This Church resulted from a breakaway from the EPC (cf. no. 3). In January 1967, a group of pastors left the 10th General Assembly of the EPC in protest against a series of decisions with ecumenical implications — joining the WCC, starting union negotiations, and founding a jointly run theological college in Douala. Under the leadership of Pastor Jean Andjongo they started the Eglise Presbytérienne Initiale. In February 1967 the EPC appealed to court denouncing the illegal appropriation of churches, manses, and schools by the new church. In December 1967, a court message began to circulate indicating that the court had decided in favor of the Eglise Presbytérienne Initiale. It turned out that the message originated, in fact, from a catechist by the name of Billé Ze Etienne in Douala. The authorities took severe action and arrested more than 100 pastors and laypeople. After a few months they were released, with the exception of Andjongo and Billé Ze Etienne, who were sentenced, respectively, to two and four years of imprisonment. The EPC was prepared to readmit the secessionist group, but they remained separate. It was encouraged and supported by anti-ecumenical groups in the US and Europe, in particular the ICCC. Initially the government sought to prevent outside support. In 1970 the Church was officially registered. The name Eglise Presbytérienne Initiale was changed into the present name, and in the following decades the church experienced considerable growth.
 

Further languages:
Boulou, Bassa

National association:
National Secretariat of Protestant Private Education

Schools:
4 nursery schools, 13 primary schools, 2 secundary schools
12 teachers in the nursery schools, 51 teachers in the primary schools, 35 professors in the secondary schools
The church has an Education secretariat.

Diaconal institution:
12 diaconal institutes
 

 
Number: 1

• presbyterian

• French

• French

• Apostles´ Creed
• Westminster Confession (1646/47)

• Bible Presbyterian Church
• Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster