Message to Louisville: Let my people go!
By Parker T. Williamson, The Layman Online, November 2, 2007
FAIR OAKS, Calif. – The Rev. Dr. G. Henry Wells, senior pastor of Fair Oaks Presbyterian Church who is so respected across denominational lines that he often is referred to as pastor to the entire city of Sacramento, sent an unequivocal message to leaders of the Presbyterian Church (USA): “Let my people go!”
Wells, whose 2,286-member congregation voted by a margin of 96.8 percent to leave the Presbyterian Church (USA), has little use for denominational attempts to confiscate congregational property. “Where is the Christian love in that?” he asked.
“If the other side, those who represent the More Light group [a group favoring the ordination of homosexuals and adulterers], wanted to leave and form their own denomination, I would say go, take your property, and may the Lord bless you,” he told more than 400 people in the sanctuary of Fair Oaks Presbyterian Church on Oct. 30. “I cannot understand why the denomination doesn’t say that to our churches. They would be so blessed if they did that!”
Taking notes from a pew in Wells’ sanctuary was the Rev. Mark Tammen, legal advisor to General Assembly Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick, who co-authored documents advising presbyteries to lay claim to the property of congregations that consider dismissal to another denomination, despite the fact that such dismissals are permitted by the PCUSA’s Constitution. Tammen also has advised that presbyteries change the locks on sanctuaries that they have seized, defrock ministers deemed unfriendly to the denomination, freeze church bank accounts, and remove officers elected by the congregation.
‘Time to move’
Considering a trend that he says he has tracked for more than 15 years during which he has given massive efforts toward denominational renewal, Wells said he no longer can support groups that are working for change within PCUSA structures.
“I don’t what to spend any more time doing what we have done for the last 15 years,” he said. “We have spent hours on our knees, praying and working for the renewal of this denomination. If we had spent that time, effort and prayer winning the lost in our community, we might have turned this community upside down.”
Wells declared “now is the time to move.” He expressed concern for his brothers and sisters in the PCUSA who are hanging on and hoping for change in its programs and policies. “First they said they would ‘stay, fight and win,'” he said. “Then they said they would ‘stay and fight.’ Now they are saying they will ‘stay.'”
Considering coercive trends that are evident in the denominational bureaucracy, Wells predicted that conditions are going to worsen for those evangelicals who insist on remaining inside the structure. “That’s where some of my friends are, and I believe that down the road things will happen to them that cannot be remedied. Some of them will not be able to get out.”
Wells has a vision for spreading the Gospel throughout metropolitan Sacramento by forging alliances across denominational lines with various Christian ministries. “We are not leaving the PCUSA just to be leaving,” he said, “but so we can do ministry unfettered and let God do His work in us where we are planted.”
“We’re going beyond denominational stuff,” Wells said. “We’re all about Jesus.”
The Rev. Parker T. Williamson is editor emeritus of The Layman and The Layman Online. .