Guide to the Covenant Fellowship of Presbyterians Records

The Covenant Fellowship of Presbyterians (CFP) traces its origins and its self-identification as a "middle position" or centrist organization in the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. (PCUS) to the creation and actions other PCUS groups, namely The Fellowship of Concern (FOC), Concerned Presbyterians (CP), and Presbyterian Churchmen United (PCU). PCUS denominational leaders formed FOC in 1964 to support racial justice and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Members of the group continued to work on leading the PCUS into union/reunion with the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (UPCUSA), on modernizing the Confession of Faith, and on giving broader support to the National Council of Churches (NCC) and other ecumenical programs. Reacting to the FOC's formation and actions, conservative laymen formed CP in 1965 to oppose what they deemed to be FOC's influence of liberalism on the PCUS. Conservative ministers formed PCU in 1969 and took similar stances to CP, adopting goals to maintain and keep the PCUS' polity and theology close to its "historical heritage" and to oppose union with the UPCUSA.

In 1967, around thirty PCUS leaders and ministers addressed an "open letter" to the denomination, urging reconciliation between the diverging factions and parties within the PCUS. The CFP formed during its first meeting on January 12, 1970 in Atlanta, Georgia, with its executive committee made up of former FOC members and some CPU members. Dr. William M. Elliott was CFP's first president, with Reverend Andrew (Andy) A. Jumper acting as executive vice president and Harry S. Hassall acting as secretary. In CFP's first issue of its newsletter "The Open Letter," the group stated its goals as: "1. To seek to know God's will for our lives, this church and the responsibility of His Church to the world .... 2. To sound a positive voice working in constructive ways to the end that: a. There may be healing and reconciliation in the church. b. Renewal may come to the church through the power of the Holy Spirit. 3. To support one another individually and collectively, as we exercise our responsibility as presbyters within our respective judicatories" (volume 1, number 1, March 31, 1970).

Jumper succeeded Elliott in 1971 and published CFP's new position statement in "The Open Letter" (volume 2, number 7, October 1971), stating that CFP's convictions are "Biblical in Orientation ... Confessional in Nature ... Reformed in Theology ... Presbyterian in Polity ... Evangelical in Spirit ... Socially Responsible." CFP opposed the 1973 schism within the PCUS, which led to the withdrawal of congregations and the creation of the National Presbyterian Church (which later became the Presbyterian Church in America). CFP took stances on other issues within the PCUS, including rejecting the 1976 General Assembly's preliminary approval of the proposed Book of Confessions and "Declaration of Faith" and campaigning for presbyteries to also reject the proposal; declaring that all homosexual acts are sinful, in response to the Council on Theology and Culture's study paper presented to the 1977 General Assembly; rejecting proposed amendments to the PCUS Book of Church Order regarding the implementation of "weighted voting" in presbyteries and campaigning for presbyteries to reject the amendments; and supporting the proposed plan of union with the UPCUSA in 1981 (with union occurring in 1983).

Dr. Matthew McGowan became executive director of CFP in 1983 and held the role until 1989. In 1989, CFP merged with the evangelical group Presbyterians United for Biblical Concerns (PUBC) to form Presbyterians for Renewal.