An EPC Exit Interview: My Transition to the PCA

In this video, I give an honest but fair evaluation of the EPC as a Reformed denomination. I review its people, presbyteries, general assembly meetings, theology, missions, and overall ethos.

[@brhodes625]

EPC Pastor here. We were sad to see you go, my dear brother. But I agree 100% with your report card. And that's probably why I was so sad to see you go! God's grace and peace on the PCA and on the EPC as Jesus continues to build his kingdom!

[@AFrischPerspective]

Very interesting evaluation. I am not from a presbyterian background, but it is really helpful to learn about other church communities.

[@WhitworthStud]

One of our elders still hasn't recovered from the beach balls :) Love you brother.

[@jimhicks8871]

You gave a very objective evaluation of your experiencing the EPC. It helped me understand their ethos. We do not have an EPC congregation in my town, so I belong to a PCA church. We have a stable congregation and an excellent pastor. I wish you all the best in your new congregation. If I'm in the Pittsburgh area I will try and worship at your church. Good luck and Godspeed.

[@69telecasterplayer]

Brother Matt, I love the way you put yourself out there as risky as that may be. Your open and honest discussions are always valuable. I learn much from your talks. Please continue to hold fast. There are so many that are getting wobbly today. I have been in the AoG since I was a child and have seen them take turns that I am uncomfortable with. As you know, we have much history with Methodism and holiness ranks therefore femail leadership has been accepted for many years and is officially welcomed by the AoG. There are dangers today that may not have been forseen clearly many years ago. Many of the same arguments made for female leadership in Pentecostal ranks can be made for the acceptance of same sex unions. I believe that is on the horizon. I love the way you hold fast. However, we will most likely soon see an increase in different forms of persecution in the US (much of that driven by same sex issues) and we will need to pull together. There may be a few things that you and I and many others will soon find that we can more easily tolerate as we feel the heat more and more. I am glad to say that in my AoG church, my pastor is rock solid. I think even you would enjoy his exposition. He has been preaching through Ephesians for almost 2 and a half years and is still in chapter six. He is a very unusual AoG pastor. I hope I am seeing a trend. God bless you. James

[@mkshffr4936]

I am part of the EPC and have pretty much the same assessment as you do. It is the best option available where I am now and hope that the young pastors will have a very positive effect.

[@michaelboucher4544]

Had my first visit for worship at Free Grace PC (of the PCA) in little Lewiston,Maine. Beautiful service!

[@MrAndyhdz]

The EPC is not liberal like the PCUSA and not conservative like the PCA and that's why I love it!

[@andyheller2691]

Very informative. Thanks for sharing.

[@sandygrogg1203]

My mom was a secretary for our town’s Presbyterian church...My young family lived with her, so we. Attended that church. ..for 13 years. I never, ever had any idea of what it meant to be Presbyterian... or that there were different “branches” ...It wasn’t all that different from the Methodist Church I grew up in. No one ever told me what either denomination believed... that made it different. This was way back in the 70’s..😊

[@daragrieger5427]

I'd love to hear an explanation of difference between PCA and RPCNA

[@MrAndyhdz]

RPCNA makes PCA looks like a bunch of liberals

[@murattanyel1029]

Having been baptized in the PCA and coming into the EPC through a roundabout way, I agree with your evaluation in each category except the General Assembly. The GAs I have attended have not had beach balls.

[@saintonfire77]

Interesting video. The PCA is also a mixed bag. And also the OPC is a mixed bag. When I was in seminary (Reformed Theological Seminary) most the men were Evangelicals but did not embrace the Reformed Faith as set forth in the Westminster Confession of Faith.

[@saintaugustine4104]

RPCNA.

[@vngelicath1580]

To use the example of my own Lutheran tradition, it seems as though if the PCUSA is like our ELCA, and on the opposite side of the spectrum, the OPCNA is like our WELS (Wisconsin Synod), than the EPC is to the PCA what the NALC (North American Lutheran) is to the LCMS (Missouri Synod). Sorry, alphabet soup lol. But basically, the NALC like the EPC, broke from the big liberal body and so has some remnant Liberalisms: women's ordination, weaker confessional identity, etc (even while they reject the extremes of the parent church).

[@PresbyterianPaladin]

I'm a current member of the PCA and came from the EPC. I mostly came due to my wife, she is Korean and the church she had been attending, and which we now attend is a PCA church. The church I was baptized in was an EPC church, sadly the pastor I was baptized by became embroiled in scandal and had to relinquish the pastorate. The new interim pastor we got was a decent guy but his sermons had more football and personal anecdotes than gospel and so I ended up going to another EPC Church here in Denver Colorado and while I loved the service there I only ended up going there for a couple months before my wife and I decided to attend at our current PCA church. It took a little adjustment but I genuinely love my church family at my current church. The Pastor is great and his sermons always point me towards Christ. I look forward to growing in the denomination, becoming a deacon or Elder, and eventually, hopefully a pastor. Though as a Molinist I may encounter some opposition. 😅

[@breannawilliamson9787]

Contemporary is just fine, but some of those things are odd.

[@tiagonocaminho1]

In your opinion, what is the presbiteryan denominacion less liberal in USA?

[@J40JesusIsLord]

I'm in a EPC church-been there for a number of years after leaving a reformed baptist church who had a 'pastor' who I now believe has narcissitic personality disorder. The leadership in our church is great-but I do share your concerns about the toleration of women preachers.

[@whatup4786]

I love the Opc, but the lack of community outreach is a deal breaker. Thinking of leaving.

[@glynnetolar4423]

Hello from 1689, I don't get this. A high score and you still disagree with them. On what I see to be some serious issues. But the, perhaps you don't see them as that serious. Also, I found that when churches that start ordaining women. You surely can find other serious theological issues at that church.

[@ceemiguel9052]

You didn't realize the EPC was egalitarian in practice when you joined?

[@simmonsjay14]

Wow. Sounds like you fit better into the PCA. If you think the PCA GA is going to be better you better lower your expectations. You'll be very happy, however, because no woman would ever be able to preach/teach, so your complementation heart will be glad.

[@cedarpants]

Matt... I am very glad that you found a better fitting home in the PCA. I will say that this video is both sad and inappropriate. What I heard throughout this video was that the EPC does live up to what it has said and continues to say about itself. Your “lower grades” are critiquing the EPC in areas that openly make the EPC different and distinct from the PCA and OPC. Your criticisms reflect not the EPC’s failings but rather, your discomfort with a communion that you joined knowingly (I hope) that these were the values and practices held by this denomination (beach balls aside... however, this is clearly a rogue anecdote.. I pray!) Yet, the tone of this video is that your former body, the EPC, has not lived up to your (which you’ve equated with biblical purity) understanding of faith and practice. I regret writing this on a public wall, but I have chosen to respond where this video is found. I do wish you well, I hope you find the PCA to be a healthy and fitting community for you to minister within.

[@MatthewEverhard]

I gave the EPC all A's and B's. In my book, those are good grades! In our family if you get all A's and B's we go out for ice cream to celebrate! I do have to justify my lower grades somehow though. As I mentioned in the first 30 seconds, these are all *opinions*! Of course we live in a culture where "everybody gets a trophy," so any critique, no matter how small, is perceived as being mean. Blessings!

[@cedarpants]

Matthew Everhard - It’s not the grades themselves, Matt. (In these you were kind and generous, while being honest. This is appreciated.) The problem was the medium and method. To use your ice cream analogy, I would happily celebrate such a report card... from the teacher or school I enrolled in. However, you expect me to celebrate that I was given the grades... from a classmate... who’s in a different school... and I had to read about my peer’s grades of me in the local paper. A more direct analogy is how inappropriate it would be, if a church member in good standing moves away and joins a new congregation with full blessings, then posts a public review of their former church. The review was not given to the church leaders or members, but was just about them and posted to the broader public. Can you understand where I am coming from? It isn’t that you had frustrations or areas of disagreement (I have them too) but if you have them, you take them to the leaders, and you keep in-house conversations... well, in-house. This is how I have received this video. I hope this can be appreciated. Again, the “grades” were more than passing, but they were not requested. So please don’t feel that I’m ungrateful for the trophies you passed out to us, back in the EPC.

[@glynnetolar4423]

@@cedarpants Without his Exit Interview I would have not know what the EPC believed. And thus could avoid them. Is that why this should be kept behind closed doors? So no one knows this issues? Interesting.

[@JohnnyUku]

After 2 years, what do you think now? I have been in PCA for over 30 years, but I now find myself adrift as elements within the PCA compromise on Biblical sexuality and gender issues. I thought I knew what the PCA stood for - but I am no longer sure. It seems to me that the PCA is fragmenting and I have to ask careful questions when I consider associating with a local PCA church.

[@innovationhq8230]

From listening to sermons it seems like the PCA is too liberal. The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland seems to be one of the only denominations that is actually conservative.

[@NC-vz6ui]

I have been attending an Episcopal Church and I find the liturgy refreshing coming from a Pentecostal background. I also love the fact that they are so welcoming and inclusive of everyone regardless of race, gender, social class, sexual orientation. You can really feel the love of Christ.

[@saintaugustine4104]

So long as they convince them to leave behind sin.

[@NC-vz6ui]

@@saintaugustine4104 oh they preach sin, especially the Pride of man and evil systems of bigotry and hatred who distort God’s word and use it as a weapon against other people which keep them out of church all together and unable to even hear the message of repentance.

[@saintaugustine4104]

@@NC-vz6ui So long as they train them to leave behind their sin.