“Why another Presbyterian church?” “Aren’t there enough Presbyterian churches in the city?” “Aren’t they basically all alike?” “Why can’t we all just get along?”
Great questions. . . and they deserve straight answers. Let’s begin by looking at the principles that brought us together and then look at a short history of our church.
On Easter Sunday 1991, Christ Evangelical Presbyterian Church held its first worship service. Why?
We came together because we believed that Christ was the most important person we have ever met. He was and is God, the Son, who came to provide freedom from guilt and sin, and to give us the privilege of being his adopted children. It was, and is, our belief that everything we do and say should honor Christ and that we should live our lives in gratitude to him because of all that he has done for us.
That’s a long and strange word but it has rich meaning. It means literally, “someone who tells good news.” The story of Christ is truly good news. Throughout history there have been people who have called themselves “evangelical.” This means that we are committed to believing that the message of the Bible is true and accurate and that it tells us how to fully experience all that God has for us in this life and in the life to come. It also means that we embrace others who believe the statement above, as our friends, our brothers and sisters, and are committed to working together with them to share this good news regardless of whether they call themselves Presbyterians or not.
We believe that the best method of governing the church is through elected elders and through a system of higher courts all submitted to God as our ultimate authority and a written constitution that embraces checks and balances. We wanted a system of government in which we were able to elect our own elders and then send them to meetings of the “higher courts” of the church to act consistently with what we believe the Bible teaches. In this way, our Presbyterian form of government parallels the representative form of government upon which our nation was founded.
A church is a group of people called together to worship and serve God. We came from all walks of life and when word got out that we were starting a new church, many came to join us who were not Presbyterians but were looking for a church family. We were glad to have them join us. So on that first Sunday we met together with 750 of our closest, or soon-to-be closest, family members.
Since the Presbyterian Church came to America in 1690, it has struggled to remain unified but also to remain true to the Bible. Unfortunately, issues have arisen from time to time that have led to compromise or separation. One such time occurred during the Civil War when the Presbyterian Church was divided between north and south. For the next 120 years, two Presbyterian denominations existed in the United States, the northern church calling itself the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA) and the southern church calling itself the Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS). These two churches remained apart until 1983 when a proposal to reunite them was approved by the governing bodies of both denominations. But there was significant opposition to this merger. For one thing, the churches in the south owned their own property while the property of the churches in the north was owned by the presbytery. Also, there was grave concern over what some churches in the south believed to be a significant move away from a commitment to the authority of the Bible by the northern denomination. Therefore, in order to see the Reunification Agreement ratified, a provision known as “Article 13” was added. This article allowed each southern church eight years to decide whether it would remain in the newly constituted PCUSA and forego its property rights or leave with its property to become part of another denomination. Several large groups came out over the next few years and formed the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) and the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) among others.
This issue came to a head at First Presbyterian Church, Houston, Texas, in 1990. By then, a growing number of members were expressing growing concern for the lack of commitment to the Bible that was being evidenced on the national level and by national leaders in the PCUSA. And while most people in First Presbyterian Church did not hold to these views, there were those who nevertheless wanted to remain part of the PCUSA as well as those who wanted to leave to find a denomination more in keeping with a commitment to the Bible. The Article 13 process seeking to leave the denomination was invoked and while the proponents received a majority, we did not receive the two-thirds supermajority required to leave the denomination.
As a result, believing that God was calling us to leave the PCUSA, about 750 members left First Presbyterian to form a new church which ultimately became known as Christ Evangelical Presbyterian Church. The first worship service was held that Easter Sunday in 1991, in the courtyard at T. H. Rogers Middle School.
After looking at the various denominational options, in late 1991 our church joined the Evangelical Presbyterian Church because we were excited that it was committed, like us, to the authority of the Bible, to focusing our attention on the essentials of our faith, and to sharing the good news about Jesus Christ with our world.
For all of these years, God has providentially given this family of believers everything we have needed. This has included two temporary meeting facilities, first at T. H. Rogers Middle School and then at First Baptist Church, Spring Branch.
Today we enjoy the wonderful gift of our new facilities on the Katy Freeway and are trying to use them to fulfill God’s calling on us to be Christ Evangelical Presbyterian Church.