San Francisco Presbytery
grants Danville dismissal request
The Layman , November 18, 2010
Using the agreed upon “gracious dismissal policy” of San Francisco Presbytery, the request by Community Presbyterian Church (CPC) of Danville, Calif., to leave the Presbyterian Church (USA) to join the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) has been approved.
The effective date of the dismissal is Nov. 10, 2010, which includes a 90-day waiting period per the terms of the presbytery’s dismissal policy. During that period, requests for remedial actions, stays and appeals may be submitted. The congregation is praying that no actions will be taken to delay its move to the EPC.
“We at CPC Danville are grateful for their confirming our sense of God’s leading for CPC,” the Rev. Scott Farmer said. “We continue to pray that God uses this experience to positively shape the San Francisco Presbytery’s future for the kingdom’s sake. Also we pray that CPCers walk in humble faithfulness, attentive and responsive to God’s leading into our new affiliation with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church’s Presbytery of the West. I am proud of our San Francisco Presbytery and believe this process has lifted the name of Jesus to the watching world.”
On Nov. 9, the presbytery voted 167-41 to accept the recommendation of its “Presbytery Engagement Team,” which had negotiated with CPC an approximate $321,000 dismissal price. The dismissal agreement includes:
- The dismissal of all pastors (except one who is an Evangelical Lutheran pastor) from the PCUSA to the EPC;
- A one-time lump sum payment of $108,640;
- An annual commitment of $42,500 for targeted PCUSA missionaries, ministries and ministers, paid quarterly for the next five years, following the congregation’s dismissal; and
- The presbytery relinquishing, through a quit-claim deed, any and all claims on the congregation’s property.
If there are no challenges to the action, CPC and its pastors will be dismissed to the EPC on Feb. 9, 2011, at which time the church also will pay its one-time lump sum settlement pledge. The congregation is raising money to pay for its settlement with the presbytery, as well as the costs associated with joining a new presbytery.
Though there’s no indication that challenges await the CPC dismissal, there are indications that the presbytery has had a change of heart regarding the dismissal policy it approved approximately 18 months ago. In the same meeting in which it approved CPC’s departure, a 6-month suspension of the policy also was approved, allow time for review and possible amendment.
According to a post on the CPC Web site, the congregation will join with 25 other EPC congregations in California, Oregon and Washington to form a new presbytery in the EPC: The Presbytery of the Pacific. The new presbytery would be borne out of the existing Presbytery of the West, which roughly covers half the United States.
The 2,000-member CPC announced its intent to leave in February, naming the PCUSA’s theological, moral and political drift as the reason. The congregation is the first to test the presbytery’s gracious dismissal policy, which was lifted up by the 219th General Assembly as an example for other presbyteries to follow.