ctdonath2; ...
NoGrayZone, I concur with Rev. Charles Henrickson and Bcsco that if you're committed to Lutheran doctrine you should seek out a Lutheran church in the Missouri Synod or Wisconsin Synod.

You also asked this but didn't get a lot of answers: “Any advise to where we can look? Anyone know anything about Presbyterians?”

If you're serious, check out the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, the Presbyterian Church in America, and the United Reformed Churches in North America, all of which have congregations on Long Island. I'm including church locator websites for these denominations later in this email.

Stay away from the Presbyterian Church in the USA (PCUSA) which is a large liberal denomination very much like the ELCA Lutherans; there are still some good PCUSA churches but most of the denomination is liberal.

On the two issues you raised, the OPC and URCNA are quite strongly opposed to women's ordination and homosexuality, and the same is true for most PCA congregations as well as the national denomination as a whole, but there are a few problem churches in the PCA that are open to women in ministerial roles other than the pastorate. The Evangelical Presbyterian Church allows women's ordination but is strongly opposed to homosexuality.

Churches vary and I cannot endorse every church in the PCA or EPC, for example. However, in most conservative Reformed or Presbyterian churches, you'll find a simple form of worship with a strong emphasis on the sermon. Most confessional Presbyterian churches place less emphasis on the sacraments than you're used to in Lutheranism, but all will baptize children of believers and most share with Lutheranism a strong emphasis on reverent worship, the sovereignty of God, and the importance of catechizing children as well as teaching adults the confessions of the church.

There are important differences between confessional Lutherans and confessional Presbyterians, but less significant than you'd find between confessional Lutherans and a lot of broadly evangelical churches which may place an emphasis on “exciting worship” and may not place as much emphasis on the sermon or the importance of raising children in the faith. Again, I'm speaking in generalities, and I can think of a lot of Baptist and Campbellite friends whose churches I could easily visit though I could never join their church based on their requirement that I be rebaptized.

Again, you asked... I'm not here to bash other people's churches, but you asked the question about what Presbyterians believe.

If you're willing to drive into Manhattan on Sunday, you may also want to check out Neighborhood Church of Greenwich Village at http://www.ncgv.net , which for many years was one of the very few conservative churches in the Village, and where I was a member for many years. It's not Presbyterian (it's a member of the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference) but shares the same doctrinal position on matters other than church government. Tell Rev. Kirk van der Swaagh “hello” if you visit NCGV.

Here are the church locators for the OPC, PCA and URCNA:

OPC: http://www.opc.org/locator.html
PCA: https://processor.pcanet.org/ac/directory/directory.cfm
URCNA: http://www.urcna.org/sysfiles/member/family/member_directory_search_public.cfm?memberid=303&public=1&reporttype=custom

If you were in a different part of the United States I'd suggest you check out the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (I attend an ARP in Missouri). Most of our churches in New York are immigrant churches whose members speak Korean, but that is definitely not the case for most of the ARPs, so here's the list:

http://www.arpsynod.org/findachurch.htm

For others reading this thread trying to find a Presbyterian church that is conservative, you may want to check the Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America, but they do not have churches on Long Island.

RPCNA: http://reformedpresbyterian.org/index.php?option=com_ps_map&Itemid=53

(BTW, I'm pinging this to the other people on this list who made comments indicating they're familiar with the PCA or other Presbyterian denominations.)

375 posted on 06/24/2011 10:40:51 AM PDT by darrellmaurina
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To: darrellmaurina

RPCNA is very similar to OPC and PCA, only obvious difference being exclusive acapella Psalm-singing.


376 posted on 06/24/2011 10:54:11 AM PDT by ctdonath2
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To: darrellmaurina; NoGrayZone

Some Presbyterians do put emphasis on the sacraments, albeit with a different sacramentology than Lutherans. My congregation celebrates the Lord’s Supper every Sunday. I haven’t been to too many Presbyterian churches over the years, but there are some out there that do put emphasis on the sacraments if that’s important to you.


379 posted on 06/24/2011 12:10:32 PM PDT by RecoveringPaulisto
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