A small congregation in Arizona is returning to its roots after being dissolved by the Presbyterian Church (USA) to become a community church.
The former Mohawk Valley Presbyterian Church in Roll, Ariz., located in the southwest corner of the state near the borders of California and Mexico, sent a letter to Grand Canyon Presbytery in December 2011 indicating the conservative congregation’s desire to be released from the PCUSA .
The congregation wanted to become a community church once more, as it had been when it was formed in 1949, prior to becoming a Presbyterian church in the mid-1950s.
During the April 27 presbytery meeting, the request for dissolution was granted, paving the way for the 37-member congregation in the heart of Arizona lettuce farming country to become Mohawk Valley Community Church.
“When we started, it was a community church,” said Shirley Murdock, longtime church clerk, whose parents gave an acre of land to build the existing church in 1954. “We really feel we can serve this community better by being a non-denominational church. Some of the people who attend are not members but are active in what we do, and they expect to join. We just feel we can appeal to a wider range of people and their interests.”
Cecil Pratt, who also serves as an associate pastor at a Baptist church in Arizona and has been with Mohawk Valley for 12 years, agreed with that assessment in discussing why the congregation did not seek affiliation with another Presbyterian denomination.
“I think the session’s perception is that Presbyterian is a broad label, and they associate all Presbyterians with the problems of the (national) Presbyterian denomination,” he said. “We feel we can better serve as a community church rather than a denominational church.
“We now have a blank page to revisit our articles of incorporation, statement of faith, constitution and by-laws. We have to realize there’s a lot of work to do, but this is a church that is willing to do it.”
The presbytery appointed an Administrative Commission (AC) to work with the Mohawk Valley session, and the two sides started hammering out details for the dissolution in February 2013.
The dissolution took effect June 3 – the closing date – and all records of the church were turned over to the national denomination. Mohawk Valley also was required to pay all costs of the process, including property appraisals, travel expenses and mailings.
A second meeting early in April dealt with negotiations for the property. A final price of $15,300 was agreed upon by both parties. The property formerly belonging to Mohawk Valley Presbyterian Church, controlled by the presbytery until closing, was sold to the Mohawk Valley Community Church for that price.
“We will keep the same building,” Murdock said. “It needs some repairs, and we plan to make those now that the property belongs to our church.”
Pratt indicated church members were ready to walk away from the property if it came to such an act, but that was not necessary. He said the decision to dissolve the Presbyterian congregation and become a community church was one that had been pondered for some time by members of Mohawk Valley.
“There were several issues over a long period of time that became significant enough that we needed to address them,” Pratt said. “They were primarily those the PCUSA classified as social issues.”
Pratt said the PCUSA’s positions on gun control and capital punishment, as well as its decision to side with laborers when the Cesar-Chavez-led labor movement led to a strike that left crops rotting in the fields were among those social issues that bothered church members. The 2011 passage of Amendment 10A – deleting the explicit “fidelity/chastity” requirement from the constitutional ordination standard, and now allows the PCUSA to ordain gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people as deacons, elders and pastors – was the latest concern.
“That was kind of the last straw for us, if you will, and certainly played a factor in our decision,” Pratt said. “It has been a combination of things that we began to feel kept us from being well-represented at the national level.”
Murdock said it was just time to end the church’s affiliation with the PCUSA and seek other means to do God’s work.
“The liberal stance the church has taken has been in our thoughts for a number of years,” she said. “We’re out from under the umbrella of the PCUSA, something we have been thinking of and working toward for a number of years. To have it materialize is a relief. We’ve erased that word (PCUSA) from our vocabulary.”
Pratt said great lengths were taken to keep the membership apprised of what was going on throughout the process of dissolution, all while following the steps put in place by the Presbytery of Grand Canyon. All that probably helped reduce the angst and any other potential pitfalls associated with a process that covered approximately 18 months.
“Presbyterians believe in order, and to the best of our ability we did all we could to follow the order and guidelines set aside by the Book of Order and Grand Canyon Presbytery,” he said. “Not only did we inform the presbytery, but we also went to great lengths to inform our members of what was taking place. We followed the process to the tee, and by doing that did not put ourselves in an adversarial role with the presbytery. The unity and a willingness to keep people informed made the process a smooth one.”
Murdock and Pratt both noted an emphasis the congregation places on mission work, something they expect to continue in earnest as a community church.
“Our mission giving has been generous and of our choosing, not always what the presbytery required us to do. We usually went above and beyond,” Murdock said. “We are a generous church that believes in sharing the Word of Christ.”
Pratt added, “(Mohawk Valley) members have really been going strong with their mission work; they have developed a real passion for it,” he said. “They keep increasing their budget and getting more money. For a congregation of this size to do the things they have is really fun to watch. God has really blessed them in that area. It’s all God. He has allowed them to continue that work.”