EPC moderator applauds New Wineskins movement By John H. Adams The Layman Online Friday, July 21, 2006 TULSA -- Dr. Paul Heidebrecht, the moderator of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, brought greetings from his denomination Thursday and said that the EPC commissioners prayed for the New Wineskins on the final day of their annual General Assembly in June. Heidebrecht, an elder at Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Warrenville, Ill., received a standing, spirited applause for his remarks. He didn't give a sales pitch, but he made it clear that the Evangelical Presbyterian Church is willing to help congregations that are considering leaving the Presbyterian Church (USA). "Some of you have contacted our office," he said. "We are sending packets to each of you." But he also said he and others in the EPC see the New Wineskins Initiative as a model for them in placing greater emphasis on mission. "We want to go down the same path," he said. "We are not satisfied with what we have done so far. We want to do [mission] and be missional in every sense of that word. In our short history, we have already created structures, habits and traditions that get in our way. We're hopeful that as a young adult denomination we can make those changes." The Evangelical Presbyterian Church began in 1980-81 -- "under circumstances similar to yours," Heidebrect said. The first EPC General Assembly convened in 1981 with 75 delegates representing 12 congregations. Today, the EPC has more than 70,000 active members in 190 congregations. It has eight U.S. presbyteries and one in Buenos Aires, Argentina. With its commitment to the Westminster Confession and its catechisms and theological standards that church officers must subscribe to, the EPC has been the denomination of choice for most of the congregations that have separated from the Presbyterian Church (USA) in the last few years. Only one of the recent departures has been to the Presbyterian Church in America. One of the major differences between the two evangelical denominations is that the EPC ordains women as church officers and the PCA doesn't. While the EPC has grown steadily, "we are by all human measures small and hesitant," Hiedebrecht said. "But we're determined to be fully evangelical and Reformed in faith and practice … to be passionate about the Holy Spirit and to hear and know the Word of God. To be Reformed is to be connectional, to be churches that preach and teach the Word of God." Heidebrect was a member of the staff of his congregation in Illinois until two years ago when he was named the U.S. representative to the Nairobi Evangelical School of Graduate Theology.

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