Church in western North Carolina narrowly votes to stay in PCUSA
By Craig M. Kibler, The Layman Online, September 24, 2007
WAYNESVILLE, N.C. – By the barest of margins – three votes – First Presbyterian Church in Waynesville decided Sunday not to request dismissal from the Presbyterian Church (USA) to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. The vote was 68-65.
After the congregational meeting had ended, an unidentified man went to the microphone and said the vote had been painful, but that some members “cannot in good conscience remain in the PCUSA, so we will be holding a meeting to form an EPC congregation in Haywood County.”
He provided no more details, only saying that the meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Monday.
Before the vote, which was on the question: “Shall the First Presbyterian Church of Waynesville be dismissed to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC),” Pastor Josh Cole explained that two representatives of the session and three representatives of the presbytery would speak briefly to those in attendance.
Beth Galloway, a member of the session, apologized to the congregation. “As a ruling elder,” she said, “I feel I must apologize. I did not find a way to keep the peace, unity and purity of this congregation intact. I do believe that we made a mistake working for schism rather than unity.”
“I expected that we wanted a final victory, rather than waiting on the Lord,” she said. “So, we are changing, no matter what the vote is. We should stay friends even if we are on opposite sides of this issue.”
Bill Osbruck, another member of the session, said that, “for the past several months, we have been on a long and arduous journey. We’re all tired, physically and emotionally, from the moment of entering the guidelines for withdrawal to considering the issues before us. There were no peripheral issues, but critical issues, and we heard from advocates for withdrawal and advocates for remaining, representatives of the presbytery and of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.”
“Our pastor,” he said, “has consistently and steadfastly kept Jesus Christ before us in his preaching and in his newsletter. All of us have prayed for a peaceful resolution to this matter and a peaceful parting.
“There has been much pain,” Osbruck said, “exquisite pain, pain that is not confined to either stayers or goers. Everyone is in pain about this and neither group can co-opt pain. Inflicted or endured, it is wrong.”
He said that much of the discussion in the past few months has concerned the EPC. “Unfortunately,” he said, “many of the comments about the EPC have been ill-considered and misleading and, as such, have taken away from the issues – namely, concerns about our own denomination; which one, ours or the EPC, gives the most clear and unambiguous devotion to Jesus Christ.”
“A plan for the reformation of the PCUSA has been put out by the Presbyterian Coalition, a group of conservative stayers,” Osbruck said. “Most of 12 applicable headings are a focus of the EPC. For the record, the EPC is distinctly Presbyterian and lies by choice and design in the spectrum of our denomination and the Presbyterian Church in America. In fairness, the EPC, like all denominations, has problems. Truly, all denominations are earthen vessels.”
He said that, in the past month, “critical things have been said about our denomination, about the EPC and each other. They were wrong. In addition, some of the accusations made about our session, our pastor and the goers by a very tiny minority, in private and in public, have not honored Jesus Christ.”
In summation, Osbruck said they have tried “to seek God’s will for our congregation with all our hearts. I pray, hope and trust that we have done that. We are promised that God will honor, nurture and support us where necessary.”
The Rev. Don Scofield, chairman of the Presbytery of Western North Carolina’s Committee on Ministry and pastor of Rutherfordton Presbyterian Church, told the congregation that he was “pleased to hear, as I listened to the session representatives, the focus on Christ. That fits very well with where we are in Rutherfordton. I would echo some of the thoughts from earlier that said denominations are of human construction. They all do come with their flaws and shortcomings, but also very positive things as well.”
The committee on ministry, he said, “has been involved early on with this. We met with the session, and I appreciate that it was a good open discussion there. I come here today not to enter into any kind of debate. We treasure you. I have found in the PCUSA a denomination in which I feel at home, where Jesus Christ is honored. Many people have issues with the denomination and I’m one of them, but there are great seeds of hope in our denomination – its mission emphasis; Christ’s name continues to grow; there is evidence of change in our denominational office. I’m very positive about the future of the PCUSA. That’s not to say that we don’t have problems. With 2.4 million members, you’re going to have problems.”
“Regardless of what happens today,” Scofield said, “we are committed to ministry in this area. It is very important since the presbytery takes very seriously our responsibility to our congregations and pastors, so we’ll continue to be involved here regardless of the vote.
“The process we’ve set up has been a struggle. I hear you. I was one of those who developed it,” he said. “Today you vote, then your request will go to the presbytery. If the vote is to be dismissed, it goes to a presbytery task force that will be set up to meet to discern and how to advise the presbytery regarding dismissal and property, which are two issues.”
Scofield said that, should the congregation vote to request dismissal, it will not be presented to the presbytery by its October meeting because “we would want to be fair and give a good hearing to everyone. Although it’s a longer process, we want to do it right. I anticipate it probably will come before the January meeting.”
The Rev. J. Layton Mauze III, a member of the committee on ministry, told the congregation that he has been asked what Presbyterians believe. “People in our denomination believe in the sovereign power and grace of God,” he said, “the Lordship of Jesus Christ, the authority of the Scriptures, the equipping of the Holy Spirit and the sacred importance of prayer.”
“I believe that not everybody in our denomination believes the same way, how we believe those things and how we should live out our faith,” he said. “Unity in Jesus Christ is more important than uniformity of belief.”
Mauze said he had the same feelings expressed by others regarding issues in the life of the church. “I’ve disagreed with them,” he said. “I’ve taken my ordination vows seriously to bring about a change in the life of our denomination.”
“I ask you to vote to stay in the PCUSA,” Mauze urged the congregation. “These issues have been and are being addressed in the life of the church. We can maintain our convictions in patience.
“I encourage you to stay in our denomination because the presbytery needs you to continue our mission to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ in the City of Waynesville and in Haywood County,” he said.
The Rev. Ira “Ike” Kennerly, interim associate presbyter for the presbytery, told the congregation that “no one has ever tried to compromise me and you in following in the footsteps of Jesus. Our consciences cannot be bound. Remember your brothers and sisters. We have been family.”
The congregational vote, he said, was “talking about leaving the family, talking about separating ourselves from the family.”
The floor then was opened for comments from the congregation, alternating with advocates for staying and advocates for leaving, which took about 15-to-20 minutes.
“We’re all Christians,” one member of the congregation said, “otherwise we wouldn’t be here on this matter. Being a Christina is a learning experience all though our lives. You learn things as you go along and that’s what we’re doing here. Don’t walk away, support each other and we need to stay together.”
A woman said that, across the nation, “there is a division as to whether you want to stay in the church or go into pseudo-intellectualism and same-sex approvals and those who just think that the church is already divided, that you have to go with God and with what Jesus Christ said and not what the denomination says.”
Another member said, “I have been unhappy with the leadership of our denomination for some time and may very well decide to leave the PCUSA. I don’t have the right or authority to ask you to leave the PCUSA. That decision must be made on an individual basis on what the Lord is leading us to do. I believe I should do what His will is, not what my brothers or sisters think. I walk according to the will of God. Let us make a decision as to what God wants us to do.”
Another woman said, “This is a difficult decision that everyone of us face today. I’m very definitely in favor of staying in the PCUSA. But whatever the decision, when I see you on the street or in the store, you will still be my friend, you will always be my friend and I still love you and will always love you as a fellow Christian.”
A man told that congregation that, “Initially, I felt called to stay and reform the PCUSA from inside, but no longer think that God wants us to use our time and energy to fight these fights. Endeavoring to reform the PCUSA I realize was unrealistic. Many factors of this whole debate focus first on our faithfulness to Christ and second to preserve this body. A transfer to the EPC can do both these things.”
Craig M. Kibler is the Director of Publications/Executive Editor of The Layman and The Layman Online. He can be reached at cmkibler@layman.org.