The rigors of leaving the Presbyterian Church (USA) led to the loss of members and giving for a small Louisiana church, but its steadfast faith prevailed.
First Union Presbyterian Church, located in Luling about 30 minutes west of New Orleans, was dismissed from the PCUSA during the June 4 meeting of South Louisiana Presbytery to become part of ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians.
The Rev. Walter Hackney, interim pastor at First Union, described the process as one that zapped church members of time, energy and focus.
“This has been a hard process for the church. Our attendance dropped, and our giving has plummeted,” he said. “Ours was not the easiest dismissal. The presbytery did not make things easy.”
Hackney said the Standing Administrative Commission (SAC) working with the church assumed original jurisdiction of the session in October 2012, making the accusation that First Union elders violated the dismissal policy by taking a five-question straw poll of the congregation without the presence of SAC members in September 2012, noting that the session was out of compliance for passing two non-binding resolutions (to leave the PCUSA and be transferred to ECO).
The straw poll was taken for informational purposes, merely as a way to find out how members felt about the possibility of leaving the denomination in order to determine an appropriate way to proceed.
In an email to The Layman that also served as one of two appeals by Hackney asking that the decision to assume original jurisdiction be reversed, he indicated that had First Union’s session been notified of such noncompliance, it would have rescinded the resolutions.
The session of First Union sent minutes of its meetings to the Presbytery Response Team (PRT) that included dates of upcoming meetings, but there was never a response from any member expressing a desire to attend.
In the appeals, Hackney also noted that the Presbytery Response Team did not follow the dismissal policy when it cancelled a meeting with three First Union elders without rescheduling in March 2012, and only one of three agreed meetings for the PRT with the congregation took place (on April 28), and the dates for a second and third meeting were not announced. Additionally, Hackney noted in his appeal that the PRT failed to “discuss with the congregation whether the congregation should be divided, dismissed or dissolved.”
The email alleges the same thing happened at an Aug. 19 meeting between the PRT and congregation. It also indicates the assumption of original jurisdiction by the SAC is out of compliance with the Book of Order by the actions of the acting moderator to call a congregational meeting at the church without a passed motion at an official meeting of the SAC (G-1.0502).
The pastor maintained that the session did not share any of the issues with the SAC because it was seeking to be gracious in the dismissal process.
Despite Hackney’s appeals – declined by a voting margin of about 2-1 – the SAC still claimed original jurisdiction of the session.
Once the SAC took control in October 2012, attendance, membership and giving totals began to dwindle.
Members of the Luling session were notified via email from SAC and PRT Moderator Lesley Paine of the SAC’s decision to assume original jurisdiction.
Paine’s email read, “Since all PCUSA teaching and ruling elders take a solemn vow to ‘promise to further the peace, unity, and purity of the church’ and since this session refuses to strive for the peace and unity of Christ’s church, and since this session has consistently failed to follow the adopted Procedures, the Standing Administrative Commission take immediate jurisdiction over their session before the October 4 session meeting in order to protect the rights of the minority. All the members of the session will be dismissed and a new moderator will be appointed over the session. The Standing Administrative Commission now takes immediate jurisdiction of the First Union session. Each of you is dismissed from the session, and a new moderator has been appointed. We will meet with the congregation on November 4 at 5 p.m. as scheduled.”
In response, First Union Clerk of Session Bradford Thompson wrote, “Needless to say, I am in shock and deeply disappointed by this action. I truly believe that over the last seven years during my service as an elder and Clerk of Session, I have fulfilled my ordination vows, including to strive for peace and unity in CHRIST’S CHURCH, which I unfortunately believe at present does not include the PCUSA. I believe that I and the other session members have done everything in our power over the last year or so to follow the dismissal procedures as outlined by the Presbytery. We have not done anything behind closed doors and we have been fully open with you and the SAC regarding our feelings and our actions. All of our work has been in an effort to hold this congregation together, so that we might be a place in St. Charles Parish where those who are seeking can come to meet and learn about our glorious Savior, Jesus Christ. I am not sure where we have ‘consistently failed to follow the adopted Procedures.’ I would have thought the PRT would have met with our session face to face to discuss this, but we have obviously already been tried and convicted.”
Thompson also indicated a scheduling conflict led to a change of date in the scheduled session meeting and that he was crafting a letter to the congregation about a Nov. 4 meeting that was scheduled. In the email he asked Paine if he should proceed with formulating the letter.
Paine answered with an email that read, “When you, as an elder, say that the PCUSA is not part of Christ’s Church, and you have stated publicly that you are Presbyterian, but not PCUSA, you should not serve as a ruling elder of any PCUSA congregation, and you should not seek to tear apart any congregation of which you are a part. We, as the PRT, have not been invited to any session meetings, and were not informed of the vote to leave until recently, long after we met with the congregation. This was never mentioned, only the illegal straw poll. Please, do not send out a letter. You no longer represent the congregation of Luling as Clerk of Session.”
An email sent and phone call placed to South Louisiana Presbytery by The Layman were not answered.
Hackney said about 80 percent of the 76-member congregation founded in 1967 were in favor of leaving early on, primarily due to the passage of Amendment 10A (deletion of the explicit “fidelity/chastity” requirement from the constitutional ordination standard) in May 2011.
“Some people did not like what the PCUSA was doing but thought we should stay and try to affect positive change,” Hackney said. “The passage of 10A got a lot of folks wound up.”
While the sexuality issue became a prominent symptom of the PCUSA’s perceived maladies by the Luling congregation, it was far from the only topic of dissension. The Lordship of Jesus Christ and authority of Scripture also developed into hot-button issues for the politically and theologically conservative body of believers.
“The denomination takes the Bible very loosely on things it seems to teach very clearly,” Hackney said. “That had our members more upset than the sexuality issue.”
First Union’s session sent a letter to South Louisiana Presbytery requesting the opportunity to enter the dismissal process, but it was some time before there was a response, Hackney said, noting there was a feeling among church members that the presbytery was dragging its feet in handling of the matter.
“Nothing happened quickly in this entire process,” he said.
Once there was a response, congregational meetings took place in April, August and November 2012, culminating with a December congregational vote that yielded a 30-4 result (one abstention) in favor of leaving the PCUSA.
During the settlement negotiations, First Union’s representatives offered a payment of $10,000, a price they felt fair as an exit fee. The presbytery accepted the offer, and Hackney indicated a 17-14 vote released the congregation to depart for ECO.
Hackney said comments were made by presbyters that churches should not be allowed to leave, that individuals could leave the denomination but churches should stay.
“Then why have a dismissal policy of you’re not going to let churches leave?” he asked.
Hackney said he took a check to make payment to the presbytery June 11. As of July 12, a certificate of dismissal still had not been issued by the presbytery, though Hackney said he was informed at the beginning of the month that it was on its way.
Suffice to say, Hackney and the leadership of First Union felt the process was not a good one.
“It was not an amicable process,” he said. “I was shocked at how un-Christian my brothers and sisters in Christ have been. I was even accused of taking the church out of the denomination when I’ve tried to do nothing but preach patience and remain neutral.
“It seems as if though no one seems to care about the Luling church.”
There was a thought of seeking litigation, but a reference to 1 Corinthians 6 where Paul preaches against Christians resolving differences in a secular court nixed that possibility.
“We could have gone to court, but if there is a way to avoid civil courts, it is our obligation to try it,” Hackney explained.
Hackney, who also is a certified math teacher, indicated that he planned to remain a PCUSA pastor, but the experience in dealing with dismissal from the national denomination has changed his mind.
“This has soured me,” he said. “I don’t want the church to be without a pastor going into a new denomination, so I will stay on for a while. I’ve been told by ECO (officials) that they would take me if I renounce jurisdiction (of the PCUSA).”
ECO was selected as First Union’s new denominational affiliation because of its focus on missions, openness to women in leadership positions (the Luling church has a long history of women serving in such capacities) and less bureaucracy in its governance.
Gretna church also dismissed
During the same South Louisiana Presbytery meeting on June 4, Gretna Presbyterian Church also was dismissed from the PCUSA with all its property.
The church of approximately 45 members, located south of New Orleans on the west bank of the Mississippi River, joins the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC).
2 Comments. Leave new
Wow. I thought it was just our Presbytery of the Peaks that was acting so vicious. We are going through the same thing and the situation mirrors our own. Our AC is doing every possible unethical and un-Christian thing they can do to tear our church down and protect the “minority”. There is no end in sight for the layers of corruption and dangerously devious behaviors these “brothers and sisters in Christ” (as they call themselves).
The smaller churches do not have finances for a good lawyer and that makes leaving with the property such a struggle. Sometimes it is just better to resign from the PCUSA and leave without the property, meet in another facility (school, store-front) as many new church plants do, and avoid a lot of needless pain. I left the PCUSA in 2009 (of course, very few in my church at that time wanted to leave the denomination) and a few of us from my church started an independent congregation. I valued my thirty years as a Presbyterian, but it was time to go–I could not stay. I’m having the best time of my life as a pastor. God has been so good. Anyway I pray for those churches feeling the call of God to join another group of Christians who share their spiritual DNA.