By Rachael Lee, Christianity Daily.
Good Shepherd Church (ECO) is currently involved in a lawsuit regarding church property with Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) and the San Gabriel Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church (USA).
The formerly known Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church, located in Rowland Heights, was one of the largest Korean PCUSA congregations in California, and had pursued to be dismissed from the PCUSA under its presbytery (San Gabriel Presbytery)’s Gracious Dismissal Policy (GDP), but the presbytery stopped the GDP process before its completion. The minority congregation that desired to remain within PCUSA then maintained the name Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) and remained in the presbytery, while the majority of the congregants (including then senior pastor Reverend Tae Hyung Ko) disaffiliated themselves from the PCUSA and joined the ECO, becoming Good Shepherd Church (ECO). The ECO congregation sent a letter to the San Gabriel Presbytery of its decision to affiliate with the ECO in late March, and officially joined the denomination in May.
However, the San Gabriel Presbytery and Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) sued Good Shepherd Church (ECO), Reverend Tae Hyung Ko, and the church session for continuing to use the same church property even after disaffiliating themselves from the PCUSA.
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This is all about the presbytery wanting more money, they even broke their own rules to go after Good Shepherd. They violated the original agreement. Just like on other cased, louisville and alot of presbyteries change the rules when they damn well please, and these jokers wonder why nobody trust them!
When will all of this stop?
Pres-person-redux, what do you know about this church and presbytery, then?
FYI, they reached GDA with presbytery and approved by 91% , only to see it reversed because handful of people.
The stakes are high for every Presbytery that has a church in discernment
and possibly moving to leave the PCUSA. San Gabrial Presbytery is trying to keep the people in the PCUSA by using the church property as leverage.
It is not working, therefore they resort to litigation irrespective of God’s will. If they were following their own rules and allowing God to work they would not need to take these people to court.
Every Presbytery is facing the real possibility of churches leaving…..
And those churches will become the Oasis for individuals who are seeking a place away from the PCUSA. The stakes are higher than just individual churches leaving. We know that there are places that do not have an Evangelical Presbyterian presence ( see ECO and EPC for where churches are and are not). When churches leave they become will become the option for conservative Bible believing Christians who do not like the trajectory of the PCUSA.
Yes, the stakes are high and so the reaction is to go to court.
Good Shepherd is also Korean and I suspect every Korean church in the PCUSA is watching to see what happens. I pray that Good Shepherd Presbyterian ECO will stand firm on The Word of God and trust God to
Lead and God will be speaking to many through their witness.
@ justice perverted – Presbyteries constitute PCUSA congregations and they have complete control over releasing congregations, if they choose to modify a process, that is their right and duty – you have no ideas about this particular congregation and what may or may not have been going on here – DO YOU?? are you a member here???
Amen, God bless those who stand firm on The Word of God.
May the Lord bless all of you who want to keep the Lord’s words, and prepare you to greet the Lord in the air. Maranatha!