New Wineskins prepares sample G.A. overture on congregations' property and dismissal rights The Layman Online Thursday, January 10, 2008 The New Wineskins Association of Churches (NWAC) has developed a sample overture concerning congregational property rights that it hopes will be submitted to the 218th General Assembly and, if approved, make it easier for congregations to leave the Presbyterian Church (USA). The sample overture would amend the denomination's Book of Order by completely eliminating Chapter 8 – "The Church and its Property." It also seeks to change the process by which a church can be dismissed or dissolved from the PCUSA. The draft was prepared by members of the NWAC's board of directors, who hope the overture can be approved by a church session and a presbytery. It then can be submitted to the Office of the General Assembly before the Feb. 22 deadline for overtures requesting constitutional amendments. If the overture is submitted to the General Assembly, and approved by G.A. commissioners, it then would have to be ratified by the denomination's 173 presbyteries. The sample overture begins by asking that "Chapter VIII of the Book of Order (The Church and Its Property) is repealed in total." While the sample overture asks that the entire chapter be repealed, the heart of the property issue can be found in G-8.0201. It reads: "All property held by or for a particular church, a presbytery, a synod, the General Assembly, or the Presbyterian Church (USA), whether title is lodged in a corporation, a trustee or trustees, or an unincorporated association, and whether the property is used in programs of a particular church or of a more inclusive governing body or retained for the production of income, is held in trust nevertheless for the use and benefit of the Presbyterian Church (USA)." The sample overture then asks that G-11.0103i of the Book of Order be deleted and replaced with the following process for a presbytery to dismiss or dissolve a congregation: 1. The church must notify the presbytery of its wish to be dismissed or dissolved. 2. A congregational meeting must be held to discuss the motion. The meeting must include representatives from the presbytery and give them the opportunity to address the congregation. A written 30-day notice must be mailed to all members of the congregation, the executive presbyter and moderator of the presbytery. 3. Following a three- to six-month recess, the congregational meeting must reconvene – again with presbytery representatives present and able to address those attending – to vote on the issue by written ballot. The vote would require a two-thirds majority to pass for either dismissal or dissolution. Those not wishing to be dismissed will contact the presbytery and be assigned to another PCUSA church. The sample overture states that, "Nothing in this Constitution or any provision of previous constitutions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States or the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America establishes any claim on the real or personal property of an individual congregation by any presbytery, synod, or general assembly of a denomination. Unless there is a signed and dated agreement approved by vote of the congregation at a properly constituted meeting to the contrary, there is no interest in a congregation's property by any governing body of the PCUSA or its predecessor denominations." The rationale "The unity of the Presbyterian Church (USA) lies in each member's faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God the Father, as revealed in the Bible and accepted as Savior and Lord through the Holy Spirit," begins the rationale of the sample overture. It continues by saying that the PCUSA's governing bodies are connected through those foundations and that, "Our unity has never lain and cannot ever lie in the possession of property." The rationale refers to "The Louisville Papers," two documents prepared by PCUSA lawyers that recommend hard-ball tactics by presbyteries against congregations seeking to leave the denomination. The rationale states that there is a pattern of retaliation against pastors, sessions and congregations that have discussed leaving the PCUSA and that "such retaliation is based upon the advice promulgated by the Offices of the General Assembly and the Executive Director of the General Assembly Council in documents made public in August, 2006, known as 'The Louisville Papers.' These papers, which continue to stand as official policy, advocate a harsh and anti-Christlike response to such Biblical and constitutional dissent. The Louisville Papers are, in turn, founded on Chapter VIII, which encourages both the false understanding that our unity is found in property and the resort to the false remedy of threatened legal actions, instead of the spiritual resources given to His people by God." Repealing Chapter 8, the overture states, would focus the PCUSA on "dealing with dissension in the manner of the early church … if an individual dissents from a policy or practice and cannot in good conscience submit, the person has the right and responsibility to withdraw from the fellowship. A congregation of dissenting individuals has the same right and responsibility." The sample overture ends by stating: "Threats, intimidation, changing locks, freezing assets, ousting pastors and sessions – these are not ways of addressing lawful dissent. Such practices, done in the name of 'preserving unity' and based on property, bring public shame to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

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