Beaver-Butler refigures charge
to dismiss congregation to EPC
The Layman, April 30, 2009
Editors note: This story was updated at 3 p.m. April 30 with new information.
Chippewa United Presbyterian Church in Beaver Falls, Pa., has concluded an agreement to be dismissed by the Beaver-Butler Presbytery to affiliate with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.
“We are excited to be in a denomination that more accurately reflects our beliefs,” said Pastor Scott Graham. He mentioned the EPC’s “Essentials of Our Faith,” as something “needed for ourselves and to communicate to those in the community about who we are and what we believe.”
The presbytery approved what was thought to be the final financial agreement in July. It called on Chippewa to give the presbytery $7,000 a year for mission support for three years and $4,200 a year for three years for presbytery support.
But three presbytery commissioners objected, and that delayed the dismissal of the congregation until a final agreement could be reached on March 30. After the three-year period, Chippewa agreed to pay the presbytery an additional settlement of $4,500 a year for another 10 years. Graham said that was 5 percent of the value of the property. The final settlement was approved by the presbytery and a congregational vote.
The congregational vote to leave the PCUSA and join the EPC was 104-1, and the vote to accept the settlement was 106-4, Graham said.
Chippewa was organized as a mission church in 1957. The Confessing Church congregation has 170 members. The minister is Scott E. Graham.
“We are in the process of leaving the Presbyterian USA Church and joining the Evangelical Presbyterian Church,” the leaders say on the Chippewa Web site. They ask their members to review the “essential tenets” of the EPC that are posted on that Web site.