Ohio congregation exits; N.Y. church wants out The Layman Volume 35, Number 2 Posted April 8, 2002 One evangelical congregation has been ousted from the Presbyterian Church (USA) and another is seeking to leave amicably with its property. Literally banished to the dog house (an animal shelter), a former PCUSA congregation in Findlay, Ohio, rebounded in exile by having 517 people – more than its 490 members – attend the first Sunday’s worship services of the newly constituted Findlay Evangelical Presbyterian Church. Meanwhile, Circleville Presbyterian Church in Circleville, N.Y., is seeking permission from the Presbytery of Hudson River to withdraw from the PCUSA with its property and affiliate with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. The Ohio and New York congregations had aligned with the Confessing Church Movement within the Presbyterian Church (USA). Of more than 1,240 Confessing Churches in the denomination, they are the only ones that have publicly announced departure – or steps to leave the PCUSA. After members of an administrative commission from the Presbytery of Maumee Valley ordered its pastor, Ben Borsay, out of his office in January, the Findlay congregation was quickly reconstituted, temporarily as an independent church, with application to become affiliated with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. Before Borsay was fired, the Findlay congregation had voted 209-19, with two abstentions, to seek permission to leave the PCUSA with its property. Greg Jewett, a long-time elder and former clerk of session, said the leaders of the congregation had a long-running dispute with the denomination. “First, there was the Re-Imagining Conference, when the denomination had a hard time stating who God was,” he said. “Then they had a problem determining who Jesus was. We didn’t want to stick around when they started wrestling with the Holy Spirit.” While it was part of the PCUSA, Findlay EPC was Norcrest Presbyterian Church. Circleville is a small congregation of 100 members, with double that number in worship. Leaders say its financial future has become precarious – construction of a family life center has been halted – because of sharp theological differences within the presbytery. The Presbytery of Hudson River includes a number of More Light congregations that have publicly declared that they are in open defiance of the PCUSA Constitution in ignoring and/or violating the denomination’s “fidelity/chastity” ordination standard. Several pastors have publicly announced that they conduct “holy union” ceremonies for homosexual couples. The Presbytery of Hudson River has appointed an administrative commission to meet with Circleville’s leaders.

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