A northwest Georgia congregation is celebrating its dismissal from the Presbyterian Church (USA) and affiliation with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC).
Mars Hill Presbyterian Church, located in Acworth, Ga., northwest of Atlanta near Kennesaw, has been part of the EPC for four months since being dismissed from the PCUSA by the Presbytery of Cherokee, effective Dec. 1, 2012.
Debra Kasson-Jones, clerk of session for Mars Hill, said the denominational move has been like a burden being lifted for the congregation of approximately 350 members.
“It’s like we have taken a deep breath and finally let it out,” she said. “Our congregation is joyous over our situation. Other churches have been torn apart by (the dismissal process). We had to decide if this really was a road we wanted to go down. We wanted to keep our congregation together with our place to worship. We rejoice in the fact we were able to do that.”
Founded in 1837, Mars Hill just celebrated its 175th year of ministry in 2012. And while the decision to seek dismissal came to the forefront the last couple of years, it is one that had been batted around since the mid-1990s.
Kasson-Jones said the definition of the Triune God got the attention of many church members who were bothered by what was taking place within the PCUSA. As a result, closer attention was paid to shifts of the denomination.
The passage of Amendment 10A (deletion of the explicit “fidelity/chastity” requirement from the constitutional ordination standard) in May 2011 followed by the implementation of the new Form of Government (nFOG) in June was more than church members and session leaders could stomach.
“The views on interpretation of the Bible culminated with the passage of 10A and nFOG did it,” Kasson-Jones said. “A group of members demanded a meeting with the session because they did not like doing away with ordination standards of pastors, elders and deacons. They thought it was wrong, that there should be standards. We let our presbytery know we were going into a process of discernment.”
Kasson-Jones said there was some division in the church when the Presbyterian Church in the United States merged with the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America to form PCUSA in 1983, but that was not the case with this decision.
“It was pretty resounding that we needed to do something,” Kasson-Jones said. “God was leading us. We had to determine what it was the church was supposed to do to further His ministry.”
After much discussion and prayer, former church leaders also were brought into discussions. Finally, in November 2011, the leadership determined what was taking place in the national denomination went against the beliefs of the Mars Hill congregation.
Following congregational meetings in January and February to keep the membership apprised of what was happening, the session sent a letter to the Presbytery of Cherokee in April 2012 seeking dismissal with names, assets and liabilities.
A Presbytery Response Team (PRT) met with the congregation on two occasions. In July, the matter was put to a congregational vote that showed overwhelming support to depart the PCUSA by a margin of 182-2 with three abstentions. An additional vote to affiliate with the EPC yielded the same results.
The presbytery then appointed an Administrative Commission (AC) to work with Mars Hill to finalize gracious separation terms for dismissal to another Reformed body. Mars Hill was accepted into the EPC in October 2012 and subsequently dismissed from the PCUSA.
“The congregation was solid in seeking dismissal, and we left with everybody,” Kasson-Jones said. “Our church is very vocal, and if we don’t agree with something, we say so, even to each other. But we had tremendous solidarity. It was absolutely God at work. There’s no other way for us to be as united as we were.”
Kasson-Jones said the church already had stopped per-capita and benevolence payments, and was not required to make any additional financial compensation to the presbytery upon departure. Mars Hill continues to make direct payments to Camp Cherokee, continuing a long affiliation to support its work.
Now, members worship under the EPC banner.
“We did not think ECO was formed enough at the time so we did not see it as a viable option then,” Kasson-Jones said of the church’s new denominational affiliation. “We wanted to be sure of where we were going, not stepping out of the frying pan into the fire.
“EPC really spoke to us. You know exactly where you stand, what you are getting into. The essentials the EPC holds to are absolutely what we believe, so the decision really was a no-brainer for us.”
Kasson-Jones added that the transition has been a smooth one, and the Mars Hill membership has shrugged off its conflict in a return to true, unabated ministerial engagement.
“We had been so disconnected from the PCUSA, that the church kind of went its own way, which made a pretty seamless transition,” she said. “We felt like (EPC) was where we belong. It’s all about Scripture – very Biblical – and about following God’s word and what He wants us to do.
“Any church that undergoes this knows it’s a huge emotional and mental burden that consumes so much of your time that you feel you are not devoting the time you should to our ministry. Our focus is back on our ministry and what we are called to be doing. This was all God-driven. There’s no other way to put it.”