Presbytery allows Indiana church to leave denomination
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, April 30, 2004
First Presbyterian Church in Warsaw, Ind., whose roots in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and its predecessor denominations go back to 1840, has received permission from the Wabash Valley Presbytery to affiliate with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.
Gus SiderisOn April 24, at a business meeting at the conclusion of its worship service, about 325 members of the Warsaw congregation voted unanimously in favor of leaving the PCUSA.
After months of negotiations, the presbytery voted unanimously on April 27 to allow the congregation to leave with its property upon payment of $95,743. Originally, the presbytery asked the congregation to pay an $850,000 exit fee.
The Warsaw congregation is the fifth Confessing Church in the PCUSA to leave the denomination since 2002. One has affiliated with the Presbyterian Church in America and the other four have aligned with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.
Gus Sideris, a retired financial planner who is Warsaw’s full-time volunteer director of its Barnabas ministry, said the reasons for leaving the PCUSA were essentially the same as the three tenets of the Confessing Church Movement: 1) Jesus alone is Lord and Savior; 2) the Bible is the infallible guide for faith and practice; and 3) God’s standards of holiness are timeless.
He said the congregation, which is currently served by an interim pastor, became part of the Confessing Church Movement, hoping the denomination would begin to consider more seriously its Biblical and confessional tradition. But he said the congregation grew increasingly disenchanted as other churches and presbyteries defied church law and denominational leaders refused to enforce the constitution.
“The situation did not seem to be getting any better,” Sideris said.
The official membership figure for the Warsaw congregation is 721, but, realistically, it’s probably closer to 600, Sideris said. On an typical Sunday, 425-450 will attend the worship service.