Presbytery conditionally approves
financial terms for congregation’s dismissal
By John H. Adams, The Layman, July 24, 2008
The Beaver-Butler Presbytery in Pennsylvania has conditionally approved financial terms that would allow Chippewa Presbyterian Church to leave the Presbyterian Church (USA) with its property.
Scott Graham, pastor of the congregation, said there some “bumps” along the way but that the presbytery handled the process fairly. In exchange for leaving with its property, the Chippewa session agreed to pay the presbytery $11,200 for three years to support PCUSA missionaries and other programs.
Terms must still be approved in an official vote by the congregation. On June 8, the congregation voted unofficially, 117-9, to seek dismissal from the PCUSA and to apply for membership in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.
No date has been set for the congregation’s official vote on the terms of dismissal, but it is expected to precede the presbytery’s scheduled meeting in late September.
Graham told The Layman that the Chippewa leaders began considering leaving the denomination after the 217th General Assembly in 2006.
The process moved quickly after the congregation’s unofficial vote. The presbytery appointed an administrative commission, which met with the leaders of Chippewa’s congregation. The commission recommended the financial terms, and the presbytery approved them by a three-to-one margin on July 22.
“We were really blessed,” Graham said. “I think we put in front of the presbytery an opportunity for it to do the right thing.”
Chippewa Church had 176 members at the end of 2007. Its 2007 budget was $250,288. The settlement cost would be 4.5 percent of the budget.