December 18 Today in OPC History

On December 18, 1935 the Philadelphia Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in the USA erased the Rev. John B. Thwing, pastor of Bacon Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, from its ministerial roll. A supporter of J. Gresham Machen and the orthodox cause in the Presbyterian Church, Dr. Thwing's was removed without due process because of his association with those who had withdrawn from the Presbyterian Church to start a new unaffiliated church, Knox Presbyterian Church. Soon afterward, Dr. Thwing accepted a call became the first pastor of Knox Church and on June 11, 1936 became a constituting ministerial member of the now Orthodox Presbyterian Church. On June 13, Knox Church became the first church to be officially received into the new denomination and continues to the current day located in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania.