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Blackhawk exec says
church will be dismissed

The Layman, Posted Friday, May 22, 2009

Related story: Aurora congregation wants to leave PCUSA, join EPC

“We’re going to dismiss them,” John Rickard, the executive for the Blackhawk Presbytery, told  The Layman Online Friday. “We’re not trying to beat up on each other.”

Rickard was referring to negotiations between the presbytery’s administrative commission and First Presbyterian Church in Aurora, Ill., over the congregation’s request to be dismissed from the Presbyterian Church (USA) to join the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.

Asked how long the process might take, Rickard said, “I hate to estimate, but I think by the fall we’ll be done.”

With 847 members, Aurora is one of the three largest congregations in the presbytery. Both Rickard and Jeffrey Moore, pastor of the Aurora congregation, have expressed a commitment to reaching an agreement without rancor.

Aurora is the second congregation to seek dismissal in the presbytery. Blackhawk Presbytery approved the dismissal of Kishwaukee Presbyterian Church in 2007 after negotiating a $50,000 contribution to a mission program. Kishwaukee was also required to pay per-capita requests that it had withheld.

On April 5, after hearing presbytery representatives and members and leaders of the church speak, the congregation voted 317-17 (95 percent) to request dismissal. Rickard was one of the presbytery representatives who spoke before the congregational vote. He said he explained the dismissal process to the congregation.

Blackhawk Presbytery is the home presbytery of Mark Tammen, associate stated clerk and a constitutional lawyer for the denomination. He was among the group that produced the “Louisville Papers,” documents that outlined draconian measures that presbyteries should employ to gain the property of departing congregations or negotiate sizable financial settlements.

Rickard told The Layman Online that he has been in contact with Tammen about the Aurora case, but he said Tammen had not provided legal counsel.

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