Laredo congregation leaving PCUSA to affiliate with EPC
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, February 17, 2005
Mission Presbytery in Texas has dismissed a Confessing Church congregation and its pastor to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, but the property issue is still up in the air.
The presbytery voted 152-76 in October against a motion to allow the congregation – First Presbyterian Church in Laredo – to leave with its property and assets. However, the presbytery decided to allow the congregation to continue using the property until after an appraisal is made of the land and building.
The presbytery’s trustees were instructed to make a recommendation for the disposition of the property “in such a way as to not overly burden financially that congregation.”
The Laredo congregation has about 40 members. Along with their pastor, Dale Youngs, they voted to renounce the jurisdiction of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and join the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. The transfer will occur after the Mission Presbytery’s vote in March.
The congregation is one of six Confessing Churches that have left the PCUSA in the last three years. Five have chosen to become part of the EPC and one is in the PCA. The Confessing Church Movement still numbers 1,308 congregations – the largest independent alliance of congregations in the PCUSA.
The Evangelical Presbyterian Church broke away from the Northern mainline denomination in 1981, two years before the PCUSA was created by merging its Northern and Southern streams. The EPC allows its congregations, by a two-thirds vote of their members, to separate from the EPC with their property.
The PCUSA Constitution includes a property clause stating that congregations hold their property in trust for the benefit of the national church. The presbyteries have a number of choices: they can take over the property and assets of a congregation; sell the property to the separating congregation; or give the property to the congregation.
The EPC began with 12 congregations. Today, it has 75,000 members in 191 churches in North America and Argentina. While the PCUSA has a Book of Confessions with 11 creedal statements, the EPC uses only the Westminster Confession and catechisms, which constituted the confessional standards for Presbyterians in America from the 18th century to 1967.
Youngs and First Presbyterian Church have had a relatively high profile in Laredo, despite the congregation’s small membership. He has been active in the pro-life movement, communitywide programs promoting prayers for persecuted Christians around the globe and a well-publicized program on healing and deliverance that was led by an Episcopal team.