Joining the PCA.
On December 4, 1973, over 260 congregations met in Birmingham, Alabama, to form the Presbyterian Church in America. They were leaving the mainline Southern Presbyterian denomination to preserve historic Reformed Protestantism. Shearer was part of that realignment.
Why the realignment happened.
Throughout the twentieth century, the mainline Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS, the "Southern Presbyterian" denomination that Shearer belonged to since its founding) had moved progressively away from historic Reformed Protestantism.
By the 1960s and early 1970s, the denominational leadership was increasingly rejecting or softening key doctrines: biblical inerrancy, male-only ordination to the office of pastor and elder, the Westminster Standards as a binding confession, and the exclusivity of Christ for salvation.
Pastors and congregations that remained committed to the historic Reformed Protestant faith faced a hard choice: stay in a denomination drifting from the Westminster Standards, or leave and form a new denomination committed to preserving those standards.
The founding of the PCA.
On December 4, 1973, the first General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America (initially called the National Presbyterian Church) was convened at Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Over 260 congregations and approximately 41,000 members were represented.
The new denomination formally subscribed to the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms, affirmed the inerrancy of Scripture, continued male-only ordination to the offices of pastor and elder, and committed to presbyterian polity with real accountability through sessions, presbyteries, and the General Assembly.
From this founding, the PCA has grown to approximately 1,900 congregations and 390,000 members across the United States and Canada today.
Our congregation's choice.
Shearer joined the realignment. The exact timing and vote records are being compiled from church minutes for a more complete history. If you have records, memories, or materials from this era, please share.
What is clear: the Shearer congregation, 85 years old at the time, chose continuity of confession over continuity of denominational institution. The denominational affiliation changed. The Westminster Standards did not. The preaching did not. The worship did not. The weekly Lord's Supper did not. The infant baptism practice did not.
In the fifty-plus years since, Shearer has remained a PCA congregation. The current pastor, elders, and congregation continue to hold the same confession the realignment preserved.
What has not changed.
Fifty-plus years after the realignment, Shearer still preaches through books of the Bible verse by verse. Still celebrates weekly communion. Still baptizes infants of believing members. Still sings traditional hymns. Still ordains only qualified men as elders and pastors. Still confesses the Westminster Standards without reservation.
If any of the founders of the PCA walked into a Shearer service today, they would recognize the Reformed Presbyterianism they went to Birmingham to preserve.
Related pages
See confessional Presbyterianism today.
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