the move reflected a rare phenomenon in american protestantism of two conservative denominations merging, an occurrence that was far more common among mainline, moderate-to-liberal bodies in the 20th century (such as the upcusa/pcus reunion). in 1982 the rpces had 25, 718 communicant members in 187 congregations served by 400 pastors. the pca had 519 churches, 91,060 communicant members, and 480 pastors. after the merger the pca membership was 706 churches, 116,788 communicant members, and 1,276 teaching elders.