Resisting the liberal drift that has wrecked many Protestant denominations, Anchor Presbyterian Church (APC) is scheduled to meet December 10-12 in Memphis, Tenn., to establish a new denomination.
The movement to create APC began in June after the 46th EPC General Assembly voted to approve a measure allowing the ordination of celibate homosexuals who are still struggling with same-sex attraction. For many churches, the vote signaled a departure from Biblical doctrine and historic Christian orthodoxy.
“A coordinated, top-down effort to change the ordination standards was successful,” said Tim Foster, senior pastor of Highland Heights Presbyterian Church in Memphis. “The elders on our Session and many other pastor and elder friends who left the PC(USA) due largely to this same issue were floored when the votes were taken.”
In some ways, APC will resemble the EPC. According to the Executive Summary posted on Anchor’s website, “Each congregation retains all of its property; this provision in our constitution is non-amendable.” Additionally, APC permits ordination of women and expression of charismatic gifts as a matter of Christian freedom.
“The ordination of women in Anchor is left to each local church,” said Alfredo Aponte-Cordova, a Ruling Elder at Iglesia Presbiteriana Westminster in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. “There is room and respect for egalitarian and complementarian churches within our family of churches.”
Unlike the EPC, the APC will prohibit the ordination of homosexuals, whether they are celibate or not.
“Biblical sexuality is a founding doctrine of Anchor,” said Foster. “A breach in the ordination standard or any founding doctrine will trigger the dissolution of the denomination with assets going to missionaries.”
In terms of polity, APC is seeking to avoid the hierarchical model of leadership found in many denominations. At the denominational level, there will be no permanent officers or committees. A Board of Elders, elected by presbyteries, will steer business to the presbyteries between annual assembly meetings. Regardless of the size of the congregation, churches will be limited to one pastor and two elders representing them at presbytery and General Assembly meetings.
“Anchor is intentionally bottom-up instead of top-down,” said Foster.
Another founder, Mark Jumper, said APC will restore decision-making power where it belongs: not with a bureaucracy, but with local elders and congregations.
“Anchor will intentionally remain decentralized, with congregations and presbyteries overseeing missionaries and chaplains,” said Jumper, an EPC Minister and Navy Reserve Chaplain.
Though the group has not publicized its efforts until now, officers in nine congregations have been involved in the founding team. Anchor is not focused on size but on faithfulness, say the founders, who compare the denomination to a tiny mustard seed.
“For me, personally, numbers don’t matter,” said Aponte-Cordova. “Having a solid foundation on which to build is our main focus at this point in time.”
Anchor delegates will debate and approve its founding documents and elect its initial Board of Elders in December when the group meets in Memphis for worship, fellowship, and sharing the vision for the new denomination. Wanting to set a different tone for the first gathering, planners kept the registration fee to $75 to cover the cost of meals and printed materials, and is offering hospitality in local homes to avoid the expense of hotel rooms.
All three of the EPC churches in Puerto Rico are currently seeking dismissal and plan to join the APC.
“For many of us, a red line was crossed at the 46th General Assembly,” said Aponte-Cordova. “It became increasingly clear to some of us that the EPC was no longer a denomination where we felt at home. The gap between what was approved and our beliefs became unbridgeable.”
“Even if God is allowing this doctrinal stance for some reason for the EPC, I will not abide in that house,” said Pastor Brown Caldwell. “Christianity has always stood against this sexually unclear if not man-pleasing stance heretofore. My own Presbyterian ancestors in America have stood against this view for eight generations. I will not walk away from my faith-based, orthodox Christian stance now.”
Instead of staying in the EPC to fight for reform, APC founders believe it is time to leave peacefully and start a new denomination.
“We want to be a lifeboat and safe refuge for those who share our concern to be a faithful, fruitful church,” said Jumper. “An accidental flooding in a big ship may be repaired, but if the crew intentionally cuts holes in the bottom of the ship, it is time to take to the lifeboats.”
The anchor was chosen as a symbol for the new denomination because it is immovable and prevents a ship from drifting. The anchor is an ancient Christian symbol, found in Hebrews Chapter 6, and represents the unchanging character of Christ and His Word:
So, when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” —Hebrews 6:17-20.
“An anchor that moves is no anchor at all” declares an APC founding document. “A denomination is not the anchor; we are anchored to the Lord Jesus Christ and the Word of God,” states the Executive Summary.
Anchor founders invite ministers and elders from other churches, including those considering dismissal from EPC and those independent of any denomination, to join them in Memphis at the Convening Assembly December 10-12 to learn more. You can register to attend at https://anchorpresbyterianchurch.org/conveningassembly, or request more information by emailing info@anchorpresbyterianchurch.org.
Posted November 7, 2026
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