Circleville, N.Y., congregation votes to leave denomination
The Layman Online, January 2, 2002
Faced with the possibility that its survival requires separation from the Presbyterian Church (USA), the congregation of Circleville Presbyterian Church in Circleville, N.Y., voted overwhelmingly Dec. 30 to affiliate with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.
The vote was 72-2 in favor of leaving the Presbyterian Church (USA). Three members of the Circleville congregation abstained from voting.
The issue now goes before the council of the Presbytery of Hudson River, with a final determination by the full presbytery scheduled Jan. 28.
The presbytery will decide whether the congregation can leave with its property, including a new family life center for which construction has been halted.
The Book of Order says “all property held by or for a particular church …. is held in trust … for the use and benefit of the Presbyterian Church …” [G-8.0201].
So far, the Presbytery of Hudson River has not taken a position that would force a legal fight over ownership of the Circleville property.
Circleville was one of the first congregations in New York to join the Confessing Church Movement within the Presbyterian Church (USA).
Pastor Leo Jaloszynski said he and the elders had hoped the Confessing Church Movement would provide an evangelical buffer to counter some of the problems created by the presbytery and the denomination.
Circleville is a congregation with a deep commitment to evangelical missions and social ministries. The congregation has 100 members, but more than 200 attend worship services. Contributions average in excess of $2,500 per member annually – more than triple the denomination’s per-capita giving.
The Presbytery of Hudson River is one of the most liberal presbyteries in the nation. Nearly 80 percent of the commissioners voting at a recent meeting of the presbytery opposed the PCUSA’s “fidelity/chastity” ordination standard. Some pastors and sessions have said they are openly defying the standard.
The presbytery moved into the PCUSA’s national limelight in 1999 when it authorized ministers to conduct services to bless same-gender couples.
Since then, several ministers in the presbytery have promoted the services to bless same-gender couples. That prompted Circleville to pay for a full-page advertisement in Circleville’s local newspaper to set itself apart theologically from those congregations.
Some members have left the Circleville church and others have reduced their contributions. Because of declining gifts, Circleville has cut its worship services from two on Sunday mornings to one (to save on heating costs) and stopped construction of its 7,500-square-foot family life center that is two-thirds complete.
“We’re losing good people,” Jaloszynski said.
He said a member of the presbytery’s council hinted that the congregation might seek to leave the denomination and affiliate with the more evangelical EPC. “As soon as they hinted that, we immediately took it as the parting of the sea,” he said.
Jaloszynski said one of the concerns among members of his session and the congregation is that there is no discipline in the presbytery. “There are 16 churches in open opposition to the Book of Order,” he said. Jaloszynski’s concern is being echoed across the denomination in the wake of a decision by Redwoods Presbytery in California to ordain Kathleen Morrison. Morrison has defied the PCUSA Constitution by declaring herself a lesbian in a “partnership,” which, she told The San Francisco Chronicle, includes sexual activity.
Like Circleville, many Presbyterian congregations are asking why they should remain in a denomination whose leaders will not protect and defend the constitution.
James L. Vande Berg, the executive for the Presbytery of Hudson River, said he could not predict whether the presbytery would allow Circleville church to leave with its property. “I wouldn’t even begin to imagine where the presbytery would go with the request.”
Presbyteries hold local church property in trust for the General Assembly of the denomination. They are, however, authorized to allow a congregation to leave the denomination with its property and to affiliate with another Reformed denomination.
Jaloszynski emphasized that the Evangelical Presbyterian Church has not courted Circleville. The EPC has only two congregations in New York. The EPC has 190 congregations.