Presbyterianism

===North America===
{{See also|List of Presbyterian churches in North America}}

Even before Presbyterianism spread with immigrants abroad from Scotland, there were divisions in the larger Presbyterian family. Some later rejoined only to separate again. In what some interpret as rueful self-reproach, some Presbyterians refer to the divided Presbyterian churches as the "Split Ps".
[[File:Presbyterian Family Connections.jpg|thumb|Evolution of Presbyterianism in the United States|upright=2.4]]
[[File:The First Presbyterian Church Phoenix.JPG|thumb|[[First Presbyterian Church (Phoenix, Arizona)|First Presbyterian Church]] in [[Phoenix, Arizona]]]]
[[File:Westminster Presbyterian Church Los Angeles.jpg|thumb|Westminster Presbyterian Church [[Los Angeles]]]]

====United States====
{{see also|Presbyterianism in the United States}}
Presbyterianism first officially arrived in Colonial America in 1644 with the establishment of Christ's First Presbyterian Church in Hempstead, New York. The Church was organized by the Rev. Richard Denton.

In 1703 the first Presbytery in Philadelphia was established. In time, the presbytery would be joined by two more to form a synod (1717) and would evolve into the [[Presbyterian Church in the United States of America]] in 1789. The nation's largest Presbyterian denomination, the [[Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)]] – PC (USA) – can trace its heritage back to the original PCUSA, as can the [[Presbyterian Church in America]] (PCA), the [[Orthodox Presbyterian Church]] (OPC), the [[Bible Presbyterian Church]] (BPC), the [[Cumberland Presbyterian Church]] (CPC), the [[Cumberland Presbyterian Church in America]], the [[Evangelical Presbyterian Church (United States)|Evangelical Presbyterian Church]] (EPC), and the [[Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians]] (ECO).

Other Presbyterian bodies in the United States include the [[Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America]] (RPCNA), the [[Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church]] (ARP), the [[Reformed Presbyterian Church in the United States]] (RPCUS), the [[Reformed Presbyterian Church General Assembly]], the [[Reformed Presbyterian Church – Hanover Presbytery]], the [[Covenant Presbyterian Church]], the [[Presbyterian Reformed Church (North America)|Presbyterian Reformed Church]], the [[Westminster Presbyterian Church in the United States]], the [[Korean American Presbyterian Church]], and the [[Free Presbyterian Church of North America]].

The territory within about a {{convert|50|mi|km|0|adj=on}} radius of [[Charlotte, North Carolina]], is historically the greatest concentration of Presbyterianism in the Southern United States, while an almost identical geographic area around [[Pittsburgh]], Pennsylvania, contains probably the largest number of Presbyterians in the entire nation.

The PC (USA), beginning with its predecessor bodies, has, in common with other so-called "mainline" Protestant denominations, experienced a significant decline in members in recent years. Some estimates have placed that loss at nearly half in the last forty years.<ref>{{Citation|url=http://www.layman.org./layman/news/2006-news/big-losses-projected.htm |publisher=Layman |title=News |year=2006 |contribution=Big Losses Projected  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080705214053/http://www.layman.org/layman/news/2006-news/big-losses-projected.htm |archive-date=5 July 2008 }}.</ref>

Presbyterian influence, especially through [[Princeton theology]], can be traced in modern [[Evangelicalism]]. Balmer says that:

{{Blockquote|Evangelicalism itself, I believe, is a quintessentially North American phenomenon, deriving as it did from the confluence of [[Pietism]], Presbyterianism, and the vestiges of [[Puritanism]]. Evangelicalism picked up the peculiar characteristics from each strain – warmhearted spirituality from the Pietists (for instance), doctrinal precisionism from the Presbyterians, and individualistic introspection from the Puritans – even as the North American context itself has profoundly shaped the various manifestations of evangelicalism: fundamentalism, neo-evangelicalism, the holiness movement, Pentecostalism, the charismatic movement, and various forms of African-American and Hispanic evangelicalism.<ref>{{cite book| first = Randall| last = Balmer| title = The Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=syUupeVJOz4C&pg=PR8| year = 2002| publisher = Westminster John Knox Press| pages = vii–viii| isbn = 978-0-664-22409-7| access-date = 27 June 2015| archive-date = 6 September 2015| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150906081358/https://books.google.com/books?id=syUupeVJOz4C&pg=PR8| url-status = live}}</ref>|author=Randall Balmer|title=The Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism (2002)}}

In the late 1800s, Presbyterian missionaries established a presence in what is now northern New Mexico. This provided an alternative to the Catholicism, which was brought to the area by the Spanish Conquistadors and had remained unchanged. The area experienced a "mini" reformation, in that many converts were made to Presbyterianism, prompting persecution. In some cases, the converts left towns and villages to establish their own neighboring villages. The arrival of the United States to the area prompted the Catholic church to modernize and make efforts at winning the converts back, many of which did return. However, there are still stalwart Presbyterians and Presbyterian churches in the area.

Historically, along with Lutherans and [[Episcopal Church (USA)|Episcopalians]], Presbyterians tend to be considerably wealthier<ref name="THE EPISCOPALIANS">{{cite news|last=Ayres|first=B. Drummond Jr. |date=28 April 1981|title=The Episcopalians: An American Elite with Roots Going Back to Jamestown|newspaper=New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/28/us/the-episcopalians-an-american-elite-with-roots-going-back-to-jamestown.html|url-status=live|access-date=2012-08-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180119035058/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/28/us/the-episcopalians-an-american-elite-with-roots-going-back-to-jamestown.html|archive-date=19 January 2018}}</ref> and are better educated (having more [[Academic degree|graduate]] and post-graduate degrees per capita) than most other religious groups in United States;<ref>Irving Lewis Allen, "WASP—From Sociological Concept to Epithet", ''Ethnicity,'' 1975 154+</ref> a group known as [[White Anglo-Saxon Protestants]] (WASPs), they are disproportionately represented in the upper reaches of American business,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Hacker|first=Andrew|year=1957|title=Liberal Democracy and Social Control|journal=[[American Political Science Review]]|volume=51|issue=4|pages=1009–1026 [p. 1011]|doi=10.2307/1952449|jstor=1952449|s2cid=146933599 }}</ref> law, and politics.<ref>{{cite book|last=Baltzell|url=https://archive.org/details/protestantestabl00baltrich|title=The Protestant Establishment|year=1964|page=[https://archive.org/details/protestantestabl00baltrich/page/9 9]|publisher=New York, Random House|url-access=registration}}</ref>

====Canada====
[[File:Rev Bruin Romcas Comisco, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.png|thumb|Rev [[Bruin Romkes Comingo]], 1st Presbyterian Minister in Canada, [[St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church (Lunenburg)]]]]
In Canada, the largest Presbyterian denomination – and indeed the largest Protestant denomination – was the [[Presbyterian Church in Canada]], formed in 1875 with the merger of four regional groups. In 1925, the [[United Church of Canada]] was formed by the majority of Presbyterians combining with the [[Methodist Church]], Canada, and the [[Congregational church|Congregational Union of Canada]]. A sizable minority of Canadian Presbyterians, primarily in southern [[Ontario]] but also throughout the entire nation, withdrew, and reconstituted themselves as a non-concurring continuing Presbyterian body. They regained use of the original name in 1939.