Third church in Ohio presbytery requests to leave
denomination
North Benton
congregation votes to seek dismissal
from PCUSA, join EPC-New Wineskins Presbytery
By Patrick Jean
Staff
Writer
The Layman Online
Wednesday, July 11,
2007
A church in
northeastern Ohio has voted to request dismissal from the Presbyterian
Church (USA) and to seek membership in the New Wineskins Transitional
Presbytery of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.
Confessing
Church
North Benton Presbyterian Church is a
member of the Confessing
Church Movement.
PCUSA church sessions that have adopted Confessing Church
resolutions have affirmed three tenets:
- 1. That Jesus Christ alone is Lord of all and the way of
salvation.
- 2. That Holy Scripture is the triune God's revealed Word,
the Church's only infallible rule of faith and life.
- 3. That God's people are called to holiness in all aspects of
life. This includes honoring the sanctity of marriage between a
man and a woman, the only relationship within which sexual
activity is appropriate.
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The congregation of North Benton Presbyterian Church held two
votes June 24:
- The first vote was on seeking dismissal from the PCUSA and
authorizing the church session to take the necessary steps to do so.
One hundred and sixteen church members voted; of those, 81 – or
70 percent – voted to seek dismissal, 29 voted not to seek
dismissal and six abstained.
- The second vote was to pursue membership in the New
Wineskins-EPC Presbytery and authorizing the church session to take
the necessary steps to do so. Of the 116 church members who voted,
78 – or 67 percent – voted to seek membership, 28 voted
not to seek membership and 10 abstained.
The church has 189 members, said its pastor of five years, the
Rev. Jim Henkel. The participating voters represented 61 percent of the
church's membership.
The Rev. Dr. Dan Schomer, general presbyter of Eastminster Presbytery,
discussed the church's votes in a
pastoral
letter posted on the presbytery's Web site. "Once again,
Eastminster Presbytery is faced with how to respond to a congregation
seeking to leave the Presbyterian Church (USA)," he wrote. "For
now, one thing we can all do is pray that God will comfort those who
mourn these decisions and grant the presbytery discernment as we respond
to the actions of the North Benton congregation."
North Benton is the third church in Eastminster Presbytery to seek
dismissal from the PCUSA in the past year:
- The members of Stow Presbyterian Church led the way with their
congregational
vote
Oct. 8. But the sticking point to the presbytery granting the
dismissal request is property; the Stow congregation denies that its
property is subject to any denominational trust. A presbytery
consulting commission met with church representatives, but was
unable to reach a settlement. Presbytery commissioners voted at
their stated meeting May 8 to authorize the presbytery's moderator
to appoint an administrative commission to seek a resolution.
- The congregation of Hudson Presbyterian Church voted in favor of
seeking dismissal Nov. 5. But that request has been stalled by court
action; on Sept. 28, 2006, the church session – concerned that
the presbytery would attempt to remove the pastor and replace the
session with an administrative commission – filed a
motion
for a temporary restraining order. Eastminster Presbytery filed its
own motion
for a temporary restraining order Oct. 5.
The Hudson case has continued in the courts since then, with each
side filing a request for a summary judgment and the Ohio attorney
general filing a response
in favor of the presbytery. A magistrate is reviewing these and other
filings and will recommend a verdict.
In the meantime, an administrative commission for the presbytery is
acting as the session of what the presbytery has termed the "true"
Hudson Presbyterian Church for congregation members who wish to remain
in the PCUSA. The commission presented a brief
report to the
presbytery at its stated meeting July 10.
10 reasons for seeking
dismissal
The North Benton church's dismissal request follows years of discussion
and discernment, Henkel said in an e-mail to The Layman Online. In
September 2005, the church sent a letter
to the presbytery and presbytery stating 10 reasons why it was
withholding per-capita payments to higher governing bodies in the PCUSA:
- 1. "The uncertain acceptance of Jesus Christ as the one and
only Lord and Savior.
- 2. "The tenuous acknowledgment of Scripture as the final
rule of faith and practice.
- 3. "Condoning Sophia worship, invoking animistic rituals
and introducing liturgical forms and readings from other faith
traditions in national and regional forums.
- 4. "Failing to uphold the Biblical standard maintained in
the constitutional provisions regarding the ordination of
self-affirming, practicing homosexuals.
- 5. "Failing to uphold the Biblical standard maintained in
the constitutional provisions respecting the restriction of
Christian marriage ceremonies to opposite-gender couples.
- 6. "Advocating a pro-choice policy that even sanctions
late-term abortion.
- 7. "Insisting that 'inclusiveness and diversity' serve as
primary hallmarks of the life of faith.
- 8. "Bonding with liberal/progressive ideology.
- 9. "Looking to the prevailing culture as an authoritative
and confirmative resource.
- 10. "Giving top priority to meddling in civil affairs."
"Except for the reversal on 'partial birth abortion' by the
217th General Assembly, all 10 reasons still apply" for seeking
dismissal, Henkel said in the e-mail.
The letter also lists 10 ways that the PCUSA can reverse its course:
- 1. "Reclaim the historic creed of the church: 'Jesus is
Lord!' (Romans 10:9, 1st Corinthians 12:3)
- 2. "Restore the ultimate authority of Scripture as the
final rule of faith and practice.
- 3. "Resist worship in the name of any god except that 'of
the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit' (Matthew 28:19).
- 4. "Reassert a biblical standard for ordination.
- 5. "Reaffirm a biblical standard for Christian marriage.
- 6. "Rescind the advocacy of abortion on demand and
especially of late-term abortion.
- 7. "Reject the worldly wisdom that insists that
'inclusiveness and diversity' serve as the hallmarks of the life of
faith.
- 8. "Refuse the error of liberal/progressive ideology that
substitutes light for darkness and darkness for light.
- 9. "Recover a holy zeal to stand over against the
self-aggrandizing, self-actualizing, self-serving pressures of the
present cultural context.
- 10. "Replace meddling in civil affairs with prayer and
evangelism."
The church discussed dismissal in Sunday school classes and
congregational forums, Henkel said. The session recommended June 5 that
the congregation vote for seeking dismissal from the PCUSA and joining
the New Wineskins-EPC Presbytery, he said.
North Benton Church is a member of the New Wineskins Association of
Churches, a conservative organization that successfully petitioned the
EPC for the establishment of a transitional, non-geographic presbytery
to receive groups of churches into membership in that denomination. The
27th EPC General Assembly overwhelmingly
voted June 22
for a plan to create non-geographic, transitional presbyteries to
receive congregations seeking to join the denomination.
'Meeting was heartbreaking'
In his pastoral letter on the presbytery's Web site, Schomer discussed
a two-hour meeting that he and eight members of the committee on
ministry held with about 15 members of North Benton Church on June 20,
four days before the congregational vote. "The meeting was
heartbreaking," he wrote.
"North Benton members told of how they had heard little from the
pulpit over the past several months other than how the Presbyterian
Church (USA) had gone astray. We were asked by them if the Presbyterian
Church really no longer believed that Jesus Christ is the only way to
salvation or that Presbyterians no longer accept the authority of the
Bible. There were some tears that night, too. People were hurting and
said so. They saw that their church family was being divided. One in
attendance stated the situation in this way, 'Whether we vote yes or no,
some people are going to leave.'"
Three members of the committee on ministry and the moderator of another
presbytery committee attended the June 24 congregational meeting at
which the votes took place, Schomer wrote.
North Benton Church's dismissal request was not listed on the docket
for Eastminster Presbytery's stated meeting July 10. The only mention of
the issue on the docket was in a draft report of the minutes from the
meeting June 28 of the presbytery's coordinating council.
"Prayer was offered for the healing of … the North Benton
congregation," the report states.
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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