The Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) is a denomination with deep roots in American Presbyterianism. Prior to the American Civil War, there was one main Presbyterian denomination in the United States. As the nation was split between north and south during that conflict, so was the Presbyterian Church. Eventually, both the northern and southern churches were sadly influenced and transformed by liberal theology which denies some of the most fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith. The liberalization of the church occurred first in the north and came to a climax in the 1920s and 30s.

 The Orthodox Presbyterian Church was founded on June 11, 1936, in the aftermath of the fundamentalist-modernist controversy, under the leadership of J. Gresham Machen (longtime professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary, who also founded Westminster Theological Seminary in 1929). With the infiltration of theological liberalism, the mainline Presbyterian Church in the USA had departed from historic Christianity, including the rejection of doctrines such as the inspiration and authority of Scripture, the virgin birth of Christ, and the substitutionary atonement. Originally calling itself the Presbyterian Church of America, the young church was forced by the threat of a lawsuit to change its name in 1939, and it adopted the name Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

 The OPC began with small numbers and remains a small denomination today with roughly 300 congregations nationwide. Even so, it is a denomination that is experiencing no small growth today. Much effort is being exerted to plant and establish new congregations in all parts of the country.

From the very beginning, the OPC has been active in foreign missions as well. Some of the early missionaries went to Japan and Korea. Today we have missionaries on every inhabited continent except Australia.

In nearly eight decades since its founding, the OPC has slowly grown to over 30,000 members in over 300 churches throughout the United States and Canada. It has been vigorous in its defense and propagation of the historic Reformed faith as expressed in the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms. The church’s efforts in worldwide outreach are conducted largely through three denominational standing committees: foreign missions, home missions and church extension, and Christian education. The OPC recognizes other churches of like faith and practice and is a member of the North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council (NAPARC) and the International Conference of Reformed Churches (ICRC).