| Citing 'many unknowns' in new denomination, Orlando church, opts for EPC instead |
| Written by Leslie Scanlon, Outlook national reporter | ||||||
| Monday, 30 January 2012 23:30 | ||||||
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Feeling out of alignment with the direction being taken by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), a large Florida congregation has voted to leave the PC(USA) to join the more conservative Evangelical Presbyterian Church.
Members of First Presbyterian Church in Orlando voted 1759-185 at a congregational meeting on Jan. 29 to join the EPC. That vote follows a unanimous vote by the church's session in late 2011 to ask Central Florida Presbytery to dismiss the congregation from the PC(USA) to the EPC.
The Orlando church's move to join the EPC, under consideration for months, is part of a wider backlash against the PC(USA)’s decision last year to allow ordination of non-celibate gays and lesbians.
David Swanson, the Orlando church’s pastor, was one of seven ministers who in February 2011 released a “white paper” that launched the Fellowship of Presbyterians. But the session of First Presbyterian Orlando did not wait to act until the Fellowship met Jan. 18-20 and created a new denomination, called the Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians.
In a document to congregation members called “Discerning God’s Way Forward,” the session wrote that the new denomination the Fellowship is creating “was of considerable interest to us, but the timing of its formation did not meet the needs of our current situation. While we wholeheartedly affirm the work of The Fellowship of Presbyterians and the creation of a new, Reformed body, we did not believe this new body was developed to the point that we could honestly recommend it as being best for First Presbyterian Church. There are simply too many unknowns.”
The action by First Presbyterian Orlando makes it the second of the seven congregations whose pastors released the white paper to choose the EPC. In November, more than 90 percent of the members of the Chapel Hill Presbyterian church congregation in Gig Harbor, Wash., voted to leave the PC(USA) for the EPC. Mark Toone, the congregation’s pastor, also was one of the seven original signers of the white paper.
At the Fellowship’s Covenanting Conference in January, representatives of about 100 congregations indicated their churches are likely to leave for the new denomination. And more evangelicals could follow – going both to the EPC and the Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians – in the months to come.
Your Responses (3)
CindyAnn
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Colorado springs, co This entire situation reminds me of a documentary I once saw about wolves. A few wolves would start worrying the flock of sheep looking for a weakness. If the flock stood together, they were all safer. If the wolves could get the flock to panic and run then they would run the flock to exhaustion, then feast on the weaker ones that got separated. What is to stop future "reformers" from stealing more of the sheep and weakening the overall strength of our flock? Where are the shepherds? |
p.w. gregory
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lambertville, nj I think those who cite the "death" of the PCUSA are greatly mistaken. No one has been as hard on the denomination as I, and with good reason. But the PCUSA is not dying, as the former UPCNA/PCUS never really died, just evolved, transformed into something else. Some will be along in that change and enthusiastic about it, the Covenant networks, TAMSF class and those who will not be, ECO, Fellowship groups others, TBD. Nothing will be changing that. As in any change, transformation, evolution, there is of course pain and heartache depending on one's point of reference, always mixed with joy, happiness, and new beginnings, such is the case with the Orlando church I am sure. That being said, what has died is the old "social compact" or concept of unity based upon a Form of Govt./Constitution/ or even a Book of Confessions, which someone needs to dust off and maybe even read it. The old wineskine when hit with the new wine of the Fellowships and ECO can get messy at times. The PCUSA can choose either to adapt to that change or understanding or not. If not, if it still seeks institutional unity via some administrative fiat, property in trust. If it closes the door on non-geogrpahic presbyteries and other forms of association or relationships "within" the system. Then yes, the system will rupture, and not die so much as morph via some new union with say a UCC, CC (DC) or take on Quaker/Unitarian ways of being that is far more comfortable to its smaller post-Christian population it seeks to serve. Change is never easy and always comes with consequences, intended or unintended. But history does move along. In many ways it is much like wishing the old black Bell rotary phone has a place in an Iphone world. How many times have we preached change to our wise old grey heads who wonder why the Sunday School and pews are not filled as they were back in the 60's when old Dr. So and So was the pastor, and all revolved around the church as the center of community life before the soccer travel teams, mom's day out, and sales based careers came about. Many in the PCUSA, on all sides, have prayed that God would hear us, and give us a response or show us the way to be. Maybe, this is indeed what God intends for all sides on the issues. As they say in the UCC, God is indeed still listening, and responding in ways that we do not always expect or desire, on all sides of the issues. |
Presby Brian
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Kansas City, KS Hooray! The sooner that people realize that the PCUSA is dead the better. |
