View source for Carl McIntire

==Founding of the Bible Presbyterian Church==

In 1931, McIntire was ordained into the ministry of the Presbyterian Church USA, serving for two years at Chelsea Presbyterian Church, [[Atlantic City, New Jersey]]. In 1933, he was called to the Presbyterian Church of [[Collingswood, New Jersey]], near Philadelphia, the largest church in the West Jersey Presbytery. McIntire remained a resident of [[Collingswood, New Jersey|Collingswood]] for the rest of his life.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/22/nyregion/no-headline-185965.html obituary], ''[[The New York Times]]'' March 22, 2002. "His daughter Marianna Clark said he had lived in the same house in Collingswood, N.J., since 1939."</ref> The Women's Missionary Society of the Collingswood church called his attention to what they perceived as a modernist perspective in the missions study book, which had been promoted by the denomination's Board of Foreign Missions.<ref>[Carl McIntire], "Who Is Carl McIntire?" booklet published by the 20th Century Reformation Hour [1968], 3.</ref> McIntire joined the conservative side in the ongoing Fundamentalist-Modernist debate, and in 1934, at Machen's invitation, he became a founding member of the [[Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions]], an agency organized as an alternative to the denominational mission board that supported theologically liberal missionaries. Deeming the new board a challenge to its authority, the General Assembly demanded that the clergymen resign. After they refused, Machen, McIntire, and seven other clergymen were tried by an [[ecclesiastical court]] in 1935&ndash;36.<ref>Ethel Rink, ''40 Years...Carl McIntire and the Bible Presbyterian Church of Collingswood, 1933-1973'' (Collingswood, N.J.: Christian Beacon Press, 1973),8-10.</ref> The board members lost, and they renounced the jurisdiction of the Presbyterian Church, as did the Collingswood Presbyterian Church, only a tiny minority of whose members refused to support their young pastor.<ref>Margaret G. Harden, comp.,''A Brief History of the Bible Presbyterian Church and Its Agencies''(privately published, [1966]); see also [http://www.ibpfm.org/pubs/historyDoctrine.html A brief history of the Independent Board from the IBPFM website] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051214062758/http://www.ibpfm.org/pubs/historyDoctrine.html |date=December 14, 2005 }}</ref>

In 1936 McIntire joined Machen and others to found the Presbyterian Church of America, later renamed the [[Orthodox Presbyterian Church]]. The new church attracted supporters from other [[Reformed church|Reformed]] traditions, complicating the church's effort to define itself. A debate soon emerged in the young denomination over [[eschatology]], Presbyterian traditions, the use of alcohol and tobacco, and the place of political activity in the church. McIntire and others left in 1937 to form the [[Bible Presbyterian Church]], which emphasized Fundamentalist distinctives in contrast to continental Reformed positions, supporting political involvement, the [[Scofield Reference Bible]], a [[premillennial]]ist view of eschatology, and abstinence from the use of tobacco and alcohol.<ref>[Carl McIntire], "Who Is Carl McIntire?" booklet published by the 20th Century Reformation Hour [1968], 3; D. G. Hart, ''Defending the Faith: J. Gresham Machen and the Crisis of Conservative Protestantism in Modern America'' (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994), 163, 165, 166.</ref>

In April 1938, after the Collingswood church lost a civil suit over control of its church property, the congregation walked out ''[[en masse]]'' from their impressive Gothic building and followed McIntire to a huge tent erected several blocks east on the main street at Haddon Avenue and Cuthbert Boulevard.<ref>Following the withdrawal, the denomination then deposed McIntire, allowing his enemies to brand him a "defrocked Presbyterian minister." [Carl McIntire], "Who Is Carl McIntire?" booklet published by the 20th Century Reformation Hour [1968], 3.</ref> In May 1938, the congregation moved into a wooden "Tabernacle," and in November 1957, into a neo-colonial church building with a tall, Wren steeple. The church seated more than a thousand. A Sunday School was constructed on the location of the previous tent, and the revamped Tabernacle became an activity center.<ref>''The Bible Presbyterian Church of Collingswood: for the Glory of God'' (Collingswood BPC, 1957); Ethel Rink, ''40 Years...Carl McIntire and the Bible Presbyterian Church of Collingswood, 1933-1973'' (Collingswood, N.J.: Christian Beacon Press, 1973),24-26. See also Margaret G. Harden, comp., ''A Brief History of the Bible Presbyterian Church and Its Agencies'', (privately published, [1966]). The Sunday School building was also used for Faith Christian School.</ref>