Kirkpatrick threatens denomination EPC denies recruiting PCUSA churches, says claims 'based on inaccurate information' By Craig M. Kibler Staff Writer The Layman Online Friday, March 7, 2008 The Evangelical Presbyterian Church is denying claims that it is encouraging congregations to leave the Presbyterian Church (USA), saying such allegations are "based on inaccurate information." In a March 6 statement to The Layman Online, the Rev. Dr. Jeffrey J. Jeremiah, executive pastor and stated clerk of the EPC, dismissed charges by Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the PCUSA, and the Presbytery of Mississippi that the EPC has been "actively recruiting, seeking and initiating contact with PCUSA congregations to encourage their leaving this denomination." An ongoing massive loss in membership has been a growing concern for the PCUSA. In 2007, at least 29 congregations representing a total membership of 18,237 voted to disaffiliate from the PCUSA and join the EPC. This year may see even more members leaving the denomination, since a growing number of congregations have either left the PCUSA, have voted to be dismissed or are considering a vote on dismissal. Still other congregations, concerned about their property, have filed suits in civil courts seeking rulings that they, and not the presbytery or the denomination, are the owners of their church property. Largest membership loss ever Including 50,000 members from congregations that have "withdrawn," the Presbyterian Church (USA) is anticipating that 95,343 members – the largest number ever – will have left the denomination in 2007, a drop of 4.4 percent of its total membership of 2,171,775 in that year. In 2008, with no specific allowance made for congregations leaving the denomination, membership losses are projected to be 43,436, a drop of 2.0 percent of its total membership, according to the projections released during the recent General Assembly Council meeting in Louisville, Ky. No details are provided for the continuing decline in membership for those years, with the exception of one line in the report regarding "an additional 50,000 projected drop due to churches withdrawn." That line is a reference to congregations, such as those belonging to the New Wineskins Association of Churches, that have disaffiliated with the PCUSA and have joined other denominations, such as the EPC, the Presbyterian Church in America or the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. Those congregations cite as some of the reasons for their disaffiliation what they describe as a loss of Christology and Scriptural integrity in the PCUSA, with all of them pointing to the approval of the report by the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity that keeps the current ordination standards in the PCUSA's Constitution, but allows those who choose not to obey them to declare them to be non-essential. Other congregations also disapprove of the General Assembly 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. In response to the membership losses, but providing no evidence, Kirkpatrick and Mississippi Presbytery have accused the EPC of encouraging congregations to leave the PCUSA. EPC statement "It has come to our attention," Jeremiah said in the statement to The Layman Online, "that the Evangelical Presbyterian Church stands accused of recruiting churches to quit their current denominational affiliation and become members of the EPC. This complaint prompts the following response: "It is and always has been the policy and practice of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church to not solicit, initiate contact or recruit churches and leaders who are outside our denomination," Jeremiah said. "We take any charges of misconduct in this area seriously. "To date," he said, "complaints received by the office of the General Assembly about the activities of EPC leaders have been found to be based on inaccurate information. We do respond to enquiries and accept invitations from the elected spiritual leadership of local churches to answer questions about the EPC. As there are an increasing number of churches and leaders who are contacting us, we are being especially careful to ensure that we maintain our commitment to practices that are consistent with our stated policy." This is not the first time that Jeremiah has denied such allegations. In early February, during the meeting of the Presbytery of the East, he told commissioners: "Our relationship with the PCUSA is deteriorating. In the early fall, a PCUSA constitutional body declared that presbyteries are not to dismiss churches to our Transitional Presbyteries. After Thanksgiving, PCUSA leadership began complaining to our G.A. office that representatives of the EPC are 'initiating contact, soliciting and recruiting' PCUSA churches to come to the EPC. In addition, they are displeased that we have received churches into our presbyteries before they have completed their constitutional dismissal process (that is, we're receiving churches that have disaffiliated from the PCUSA). I replied that we do not initiate contact, solicit or recruit churches and leaders outside the EPC. We respond to inquiries and invitations from the spiritual leadership of congregations who want to learn more about the EPC. "This month," he said, "I received notice that a draft overture to the 2008 PCUSA General Assembly had been received calling for a severing of the 'in correspondence' relationship of the PCUSA with the EPC. As more churches seeking to leave the PCUSA find that dismissal is untenable and disaffiliate, I anticipate the momentum within the PCUSA to sever ties with us will increase. I would note to you that PCUSA leadership does not acknowledge that anything is happening in the PCUSA that would cause a church to want to leave. Their position, as represented to us, is that it is because of our actions that their churches want to depart. "In the meantime," Jeremiah said, "we will continue to keep the main thing the 'main thing' and pursue the missional future we believe our Lord has for us. And we will continue to do what we've done for the last 27 years: In response to struggling and hurting congregations and leaders looking for help, we will offer God-honoring counsel, comfort and encouragement." Threatening letter by Kirkpatrick In a letter to Jeremiah dated Nov. 30, 2007, and posted on the Web site of the Presbytery of Santa Fe, Kirkpatrick threatened that an overture to the 2008 General Assembly might result in "action that would adversely affect the relationship between our two communions and the possibility of being able to transfer congregations between our presbyteries in the future." "You may be aware," Kirkpatrick wrote, "that just over thirty years ago, the 199th General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America considered just such an action." Less than two months later, on Jan. 22, 2008, Mississippi Presbytery's administrative commission for Grace Chapel Presbyterian Church, which is seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent the presbytery from violating a final declaratory judgment that resolved a property ownership lawsuit that the church brought against the presbytery in March, proposed an overture to the 218th General Assembly of the PCUSA that, if approved, would suspend the EPC's relationship with the PCUSA. The proposed overture also called for a review of the PCUSA's "communion relationships" with the EPC "to determine why these relationships should not be rescinded." Instead of approving that overture, and again without presenting any evidence, the Presbytery of Mississippi voted to ask that a formal complaint be filed against the governing bodies of the EPC and the New Wineskins Association of Churches. At a Feb. 12 special called meeting, presbytery commissioners voted to send a letter to Kirkpatrick and General Assembly Council Chair Allison Seed requesting that they file the complaint against the EPC and the NWAC requesting that the organizations "cease and desist from recruiting or receiving congregations of the PCUSA before they are officially dismissed, and to meet with representatives of such bodies for the purpose of coming to an amicable agreement with respect to such matters." Craig M. Kibler is the Director of Publications and Executive Editor for the Presbyterian Lay Committee. He may be reached at ckibler@layman.org.

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