Difference between PCA and OPC?

[dhh712]

I just registered here and I hope to post an introduction soon (I've got to be off to work soon however!), yet I would really like to ask something which I've been wondering about for quite some time. Here is some background information (something of an introduction I suppose):

I've been attending a PCA church for a few months, yet am really interested in the OPC denomination; however there is not a church within 3 hours of where I live. It will be quite difficult for me to attend one on a regular basis (even once a month or so) with such a drive to make (right now). I also am planning to move out east to where one is closer to where I live within one to two years.

I'm not sure if I should ever become a member of the church now, I feel like I could not or should not do so under those circumstances (and they haven't asked me yet as well). However, I hardly know anything about the PCA beliefs, as I do the OPC (just that they are similar, and that the OPC has fraternal relations with the PCA). So in case they ask me about becoming a member, is there any one here that can tell me what the difference is between the two denominations? (No one I've asked there has been able to give me a specific answer). Since I've never attended an OPC church, I'm not sure I will definitely want to join one anyway. And I'm probably not going to know for sure for some time, given my situation.

I'm also really having some trouble deciding if it is alright for me to participate in their communion sacrament. I'm going to just ask them this week when (I hope) I can meet with their Lady's group meeting on Friday, but just in case I don't make it (I know I should have asked before, I guess I just never thought about it whenever I was talking to the other members there.)--

I was raised and baptized a Catholic (and this would make it acceptable according to my understanding of the OPC's standards--based on what I read in their Q&A section when someone asked the same thing--yet.... of course, I'm not at an OPC church--so I was basing the whole thing off of that the two denominations are suppose to be similar!). So at each service before the distribution of the trays, each time it seemed it would be alright for me to participate based on what the pastor said, and then last week, he says, "if you are a member of a bible believing evangelical church" and that one threw me since I really don't know much about Catholicism; I'm quite sure they believe in the bible and it seems like they would be evangelistic [(don't they go out and preach the gospel to people and want them to join the church (like Catholic missions?)]--but I don't know what evangelistic means really! So I ended up participating because I just wasn't sure what that meant, I did so all the other times and no one has ever said anything, and it just didn't seem appropriate to lean over and whisper if I could to the person next to me.

So I don't know. I probably shouldn't have. I'm just going to have to get this cleared up before the next time. I want to respect their wishes on this matter, I just need to know what they are first.

Anyway, sorry about the lengthy post, and I hope to post an introduction some time soon. I have a few days off work coming up.

Thanks for any help you can give me, and if not, thanks any way for reading!

Sincerely,
Anne

 

[RINO 72]

Hey Anne, you might want to look at the resources thread AMR posted at the top of the Presbyterian page.

 

[dhh712]

Thank you, Rino! I will look into that.

 

[kenrapoza]

Here's a brief article describing the differences between the two denominations written by a Pastor who ministers in both:

Differences between the OPC and PCA