Evangelical Presbyterian Church No specific evidence to support allegations made by overture, presbytery, Kirkpatrick By Patrick Jean Staff Writer The Layman Online Friday, April 11, 2008 In recent months, Presbyterian Church (USA) Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick and two PCUSA presbyteries have accused the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of actively recruiting churches to leave the PCUSA for the smaller, more conservative denomination. However, none of the accusers has produced specific evidence to support their allegations. And the EPC's top official, as well as the pastor of a church caught in the middle, have refuted the charges. Kirkpatrick letter starts the fire The accusations began Nov. 30, 2007, with a letter from Kirkpatrick to the Rev. Dr. Jeffrey J. Jeremiah, executive pastor and stated clerk of the EPC. "In recent months, the Office of the General Assembly has received complaints from our presbyteries concerning the reception of congregations and ministers by the EPC prior to constitutional release by PCUSA presbyteries," Kirkpatrick wrote in the letter, which was posted on the Web site of Santa Fe Presbytery. "We have also received information that Evangelical Presbyterian Church representatives have been actively recruiting, seeking and initiating contact with PCUSA congregations to encourage their leaving this denomination. "I am writing to request that your office advise your presbyteries – including the transitional presbytery – they should abide by the processes in our Book of Order," Kirkpatrick wrote. "If this pattern continues unabated, I expect one or more of our presbyteries will overture the 218th General Assembly of the PCUSA next summer, requesting that the assembly examine the basis of the PCUSA's relationship with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. Such examination might well result in the 218th General Assembly taking 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." Jeremiah addressed the allegations in early February 2008, during the meeting of the EPC's 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," Jeremiah 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." Mississippi Presbytery fans the flames On Feb. 12, the Presbytery of Mississippi held a special called meeting to consider an overture to the 218th General Assembly that would suspend the EPC's relationship with the PCUSA and have the PCUSA "review its communion relationships with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church to determine why these relationships should not be rescinded if the activities of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church described in our rationale … do not cease." The overture came from the administrative commission for Grace Chapel Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Madison, Miss., 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 2007. Minutes from the meeting, posted on the presbytery's Web site, show a lengthy rationale was presented for approval of the overture. The administrative commission states that it informed EPC officials that two actions taken by Grace Chapel Church in August 2007 – a congregational vote to leave the PCUSA for the EPC, and the filing of a lawsuit seeking to enforce the final declaratory judgment in the property ownership case – occurred "with complete disregard for, and in defiance of," the PCUSA Constitution and the presbytery's Recommended Guidelines for Withdrawal of a Congregation from the PCUSA. The overture rationale charged that the EPC received Grace Chapel Church into a transitional presbytery that same month, then refused a request from the administrative commission to remove the Madison congregation from its rolls "until such time as it could properly be dismissed by the Presbytery of Mississippi." These actions enhanced "a high level of resistance and lack of a desire for cooperation from the session and some of the members of Grace Chapel towards the Presbytery of Mississippi," the rationale stated. Other PCUSA presbyteries "have had similar issues involving congregations seeking to withdraw from the Presbyterian Church (USA) and to join the Evangelical Presbyterian Church," the rationale stated. "The administrative commission for Grace Chapel Presbyterian Church (USA) believes that the continuation of such actions by the Evangelical Presbyterian Church is detrimental to the fellowship between the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the Evangelical Presbyterian Church." In place of the overture, presbytery commissioners approved a substitute motion asking Kirkpatrick and General Assembly Council Chair Allison Seed to file a formal complaint against the governing bodies of the EPC and the New Wineskins Association of Churches. The complaint would request 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," according to the letter. Trio says information is wrong On Feb. 26, The Layman Online posted an open letter from Grace Chapel Church's pastor, the Rev. Steven S. Bryant Sr., in which he said that the letter to Kirkpatrick and Seed "is based on mistaken information. "The EPC did not seek us out and at no time did the EPC encourage us to 'quit the PCUSA,' " Bryant wrote. In a March 6 statement to The Layman Online, Jeremiah dismissed the charges leveled against his denomination by Kirkpatrick and the Presbytery of Mississippi. "It has come to our attention," Jeremiah said in the statement, "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." The New Wineskins Association of Churches also responded to Mississippi Presbytery's allegations. In a March 31 open letter to the presbytery, Renee Guth, executive coordinator of the association's leadership team, said the presbytery's assertions against the New Wineskins are "based on misinformation." Guth said she welcomes the opportunity to meet with Kirkpatrick "for the purpose of clarifying what actions have or have not occurred, to come to an agreed understanding of events, and to provide a peaceful resolution of differences." Guth states that Grace Chapel Church "has never been an endorsing congregation" of the New Wineskins and makes three other points: 1. "We consider it to be faithful to Christ and His Church for Presbyterian congregations to either remain affiliated with the PCUSA or to realign with another Reformed body, as God so calls a particular congregation. This is no more than the Constitution of the PCUSA itself recognizes, in that it provides a process for congregations called to leave to another Reformed body. 2. "NWAC has encouraged our congregations to enter a discernment process regarding denominational affiliation in light of the ministry and mission of their particular congregation. We have provided tools to that end, including three papers specifically addressing congregations that choose to remain within the PCUSA. They may be found at www.newwineskinsassociation.org. 3. "… Regarding the disaffiliation of PCUSA congregations, it is our observation that some congregations choose this route of realignment when the dismissal process either breaks down or gets bogged down. Some congregations choose disaffiliation because of the trust laws unique to their state. Some choose disaffiliation in response to hostile actions taken by their presbyteries in following the instructions promulgated by the Louisville Papers. In all cases, however, the decisions have been made by local congregations. We do not advise one action or another; we try only to provide accurate information about various alternatives when requested." Neither Mississippi Presbytery's executive presbyter, the Rev. Dr. William A. dePrater, nor its stated clerk, the Rev. John C. Dudley, responded to calls and e-mails from The Layman Online seeking comment in response to Bryant and Guth's letters and Jeremiah's statement, as well as any more specific evidence to support its allegations against the EPC and New Wineskins. Florida overture alleges 'strategy' Kirkpatrick and Mississippi Presbytery are not the only vocal critics of the EPC. A southwest Florida presbytery has approved an overture to the 218th General Assembly accusing the denomination of "actively pursuing a strategy to persuade Presbyterian Church (USA) churches to disaffiliate with the Presbyterian Church (USA) and be dismissed to" the EPC. Peace River Presbytery is asking the General Assembly to "request the Executive Office of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches to investigate the actions and conduct" of the EPC and "take appropriate action." The overture was approved on a majority voice vote at the presbytery's stated meeting Feb. 28, the Rev. Craig Countiss, the presbytery's stated clerk, said in an e-mail to The Layman Online. Both the PCUSA and the EPC are members of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, which is based in Switzerland. Kirkpatrick is president of the alliance. Countiss said "a member of the presbytery," whom he declined to identify, presented the overture to the presbytery's rules and overtures committee, which found it to be in order and moved it for adoption. The overture, which has been posted on a General Assembly Web site, states two facts and makes one allegation in its rationale: "The Presbyterian Church (USA) is in correspondence with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) because both denominations are members of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC). "The Evangelical Presbyterian Church is actively pursuing a strategy to persuade Presbyterian Church (USA) churches to disaffiliate with the Presbyterian Church (USA) and be dismissed to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. "The Evangelical Presbyterian Church has created a transitional Evangelical Presbyterian Church Presbytery to facilitate the process." Neither Countiss nor the Rev. Graham P. Hart, Peace River's general presbyter, responded to calls and e-mails from The Layman Online seeking more specific evidence – such as in a written rationale to the overture, or in comments made during discussion of the overture at the Feb. 28 presbytery meeting – to support the allegation made against the EPC. When reached April 10 by The Layman Online for comment, Jeremiah said his March statement stands in response to Peace River Presbytery's overture as well. 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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