Other than its sister Reformed Presbyterian denominations around the world, the RPCNA’s closest ties could be said to be with the churches of NAPARC, the North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council. But NAPARC today looks quite different from the original NAPARC in 1975. That was in evidence at the annual NAPARC meeting Nov. 16-17 in Pompton Plains, N.J.

Five of the first six denominations to join NAPARC were Presbyterian denominations whose doctrinal standards adhere to the Westminster Confession and Catechisms. The one exception was the Christian Reformed Church, whose church government was Presbyterian but which followed another set of well-known Reformed standards from Europe called the Three Forms of Unity—the Belgic Confession, the Canons of Dort, and the Heidelberg Catechism.

Those six denominations comprised NAPARC for decades. A look at NAPARC today, however, will show that it has grown in the past several years to 12 denominations. While the CRC is no longer in NAPARC, most of the recent denominations to join adhere to the Three Forms of Unity.

Links to web sites of all NAPARC denominations can be found at the organization’s site, naparc.org. The site contains a wide range of helpful information, from the purpose statement of NAPARC to contact information of leaders in the 12 denominations.

While NAPARC exists largely to strengthen ties among Reformed denominations, it has renewed one of the goals from its constitution to “hold out before each other the desirability and need for organic union of churches that are of like faith and practice.” While none of the delegates speaking this year envisioned something like that happening in the near future, a number of delegates as well as the long-range planning committee encouraged a re-emphasis on unity. The council requested that Dr. Robert Godfrey address NAPARC next year on the topic.

The RPCNA Interchurch Committee utilized the occasion of the NAPARC meeting to hold its own business meeting, and also held brief meetings with the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, the United Reformed Churches, and the Canadian Reformed Churches.

—Drew Gordon

North American Presbyterian & Reformed Council

• The Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (ARPC)
• The Canadian Reformed Churches (CanRC)
• The Reformed Church of Quebec (ERQ)
• The Free Reformed Churches of North America (FRCNA)
• The Heritage Reformed Congregations (HRC)
• The Korean American Presbyterian Church (KAPC)
• The Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC)
• The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA)
• The Presbyterian Reformed Church (PresRC)
• The Reformed Church in the United States (RCUS)
• The Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA)
• The United Reformed Churches in North America (URCNA)