Check.Church

Orthodox Presbyterian Church

Reformed and Presbyterian · 1936 · United States

The conservative departure at the close of the Fundamentalist–Modernist controversy: J. Gresham Machen and colleagues, disciplined over the Independent Board, formed a church committed to the Westminster Standards against what they judged the modernist drift of the PCUSA.

Orthodox Presbyterian Church was formed in 1936. Orthodox Presbyterian Church continues today. Orthodox Presbyterian Church's institutional line runs back through Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (1789 line), Church of Scotland, Reformed, Roman Catholicism to the post-apostolic church. No body on this tree is the assembly of Acts 2; where a body claims that, the claim appears in the claimed-lineage layer.

Between the post-apostolic church and Orthodox Presbyterian Church stand 3 divisions along the institutional line, counting separations and disputed forks, not mergers, renewals or national organizations.

At a glance

Formed
In 1936
Family
Reformed and Presbyterian
Region
United States
Key figures
J. Gresham Machen
Cause tags
Doctrine, Governance
Also known as
OPC

What it separated from

On the tree

Orthodox Presbyterian Church and its institutional line back to the post-apostolic churchAD 33The church at Pentecost: On divine groundThe church at Pentecost: on divine groundtoday10042443145110541519156017061936The post-apostolic church (The spine)The post-apostolicchurchDepartureChurch of the East (Church of the East)Church of the EastChurch of the EastThe conciliar church (The spine)The conciliar churchDepartureThe Chalcedonian church (The spine)The Chalcedonian churchDepartureOriental Orthodoxy (Oriental Orthodox)Oriental OrthodoxyOriental OrthodoxEastern Orthodoxy (Eastern Orthodox)Eastern OrthodoxyEastern OrthodoxRoman Catholicism (Catholic)Roman CatholicismNot gatheredReformed (Reformed and Presbyterian)ReformedReformed and PresbyterianChurch of Scotland (Reformed and Presbyterian)Church of ScotlandReformed and PresbyterianPresbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (1789 line) (Reformed and Presbyterian)Presbyterian Church inthe U.S.A. (1789 line)Reformed and PresbyterianOrthodox Presbyterian Church (Reformed and Presbyterian)Orthodox PresbyterianChurchReformed and Presbyterian

Solid lines are separations and unions; dashed lines are renewals that began inside a body; dotted gray lines are national organizations of one communion; a diamond marks a fork event where neither side is drawn as the one that left. Every line runs back to the post-apostolic church; no body descends from the assembly of Acts 2. Dashed gray boxes mark the institutional line after the apostles, shown as departure; no line of descent is drawn from Pentecost. A verdict appears on a box once its section is published.

Sources

Research compiled July 2026. Page data built 2026-10-31.