Fundamentalist–Modernist Controversy. "The Essentials" is a fuller version of the "Five Fundamentals" that many PCUSA ministers had rejected in the Auburn Affirmation of 1923. Originally titled "The Fundamentals of Our Faith," the name was changed to avoid the negative connotations that the term "fundamentalism" had gained. This document has served to assure that the EPC has always kept what is of primary importance for all evangelical Christians (namely the Gospel, or Good News about Jesus), as well as to maintain the irenic orthodoxy that has always been the hallmark of the denomination. (See "Ethos," below.) In the more than thirty years of its existence, the EPC has become active as a missional church, through church planting in the United States as well as in a variety of foreign fields, particularly in the 10/40 Window. One significant step was the incorporation of the St. Andrews Presbytery (Argentina) as one of its presbyteries. This presbytery was released to independence as the national St. Andrews Presbyterian Church of Argentina after many years of mutual cooperation and benefit. At 2007 General Assembly, the EPC created a temporary, non-geographic "New Wineskins Presbytery" (NWEPC) to provide a home for churches associated with the New Wineskins Association of Churches (NWAC) that are seeking to find a new denominational home after finding that their home in the PC(USA) is no longer suitable to them theologically, organizationally, or missionally. The New Wineskins Presbytery was dissolved in 2011, as its mission was completed. Jeff Jeremiah, the stated clerk (2006 - 2021), announced at the 2012 General Assembly, held at the First Presbyterian Church of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, that the number of EPC congregations had increased from 182 in 2007 to 364 in 2012, exactly doubling in number. The number of congregations had further increased to more than 600 by August 2017. Statistics Between 1982 and 2016, EPC grew steadily. In 2016, the denomination reached 150,042 members. However, since then, it has reported a decline in subsequent years. In 2020, it had 125,418 members and 630 churches. Essentials The church has an official seven point statement of the "Essentials Of Our Faith". These Essentials are set forth in greater detail in the Westminster Confession of Faith. The EPC has also adopted an explanation of the relationship between the "Essentials of Our Faith" and the Westminster Standards. Place in American Presbyterianism As its name suggests, the EPC is an evangelical denomination. It