Property ownership suit filed against Northern New
England Presbytery
New Hampshire
congregation votes to leave
PCUSA, join New Wineskins EPC Presbytery
By Patrick Jean
Staff Writer
The Layman
Online
Monday, October 8,
2007
Citing "recent
decisions and actions" by the Presbyterian Church (USA) that "caused
concern … as to the direction and fundamental beliefs of the
denomination," the second-largest church in the Presbytery of
Northern New England has voted to immediately disaffiliate from the
PCUSA and align itself with the New Wineskins Presbytery of the
Evangelical Presbyterian Church.
Londonderry Presbyterian Church in Londonderry, N.H., also has taken
Northern New England Presbytery to court to secure the title to its
property.
The Londonderry church held several congregational votes Sept. 30. A
motion to immediately leave the PCUSA was approved by 208 voters and
disapproved by 86 voters. The tally for disaffiliation represented 71
percent of those voting and 47 percent of the church's total membership
of 446 that is reported on the denomination's Web site.
The church is gathering written and e-mailed "letters of intent,"
for or against the motion to disaffiliate, from members who were not
present to vote Sept. 30. "These do not count as votes, but will be
used to demonstrate the will of those members who were unable to
participate in the Sept. 30 congregational meeting," the church's
Web site states.
A motion to join the non-geographic, transitional New Wineskins
Presbytery of the EPC also passed by "overwhelming majority"
Sept. 30, according to the church's Web site. The exact vote total was
not available.
The joint commission of the New Wineskins EPC Presbytery voted Oct. 1 to
receive the Londonderry church, said the commission's chairman, the Rev.
Dr. Bill Meyer.
The Londonderry church congregation also voted Sept. 30 to reaffirm the
election of the church's existing elders and deacons. A fourth motion,
on the church's bylaws, was withdrawn until a future vote to let the
session incorporate comments received from several congregation members,
the church reported on its Web site.
Gone to court
A spokeswoman for Rockingham County Superior Court confirmed that the
Londonderry church had filed a property ownership lawsuit against
Northern New England Presbytery, but she could not provide additional
information.
The church's Web site mentions the lawsuit in a letter from the session
to the congregation. This "will likely take several months to
settle, due to the court's busy schedule," the letter states. "We
remain confident this will be resolved in our favor."
Attempts to contact the church's clerk of session, Lee Carvill, and
Northern New England Presbytery's general presbyter, the Rev. Dr.
Richard O. Wyatt, were unsuccessful.
'Misalignment with core
beliefs and values'
A four-paragraph news release, announcing the church's votes and
acceptance into the New Wineskins EPC Presbytery, was sent to The Layman
Online and also posted on the church's Web site.
"This action ends a season of prayer and discernment by the
session and the congregation regarding the church's denominational
affiliation," the release states. "Recent decisions and
actions on the part of the PCUSA have caused concern at the Londonderry
church as to the direction and fundamental beliefs of the denomination
and the misalignment with Londonderry's core beliefs and values."
The release did not specify which decisions and actions caused concern,
but two actions taken by the 217th General Assembly in 2006 led a number
of churches to vote to either immediately disaffiliate or request
dismissal from the PCUSA:
- Approval of the Peace, Unity and Purity
report
that keeps the current ordination standards in the PCUSA
Constitution, but allows those who choose not to obey them to
declare them to be non-essential.
- Receiving a
paper
on the Trinity that proposes both the Biblical tradition for the
names of the Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – as
well as a number of alternatives never linked in Scripture as
Trinitarian language.
Northern New England Presbytery has lost not only its
second-largest church in terms of membership, but its most generous
church in terms of monetary contributions to the PCUSA. Londonderry
Presbyterian Church members gave $658,349 in 2006, according to the
denomination's Web site.
Looking for a pastor
The Londonderry church currently is without a pastor. "The passing
of the recent motions make the way clear for Londonderry Presbyterian
Church to continue its search for a pastor," the church's news
release states. "The pastor nomination committee expects to begin
circulating the church information form in the coming weeks."
The New Wineskins EPC Presbytery has contacted the pastoral nominating
committee "to begin providing us with potential pastor candidates,"
the church's Web site states. The church's Web site provides additional
details about how the new membership in the New Wineskins EPC Presbytery
will factor into the pastor search:
- "We have an excellent 'picture' of our church family. The
church information form (CIF) that was developed for LPC will be
reviewed and updated to reflect our new direction. We will be
fine-tuning the CIF so that it can be released into the New
Wineskins/EPC community.
- "The PNC (pastor nominating committee) will meet with the
session for a final review and approval of the revised document.
- "The updated and approved CIF will then be sent to the New
Wineskins Association of Churches, where it will be posted to their
Web site.
- "Also, the CIF will be posted on the LPC Web site, and in
other venues, as appropriate.
- "LPC will then begin receiving personal information forms
(PIFs); i.e., pastor resumes. Your PNC will then be able to
prayerfully begin the process of reviewing candidate PIFs. We will
then also be able to schedule the start of the interview process.
- "The PNC will also be subject to the nominating committee's
addressing the issue of the number of positions on the PNC."
"May we be open to God's will as we move forward in our new
and exciting affiliation within the New Wineskins/EPC non-geographic
denomination," the pastoral nominating committee states. "We
seek your continued prayers during this time for this congregation, for
our session and deacons, for this committee, and for our new pastor and
their family. May our God and Savior continue to bless each of you as we
continue forward together."
Online letter to
congregation
The Londonderry church's session posted a question-and-answer letter to
the congregation, dated Oct. 3, on the church's Web site. The text of
that letter is as follows:
- 1. "What happened on Sunday, Sept. 30?
- "The congregation voted by over a two-thirds majority to
disaffiliate from the PCUSA denomination (208 to 86). The two
subsequent motions, to reaffirm the election of existing elders and
deacons and to join the New Wineskins Non-geographic Presbytery of
the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (NWEPC), also passed by
overwhelming majorities. The fourth motion on the bylaws was
withdrawn to allow the session to incorporate the comments received
from several members of the congregation. The bylaws will be brought
to the congregation for a vote some time in the near future.
- "We are still gathering letters of intent from those who
didn't/couldn't be present to vote. These can be as simple as a
postcard sent to the church addressed to Lee Carvill, clerk of
session, or even an e-mail to lee@lpcnh.org.
Please state that you missed the vote and had you been there, you
would have voted for or against the motion to disaffiliate. These do
not count as votes, but will be used to demonstrate the will of
those members who were unable to participate in the Sept. 30
congregational meeting.
- 2. "What's happening now?
- "The NWEPC met early on Monday morning after the vote and
accepted LPC into membership! They have already made contact with
our PNC to begin providing us with potential pastor candidates.
- "Our efforts to secure the title to our property continue
and will likely take several months to settle, due to the court's
busy schedule. We remain confident this will be resolved in our
favor.
- 3. "What changes can we expect to see?
- "There will be no change to the activities in which you
normally participate. The three worship services, Sunday school,
Bible studies, music rehearsals, current staff, etc. will remain the
same.
- 4. "What will happen to those who voted to stay PCUSA?
- "We will be actively reaching out to these folks and ask all
in the congregation to do the same. We would like all to continue to
worship with us - you are our LPC family! However, for those who do
not consider staying at LPC under this new Presbyterian denomination
as a viable option, the PNNE would like you to contact them for help
assimilating into another PCUSA church family. There are four PCUSA
churches within 15 miles of LPC. These are located in Windham,
Litchfield, Bedford and Nashua. The point of contact at the PNNE is
the Rev. Dr. [Richard O.] Wyatt, who can be reached at (603)
629-9900.
- 5. "And now?
- "We follow our mission statement: We, the Londonderry
Presbyterian Church, proclaim ourselves to be a Christ-centered
church, dedicated to the spiritual growth of the whole congregation
through inspired worship, life-changing Christian education,
committed service to others and active evangelism, with a rich
fellowship of love and caring for each member of our church family.
- "We welcome you to join together with us: to heal, to pray
and to worship. We praise and thank the Lord for all He has done and
continues to do in our midst.
- "'And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and
long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love
that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the
measure of all the fullness of God.' – Ephesians 3:17b-19
- "Together with you in Christ's service,
- "The session of Londonderry Presbyterian Church"
Patrick Jean is a staff writer for The Layman and The Layman
Online. He can be reached at pjean@layman.org.
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