About the EPC and POPS
The Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) is a family of churches – Presbyterian, Evangelical, Reformed and Missional – defined by shared core values and bonded by the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. The EPC is centered upon the good news of what God has done for the world through His Son, Jesus Christ.
The EPC is linked together in regional groups of churches – presbyteries – of which the Presbytery of the Pacific Southwest (POPS) is one. Our presbytery encompasses all EPC churches in Central and Southern California, as well as churches in Nevada, Western Arizona and Hawaii. As Presbyterians, our churches intentionally connect and engage together on a regular basis. In so doing, we believe that we can better fulfill the mission of God by supporting, helping, and being accountable to each other.
To the glory of God, the EPC family aspires to embody and proclaim Jesus’ love as a global movement of congregations engaged together in God’s mission through transformation, multiplication, and effective biblical leadership.
We are Presbyterian in that we believe that local governance by spiritually mature teaching and ruling elders is the best way to guide local congregations. We are evangelical (not in the political sense but in the biblically gracious sense) in our zeal for the Gospel, local/global missions and living obediently as followers of Jesus. We are reformed as we are rooted in the Protestant Reformation and, secondary to the Holy Bible, we embrace the Westminster Confession of Faith as our doctrinal standard. We are missional in that we believe that our call is to reach out to places where people do not yet know the saving grace of Jesus Christ.
We are unified by basic essentials of the Christian faith, with which we would not disagree. But on anything that is not essential, such as the issue of ordaining women as officers or practicing charismatic gifts, we give each other liberty. We are committed to loving each other in all things and not engaging in quarrels and strife. When we get together in our regional and national meetings, we spend most of our time in worship and fellowship, and almost none in arguing with each other. The EPC consists of over 600 churches and about 175,000 members. We have a world missions program with a priority on sending missionaries to unreached people groups and we are eager to plant churches across the United States, especially in urban communities and college towns.