Presbytery dismisses church
after $700,000 commitment
The Layman, August 15, 2008
Bay Presbyterian Church in Bay Village, Ohio, has been dismissed from the Western Reserve Presbytery after agreeing to give the presbytery $100,000 a year for seven years.
The presbytery voted 135 to 13 with eight abstentions to dismiss the congregation with its property to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. Bay was the largest Presbyterian Church (USA) congregation in northeastern Ohio.
Although the presbytery originally asked for a $1 million commitment, the $700,000 could double to $1.4 million if the congregation fails to meet the presbytery’s payment terms.
The presbytery required a letter of letter of credit for the $700,000 and then added: ” … in the event of a breach of the seven-year covenant, whether by ceasing its affiliation with any of the bodies cited above [EPC], or sale of more than 35% of the property, the consequences shall be immediate payment of the remainder of the original $700,000 and an additional payment of $700,000.”
The presbytery allowed the congregation to keep its name.
Following the dismissal vote, which took place during the presbytery’s May 28 meeting, the presbytery and Bay leaders participated in a service of dismissal. David Briggs, a reporter for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, said that during the service “delegates from Bay and the presbytery asked each other’s forgiveness ‘for any words, deeds or omissions that have wounded you.'”
Bay Church had a membership of 2,071 at the end of 2007 and its budget that year was $2.96 million.
An evangelical congregation, Bay Presbyterian Church’s leaders often disagreed with the positions of the presbytery and the denomination. In the 2001 referendum on a proposal to repeal the “fidelity/chastity” ordination requirement in The Book of Order, Western Reserve’s commissioners voted 131-73 in favor of repeal.
No litigation was begun during the dismissal process.