 First test of new process to address withdrawing congregations Small Oregon church talking with Cascades Presbytery about request to leave PCUSA By Patrick Jean Staff Writer The Layman Online Tuesday, July 24, 2007 A small church in southwestern Oregon and a regional governing body of the Presbyterian Church (USA) are in talks over the church's request to leave the denomination. The congregation of Hope Presbyterian Church in Rogue River voted July 8 to "realign its membership" from the PCUSA to the smaller, more conservative Evangelical Presbyterian Church. Sixty-five of the church's 88 members took part in the vote, said the church's pastor, the Rev. Brian Boisen. Of those, 62 voted for realignment and three voted against it, he said. Hope Presbyterian Church's request will be the first test of the Presbytery of the Cascades' new process to address withdrawing churches. The process was approved at the presbytery's stated meeting June 22-23 in Portland, Ore., said the Rev. Dr. Hugh D. Anderson, co-executive presbyter. Boisen said his church is completing its application to join the EPC, but will consider itself part of the PCUSA until it is graciously dismissed or has to take further action. Prior to the vote, the church had legal consultations that brought up questions about the validity of the presbytery's trust claim on the church's property, he said. Hope Presbyterian Church is open to discussing a settlement that would allow the congregation to be dismissed with its property, Boisen said. "As we approach presbytery and work with them, that is going to be our stance," he said. "'We really would like to work this ecclesiastically with you, but we don't recognize the validity of the trust claim.' Of course, they're going to disagree." Anderson said he is open to a settlement, but "the whole goal of the process is reconciliation" to keep the church in the PCUSA. The first step in the process – having representatives of a church that is requesting dismissal meet with a "conversation team" appointed by the presbytery's committee on ministry – has already begun for Hope Presbyterian Church, Anderson said. If reconciliation proves impossible, he said the next step would involve church representatives meeting with a "resolution team" appointed by the committee on ministry. Any settlement proposed by the resolution team and church representatives would have to be approved by presbytery commissioners. There is no deadline for the talks to be completed, but Anderson said he and Boisen have discussed reaching a solution within six months after the church's July 8 vote. Not defending 'integrity of our witness' Boisen, who became a first-time pastor when he took over at Hope Presbyterian Church in 1999, said he has Christological issues with the PCUSA. "I came into the presbytery going on eight years ago and quickly jumped in, got very involved in committee work and all kinds of stuff, and was happy to do that," he said. "But as I was doing that, I became more and more aware of real, real problems – there's all kinds of problems, and you kind of expect that whenever people get together. But there was a real consistent issue with Christology that kept popping up." Ways to address that, Boisen said, included writing letters to Cascades Presbytery about Jesus Seminar meetings held at other churches within the presbytery. The Jesus Seminar is a collaboration of academicians who dispute much of what Jesus Christ said and deny the cornerstone Christian teachings about His birth, death and resurrection. Boisen said his request for an administrative review of the seminars was denied, with a response team being sent instead and delivering a report to the presbytery in April that didn't seem to take the issue seriously. He also took issue with Marcus J. Borg – a Jesus Seminar scholar who debunks orthodoxy and proposes a post-Christian view anchored in political and sociological constructions – teaching adult Sunday school at a church in Corvallis, Ore., that is a member of Cascades Presbytery. "It's very clear that as a presbytery – and, if you dig deeper, as a denomination – we are not going to take actions to defend the integrity of our witness," he said. "And that's been, for me, the most compelling issue." A benchmark that grabbed his congregation's attention was the 217th General Assembly's approval in June 2006 of the report by the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity that keeps the current ordination standards in the constitution, but allows those who choose not to obey them to declare them to be non-essential. The report undermined the denomination's constitution and put the unspoken policy of the PCUSA into writing, Boisen said. "There's been nothing but confusion and contradictions, and divisions created from it. I think that just kind of shows the quality of that decision," he said. After the general assembly, he wrote in the church's newsletter that the congregation had three options:
Session leads the way Hope Presbyterian Church held a "congregational conversation" in September at which the church's issues with the PCUSA were discussed, Boisen said. Turnout was small – about 20 – but the meeting showed others had concerns about the same issues and wanted to do something about it, he said. The next big step in the path to the vote was when Boisen attended the New Wineskins Association of Churches' convocation in Orlando, Fla., in February. The conservative organization 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.) The church session held meetings after that on whether to seek separation. Conversations with the congregation were to start in May, but meetings with the church's legal counsel pushed it back to June. An information packet mailed out to church members in late May included a cover letter stating that the session had unanimously recommended that the congregation vote for realigning the church's membership. "What's kind of neat about all this is that the session really has been, in many ways, leading the way forward," Boisen said. "I've definitely been behind this 100 percent – in fact, I initiated going and taking two elders with me to Orlando for the New Wineskins meeting - and I've definitely been involved, but a lot of the steps have actually been session-led. It's not been me leading anybody by the nose; it's really been the work of the session. Which is neat – I'd be concerned if it wasn't." Turnout was great for the congregational meetings in June, Boisen said, as well as for meetings with smaller groups such as the adult Sunday school and the choir. Two representatives of Cascades Presbytery – Anderson and a liaison from the committee on ministry – attended the July 8 meeting to answer questions for clarification before the vote, Boisen said. Various church members and five elders spoke for the motion and one church member spoke against it, he said. The vote total was in line with Boisen's expectations, although the three votes against realigning the church's denominational membership were a surprise. He said only one church member, who felt what others saw as critical issues weren't critical, had expressed vocal opposition leading up to the vote. Getting on the presbytery's radar Cascades Presbytery's new process to address withdrawing churches was not approved in response to Hope Presbyterian Church, Boisen said. Another church that has been very open about its alignment with New Wineskins had the presbytery's attention, he said. "We weren't on the radar when all of that was being initiated," he said. "We were kind of off the radar until we put ourselves on there, and I don't think we were even in the thoughts of the people as they were preparing the documents." Still, Hope Presbyterian Church's action didn't come as a surprise to Anderson. He said the church's previously expressed concerns about theological issues with the PCUSA seemed to lay the groundwork for what was to come. Anderson said Hope Presbyterian is the first church in Cascades Presbytery that has sought to leave the PCUSA in his 12½ years with the presbytery, which has 122 congregations and more than 26,000 members in California, Oregon and Washington. But he said the process to address withdrawing churches came about in order to be proactive in light of other congregations around the country that are seeking to leave the denomination. The policy is "purposely general" since the situation will vary from church to church, Anderson said. "That gives our teams flexibility," he said. Anderson said he disagrees with those who liken a church's leaving the PCUSA to a corporate takeover or a divorce. He sees it more in the Biblical image of someone moving away from a community because of a calling that God has placed before him or her. Boisen said the church's dealings with the presbytery have been cordial and amicable so far, with only minor disagreements. He hopes for a mutually agreeable resolution in line with Romans 12, which teaches how to live in peace with everyone. In addition to applying to join the EPC, Hope Presbyterian Church is preparing to become an endorsing congregation of New Wineskins, Boisen said. The church is planning to join the EPC-New Wineskins Transitional Presbytery, but language about the New Wineskins was kept out of the voting motion to avoid confusing voters, he said. "We've put a lot on the congregation over the past six weeks," Boisen said. "I think they've been great and they've handled it very well." Hope Presbyterian Church's membership has risen slightly, adding about nine members, since this all began last year, Boisen said. Others have expressed an interest in joining, but are waiting for this to be played out, he said. "We're doing this expressly as a stance for our commitment to Christ," he said. "We're in His hands, and so far, everything we've seen suggests that Christ has been blessing us in the process. So, we're just putting our trust in Him." 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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