Departing, continuing congregations share Florida campus until dismissal
By Patrick Jean, February 25, 2008
Peace River Presbytery has temporarily created strange bedfellows at a large southwest Florida church that sought to leave with its property from the Presbyterian Church (USA).
About the parties
Covenant Presbyterian Church in Fort Myers, Fla., was founded in 1962. It has 1,340 members. The Rev. Dr. Bill Stephens has been senior pastor and head of staff since October 2005.
Peace River Presbytery had 38 congregations with almost 21,000 members in 2006, the most recent year for which PCUSA statistics are available. Its headquarters is in North Port, Fla. Presbytery commissioners voted Feb. 14 to deny the request from Covenant Presbyterian Church in Fort Myers, Fla., to depart from the denomination for the transitional, non-geographic New Wineskins Presbytery of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.
In two other votes, they also declared Covenant Church in schism and created an administrative commission to negotiate with church members who want to remain in the PCUSA and allow for the transfer of other church members and clergy to the EPC New Wineskins Presbytery.
Those who are going to the EPC soon will depart from the Covenant Church campus, along with the church’s senior pastor and head of staff, the Rev. Dr. Bill Stephens. Those who are staying in the PCUSA are worshiping in a fellowship hall on the campus apart from the departing congregation.
It will continue this way for another three weeks, then “they can have all the dirt,” Stephens said. “We are planning at launching at Easter in a new site, and have maybe 800 or 900” members, he said.
‘This jury has already been decided’
Of Covenant Church’s 1,340 members, 1,032 participated in a vote Feb. 3 to request dismissal from the PCUSA, Stephens said. Of those, 787 or 76 percent voted in favor of the request and 237 or 24 percent voted against it.
Comments by Peace River’s general presbyter, the Rev. Graham Hart, in the Feb. 6 edition of the presbytery’s weekly pastoral letter appeared to lay the groundwork for a continuing Covenant Church congregation in the PCUSA.
“The organized group of members who wish to remain a part of Peace River Presbytery and the Presbyterian Church (USA) believe they can best fulfill the mission of the church in that way,” he wrote. “The pastors, Bill Stephens and Stu Austin, the majority of the session, and the 787 who voted for dismissal believe that affiliating with the New Wineskins Presbytery of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church is how they can best express their faith convictions.
“As a presbytery, we are aware and saddened that the results of this vote on Feb. 3 will divide this great congregation,” Hart wrote. “… Currently, the [presbytery’s] task force has begun a conversation related to all tangible and implied implications of this congregational vote, including but not limited to dismissing members and clergy to the EPC, addressing financial and property matters, and safeguarding the rights, as per the Book of Order in G-8.0600, of the significant and sizable group of loyal PCUSA members who wish to remain as Covenant Presbyterian Church, PCUSA.”
Peace River Presbytery scheduled a special called meeting Feb. 14 at St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church in North Port, Fla., to address Covenant Church’s dismissal request. Stephens described the atmosphere as a kangaroo court.
“As I told my people riding up on the bus, ‘This jury has already been decided,'” he said. “When you go to a trial, and the jury has already met with one side right before the trial begins, you have a pretty good idea what the verdict’s going to be. And the leadership of the presbytery met with the other side of loyal supporters. They all arrived before we did to try and coach them through the process. And we knew that was going to happen.
“So, the question was not, ‘Are we going to win or lose on Thursday before the presbytery?'” Stephens said. “The question was, ‘Would we maintain a Christ-like attitude in the kangaroo court trial?’ And so I just encouraged everybody, ‘Let’s not argue back. Whatever they accuse us of, we’re just going to grin and bear it.’ So, we didn’t defend ourselves.”
Hart issued a statement Feb. 15 regarding the meeting the day before. It did not address the kangaroo court atmosphere alleged by Stephens, but it did address who spoke for and against Covenant Church’s dismissal request.
“The moderator called on Terry Bauer, Bill Stockman and Howard Finch, who spoke on behalf of those in the congregation who favored dismissal,” Hart wrote. “The presbytery then heard from Deborah Maurer, David Robinson and Don Bergland, who spoke on behalf of those in the congregation who wish to remain as loyal members of the Presbyterian Church (USA).”
Each side was given five minutes to speak, Stephens said. Then, “Don Cady, a member of the task force, reported on the observations of the task force regarding the actual voting process,” Hart wrote. “Jim Barnett, the presbytery’s treasurer, then reported on the financial implications of this request to the presbytery.”
“They planned it as a four-hour meeting, and it lasted just over an hour,” Stephens said. “Because when the motions came up regarding the accusations they made against us, we did not go to the microphone and speak. We sat quietly through the whole deliberations – the pastors, the delegates, my 50 supporters. There was no debate. The other side did not go to the mike because we did not go to the mike to defend ourselves. So, it was eerily short, quiet, civil.
“When the moderator looked at me as the motion was made as if to ask, ‘Are you going to get up and speak to this one?,’ and I didn’t move, it was as if we were communicating, ‘Go ahead and do quickly that which you have already decided you’re going to do,'” he said.
‘Keep your property. We’re starting over’
All three recommendations from the task force passed without discussion or debate, Stephens said. Hart’s statement provided details.
“In a first motion, the presbytery was asked to declare Covenant Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) of Fort Myers, Fla., a ‘church in schism,’ under Book of Order G-8.0601,” Hart wrote. “By a standing vote, the presbytery overwhelmingly voted to declare that Covenant was a ‘church in schism.'”
Six people voted against the schism declaration, Stephens said.
“In a second motion, the presbytery by a 98-16 written ballot voted ‘no’ to a motion to dismiss the Covenant Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church via the New Wineskins Presbytery,” Hart wrote. “While 787 members at Covenant’s congregational meeting on Feb. 3, 2008, voted for dismissal, 554 members, by either not voting (317) or voting against dismissal (237), did not express that desire. The presbytery’s action recognized that with a divided congregation, the presbytery could not vote to dismiss Covenant Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) as a congregation with all of its members.
“… In a third motion, in order to provide a means of honoring the requests of members and clergy who in good conscience cannot stay in fellowship with us, the presbytery voted that an administrative commission be appointed to: (1) facilitate transfer of their memberships to the EPC New Wineskins Presbytery; and (2) communicate, discuss and negotiate with individuals and groups for the purpose of bringing the Lord’s peace, good order and reconciliation to Covenant Presbyterian Church (PCUSA),” Hart wrote.
The third motion passed on a unanimous voice vote, Stephens said. “I was proud of my people,” he said. “We didn’t defend ourselves. We attended, we sat quietly, we were cordial. And when it was over, we said, ‘Now we are under who God’s calling us to be.’ “We know how the presby
tery works,” he said. “If there’s any group that wants to remain loyal, they then declare the church in schism and give them the facility. And then you either have to go to court or you walk away and say, ‘Keep your property. We’re starting over.’ And we’re choosing the latter.”
Stephens said he and the like-minded members of his congregation never planned to sue for the Covenant Church property. “Partially because we’re in the state of Florida, which has been a hierarchical rather than neutral-principles state,” he said. “It’s one of the six hierarchical states. And partially because what motivates us to do this tells us, ‘It’s much bigger than the property.’ And we don’t really care about the property.”
“This is bigger than the bricks and mortar,” Stephens said. “They can have the bricks and mortar. We’d rather be faithful. Of course, they disagree with us over what being faithful is. But for us, being faithful means separating from the Presbyterian Church (USA).”
Two churches, one campus
The Covenant Church members who are staying in the PCUSA had about 200 worshipers at their first separate service Feb. 10, Hart wrote. “The presbytery noted that those who wish to remain with the PCUSA are long-time, deeply committed members of the congregation,” he wrote. “As they demonstrated over the past year, they are a strong and organized group who have made it clear that they are committed to remaining with the PCUSA.”
On Feb. 17, the Covenant Church members who are going to the EPC held their first service after the presbytery’s votes, Stephens said. “I asked people on Sunday, in four worship services, if they were interested in going with us to the EPC,” he said. “And if they were, to sign up in the courtyard, give us their e-mail address and phone number and name. Seven hundred and 20 signed up, and we were surprised and honored at that huge response, and we anticipate that to continue to grow the next couple of Sundays.
“We expected them to give the 24 percent the facility, and we expected to have to walk,” Stephens said. “What I didn’t know was that how many people who voted by secret ballot to go with us would actually relocate with us and say, ‘Count on us. We’re in.'”
That relocation site, which will be within a 1-to-2-mile radius of the Covenant Church campus, should be announced Sunday (Feb. 24), Stephens said. And they’re taking most of the elders and virtually the entire staff with them, he said.
“Last year, we had 27 elders,” Stephens said. “Twenty-six of the 27 were with us. When we elected new elders this year, nine went off and nine came on. And of the current make-up, three are staying with the loyal minority, which means 24 are with us. When you look at the current staff, I am aware of only one person on the entire staff who is staying with the loyal minority, and everybody else is going with us. That’s a pretty high percentage.”
Things are “cordial and flowing smoothly” between the two churches, Stephens said. “We’ve let them make their bulletin copies and use the office help.”
He said his inspiration for coping with the split comes from, “Those who honor God, God honors. And so we’re trying to honor God not only in what we’re doing, but in the way we’re doing it.”
What’s next?
Stephens wants Peace River Presbytery to come up with a process where the two churches exist side-by-side on the Covenant Church campus, then to agree to dismiss the departing church to the EPC within four weeks, since the goal is to begin the new church on Easter Sunday in a new location. The presbytery seems agreeable to that, he said.
“Either our presbytery is going to figure out legally how we can do that, or we’re going to disaffiliate. They’ve been told that,” Stephens said. “We’re going to transfer in as a church one way or the other.”
Stephens said he met for two hours Saturday with the administrative commission, which said they would become the session for the continuing PCUSA church starting Feb. 28. Negotiations will include who pays for what expenses over the next few weeks while the church is shared, but the administrative commission’s plan should not affect the session of the departing congregation, he said.
“This administrative commission will provide the presbytery with an interim report at the next presbytery meeting,” Hart wrote. That meeting is scheduled for Feb. 28 at First Presbyterian Church in Port Charlotte, Fla.
If no action is taken at the Feb. 28 meeting, a special meeting would have to be called for Peace River Presbytery to take action within the four-week window that the departing Covenant Church congregation is seeking.
“Throughout this whole process, I have been reminded of what Jesus said about His followers and conflicts,” Hart wrote. “The one thing Jesus prayed for regarding His followers was that, ‘they would be one as the Father and I are one’ (John 17). When in conflict, Jesus admonished us to try to keep talking to each other, and be reconciled with each other. However, in Matthew 18, Jesus says: if A is angry, hurt, upset about B, then let A go to B and talk it out. If A cannot be reconciled, then A is to take C and have the conversation all over again. If that is unsuccessful, then A takes C and D along as witnesses, helpers, peacemakers and reconcilers. If that fails, let the whole church know, and be done with it.
“Rarely is the whole presbytery involved in this kind of debate, but when the Peace River Presbytery was called together on Feb. 14, 2008, as the ecclesiastical authority to discern and decide, it did so on behalf of the whole church, so as to be done with this conflict so all can get on their way,” he wrote. “Even as the Apostle Paul and Barnabas in the New Testament needed to go their separate ways, so the presbytery by its actions has provided a means for those who in good conscience cannot stay together. Yet, they can go their own ways to give witness to and serve Jesus, in spite of their differing perspectives.
“For Peace River Presbytery, this was a sad day, yet we pray that the love of God, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the healing mercies of the Spirit will be with us all, even as we go our separate ways,” Hart wrote.
Patrick Jean is a staff writer for The Layman and The Layman Online. He can be reached at pjean@www.layman.org.