Standing firmly in their commitment to uphold the authority of Scripture, more than half the congregation of First Presbyterian Church of Peachtree City, Ga., walked away from their building and property to become the 51st congregation to join ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians.
The new congregation had its first worship service on Easter Sunday of 2013. Now, a year later, this body of believers continues to worship and serve together under a new name, Evergreen Church.
“We feel a greater freedom in our new direction,” said Evergreen Pastor David Miller, who retired as the Presbyterian Church (USA) pastor at FPC-Peachtree City on Palm Sunday last year to become the founding pastor of Evergreen Church, which he considers a “hybrid” church more than a new plant. “People have embraced that as we have launched this new adventure and are excited to be part of it.”
More than 400 people, not all from FPC-Peachtree City, attended that first service on March 31, 2013, when Evergreen – then known as New Church, Peachtree City – met for the first time at the Peachtree City United Methodist Church Annex located at South Peachtree Parkway after leaving their sanctuary on Willow Bend Road approximately 30 miles southwest of Atlanta.
“I think what attracted people to come with us was our theological commitment to stay true to our convictions about the Scriptures,” said Miller, 59, who has been in the ministry for 33 years. “They recognized that we left in order to uphold the authority of Scripture, and we felt we needed to be a part of a group with like-minded core values. We determined that the ECO was the group we needed to affiliate with.”
Membership at Evergreen after a year away from the PCUSA is 330, with an average worship attendance of approximately 300. The congregation actually has shown some growth, with approximately 10 percent of its members coming from affiliations other than FPC-Peachtree City.
Moving forward, the church has the goal to “follow, share and serve Christ” while building the kingdom of God in the Peachtree City community and beyond.
“I see good things ahead. At what rate, I don’t have a clue, but we’re simply taking things one faithful step at a time,” Miller said.
Miller said there never was intent to see FPC-Peachtree City split as it did. The church actually entered into the Gracious Separation Process with the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta (PGA) in the fall of 2012, a move that was designed to allow the congregation to leave as one.
But the PGA, working through the dismissal process with the congregation, deemed a minority at FPC-Peachtree City to be the true church, Miller explained, and it became apparent that the exit from PCUSA to ECO would not come as a united body.
Representatives from FPC-Peachtree City and New Church (Evergreen) gathered March 26, 2013, to discuss and negotiate the settlement process, and after a week the sides reached a compromise that allowed FPC-Peachtree City (PCUSA) to retain the real property and most of the assets. The New Church was given $150,000 to begin its ministry. A few other concessions were made to the New Church.
The joint statement issued by the two congregations said that the two separate churches should “go forward in their respective ministries to the glory of God and in service to Jesus Christ, with no further action relating to gracious separation.”
“We left with less than 10 percent of the assets,” Miller recalled. “However, the key to where we are today is the generosity of the people who came with us. They believe God has called us to this new endeavor and have been willing to support the new church financially.”
Name and location
With the facility no longer available to them, those departing FPC-Peachtree City to form the new church had to get a name in place for incorporation purposes and find a location to conduct worship services.
Peachtree City United Methodist Church graciously reached out to provide New Church (Evergreen) with space in a building that it had outgrown, allowing the ECO congregation to share space at the location with All Saints Anglican Church, which formed six years earlier when it broke away from the Episcopal Church.
“They were gracious enough to allow us to meet there at 9 a.m. for a traditional service that was followed by the Anglican meeting at 10:45 a.m.,” Miller said. “We have three totally different denominations all willing to work together because we are about kingdom building.”
That left the need for a name moving forward. The congregation, which used New Church to incorporate, went through a lengthy visioning process to develop a link between the church’s mission and vision. Eventually, the name Evergreen Church emerged as the top choice.
“An evergreen (tree) is always growing and remaining constant to the changing seasons,” Miller said. “We think that is indicative of who we are, and we look forward to what God has in store for us.”
These days, Evergreen has expanded to include space in two additional buildings. Church offices are located in a nearby bank building, and a contemporary service that was launched last summer on Sunday evenings takes place at Heritage Christian Church.
“That means four different denominations now working for the good of the kingdom. That is pretty amazing,” Miller said.
Not an easy move
Walking away from their building and many long-time friends proved to be difficult for members of Evergreen Church as they started all over.
“We have felt sad in dealing with this,” Miller said. “It has been painful because we have certain friends who are not worshiping with us anymore, and these are people we care about.”
Not only that, but those faithful to heed God’s call at Evergreen walked away from their building and almost all the assets tied to their previous church.
“When you are accustomed to having a great building and wonderful reserves, it’s difficult to walk away,” Miller said. “But when things you have taken for granted are no longer there, you realize what is most important.
“This move has been very challenging. Yet, the Lord has provided for us. He has called us to be together, and we truly appreciate one another. It shows that you can leave, survive and move forward.”
The vision
Miller noted the importance of following God’s call. That’s evident in the vision statement developed by Evergreen.
“We are a Presbyterian fellowship that passionately follows, shares and serves Christ through the power of the Gospel,” the vision reads.
“That’s why our people were willing to leave a beautiful sanctuary and begin meeting for worship in a multi-purpose room,” Miller said. “We walked away from significant resources we had used for ministry in order to follow God’s will and align our vision with a denomination that shared our core values.”
A year after the move, signs are pointing to the decision as the right one for Evergreen Church.
“There is such a sense of joy and freedom,” Miller said. “We made some difficult decisions, but we were faithful, and God has chosen to bless us. This congregation is doing well because God has been so gracious to us. He has blessed in ways I never would have imagined.”
Story of inspiration
Miller expressed a desire to share Evergreen’s story of faithfulness and progress as one of inspiration to other churches faced with similar decisions about their futures.
“There are churches out there who are facing difficult decisions, and they don’t know what to do,” he said. “But maybe they can look at us and say, ‘There’s a group of people doing what God led them to do.’ Our story might be one that inspires and shows others that this can be done. We never intended to go this route, but if you follow God’s will it may require sacrifice along the way.”
Along with those sacrifices comes the willingness to look nowhere but ahead to what the Lord holds for the future.
“We are not looking back at the past,” Miller explained. “That season of ministry is behind us. We’re in a new exciting season of ministry. And, as the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Philippi, we are ‘pressing on.’”
1 Comment. Leave new
As a founding member and treasurer of All Saints Anglican Church, it has indeed been a pleasure to establish a friendship and spiritual relationship with Evergreen Church. Our members were so moved by the Evergreen story and their courage and its similarity to ours that we were anxious with the approval of the Peachtree City United Methodist Church to open our venue to a sharing arrangement. The arrangement has worked well because both churches wanted it to work and we at All Saints feel blessed by the presence of so many other faithful Christians. Thanks be to God.