United Presbyterian Church, two denominations of Presbyterianism. 1 In Scotland, the United Presbyterian Church was formed by the union (1847) of the United Secession Church with the majority of the congregations of the Relief Church. In 1900 the United Presbyterian Church and the Free Church of Scotland joined as the United Free Church of Scotland. This United Free Church merged (1929) with the Church of Scotland (see Scotland, Church of).
2 In the United States, the United Presbyterian Church of North America was constituted (1858) by the union of the Associate Presbyterian Church with the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. The United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. was formed in 1958 by the merger of the United Presbyterian Church of North America and the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. This church was the main body of Presbyterianism in the United States until 1983 when it merged with the Presbyterian Church in the United States (otherwise known as the Southern Presbyterian Church) to form the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which has about 3.6 million members (1997).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.