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The Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) is a Calvinist, Christian evangelical denomination that is found only in Northern Ireland, where it is the smallest of the Presbyterian churches.〔Graham Spencer (2012), ''Protestant Identity and Peace in Northern Ireland'', Palgrave Macmillan, pp.69-72〕 It was formed on 15 October 1927 (as the Irish Evangelical Church) by Rev. James Hunter (18631942), former minister of Knock Presbyterian Church (Belfast), and James (W.J.) Grier, a former student at the Assembly's College (the Presbyterian theological college in Belfast). They were joined by others who seceded from the Irish Presbyterian Church (now called the Presbyterian Church in Ireland).〔(''The Evangelical Presbyterian'' ), magazine of the EPC, March–April 2011〕 ==History== The breakaway was prompted by the acquittal in a Presbytery trial of Professor James E. Davey of the Assembly's College on charges brought by Hunter and others of five counts of heresy.〔(Davey case history )〕 Davey's accusers, who had campaigned against him and against what they termed "modernism" through a Presbyterian Bible Standards League, were influenced by the conservative Reformed theology of the US Presbyterian scholar John Gresham Machen, who had taught Grier in Princeton Theological Seminary and visited Ireland in 1927. A month after the Presbyterian General Assembly upheld the trial verdict by 707 votes to 82, the anti-Davey group seceded.〔 Soon after the Irish Evangelical Church was constituted in October 1927, it had six congregations in Belfast, two in County Antrim and two in County Tyrone.〔 It adopted its present name in 1964.〔(Stranmillis EPC website )〕 In 2013 the EPC had nine congregations, all in Counties Antrim and Down apart from one in Richhill, County Armagh and one in Omagh, County Tyrone.〔(EPC website ), "EPC Congregations"〕 The church's monthly magazine, ''The Irish Evangelical'', was first issued in June 1928. Grier remained its editor for 50 years. With the change of the church's name in 1964, the magazine became (''The Evangelical Presbyterian'' ), and now appears every two months. The Evangelical Presbyterian Church is among a number of small evangelical denominations represented in a creationist and socially conservative pressure group, the Caleb Foundation.〔(Caleb Foundation ) website〕 EPC member Wallace Thompson, who had been the Foundation's treasurer since 1998,〔 succeeded as chairman of the Foundation in September 2009.〔(Caleb Foundation, Council of Reference )〕 The EPC in 2010 opposed a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland on the grounds that the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission's proposal was "driven by those who are opposed to Biblical Christianity" and "is a further departure from the solid foundation of the Word of God".〔(''The Evangelical Presbyterian'' ), May–June 2010, p.19〕 In 2011-12 the EPC Public Morals Committee supported a campaign by the Christian Institute, an evangelical pressure group, against funding of the London Pride festival by Tesco.〔("The Evangelical Presbyterian" ), January–February 2012, p.10-11〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Evangelical Presbyterian Church (Ireland)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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