The Evangelical Press Association was born out of the Evangelical Movement of the 1940s. This movement provided an alternative to the rapidly growing trends of liberalism and modernism in a number of mainline denominations. Evangelicals emphasized classical Protestant doctrines of salvation, the church and the authority of Scriptures along with a strong emphasis on a personal experience of the grace of God, often referred to as “new birth” or “conversion.”
The movement gained cohesion and identity with the founding of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) in 1942 and the subsequent founding of many other evangelical organizations such as the National Sunday School Association (1943), World Relief (1944), the National Religious Broadcasters (1944), the Evangelical Fellowship of Mission Agencies (1945), and the National Association of Christian Schools (1947).
In the fall of 1947, James DeForest Murch, Ph.D., editor of the NAE magazine United Evangelical Action met with a handful of editors at the National Sunday School Association convention to discuss the possibility of an association of evangelical editors. On May 6, 1948, 35 editors met at Congress Hotel in Chicago to organize the Evangelical Press Association, to adopt a doctrinal statement (crafted by NAE), and to create a statement of purpose. On April 4-6, 1949, the first annual EPA convention met in Chicago.
From the beginning, the founders of EPA made it clear that the organization would “promote the cause of evangelical Christianity” and “enhance the influence of Christian journalism” through “Christian fellowship among members of the Association.”
One of the first actions of the founders was the adoption of a Statement of Faith, which expressed fundamental doctrines to which all members would be required to adhere. This statement was organizationally “written in stone” when the approved constitution of the group stated that the doctrinal statement was “not subject to change.”
— Excerpted from former EPA Executive
Director Doug Trouten’s master’s thesis.
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Posted Feb. 27, 2023
