Not ready to ‘die with dignity:’
Historic N.Y. church ready for new life after leaving PCUSA
By Jason P. Reagan, The Layman, April 5, 2011
A New York church is celebrating after successfully fighting for its right to exist.
On March 31, Jermain Memorial Presbyterian Church of Watervliet, N.Y., signed a property and separation agreement with the Presbytery of Albany, ending a two-year battle in which the presbytery tried to shutter the church and liquidate its property and six-figure assets.
Disproving the presbytery’s claim that it was time for Jermain to “die with dignity,” the church reached an out-of-court agreement that will allow it to keep most of its property and funds as well as obtaining a de facto dismissal from the Presbyterian Church (USA). The church, known throughout its community for several service projects including a thrift store, reorganized under the name Jermain Memorial Ecumenical Presbyterian Church.
“I’m at a loss for words,” church elder Jeanne Kippen said, speaking about the agreement. Related articles
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Her only misgiving concerns a provision allowing the presbytery to keep the church’s manse – a four-bedroom house valued at an estimated $140,000, according to Kippen.
“That, I’m not happy about,” she said. “But that’s our cost.”
Under the agreement, the presbytery agreed to return all the land it took over after deciding to close the church in November 2009 with the exception of the manse. In return, Jermain agreed to cease identifying with the PCUSA in any way and agreed to turn over all church records (going back to its foundation in 1874) to the presbytery in exchange for copies of the entire collection.
Letting go of its PCUSA identity will not be a burden, Kippen said, adding the church has no plans to affiliate with any denomination.
“We won’t give anyone else the ammunition to close us,” she said.
A pitched battle
The battle over the heart and sole proprietorship of Jermain Memorial began in 2006 when a presbytery administrative commission concluded the church must dissolve due to supposed declining membership and that the presbytery would assist in “closing Jermain Memorial with grace.”
Instead of grace, the presbytery found itself in a battle with a congregation that refused to go quietly.
At a meeting in November 2009, the presbytery voted to close the church by May 31, 2010 as part of an overall plan to put down two dozen churches it claimed were dying.
“The church has not functioned in a healthy way in a long time,” Albany Executive Presbyter Cass Shaw said in 2009. “The commission believes this is not the kind of witness that should continue, and I agree with its decision,” she said.
Before the vote, the church mobilized and adopted a resolution opposing the closure, insisting that at Jermain Memorial, “the Word has been faithfully preached and the sacraments faithfully administered.”
On April 30, 2010, the Synod of the Northeast granted a stay of enforcement and gave Jermain a short reprieve that allowed the church time to mount a legal fight.
After hearing objections on June 25, 2010, the synod sided with the presbytery and the church held its final service on July 17, 2010. The presbytery had changed the locks on the doors in May.
As the wheels of ecclesiastical justice rolled on, the combatants took their fight to a New York civil court. A legacy fund from the Jermain family, valued last year at $169,000, swiftly became a point of contention.
The presbytery filed an action against the will of the Jermain family whose trust over the years helped start and sustain the church. The will stated that, once the church ceased to exist, the 1.3-acre church tract and all adjacent structures would go back to any living Jermain heir. The presbytery claimed there were no living Jermain descendants to contend the transfer of funds but the members found Ann W. Billings, a resident of New York City.
In March, Kippen became the president of a new religious corporation under the church’s new name and negotiated a quit claim deed with Billings – a deed that will be nullified under the agreement. According to Shaw, the agreement is expected to be finalized by the presbytery when it meets on April 12.
Reminiscent of Martin Luther, a member bedecked in monk’s robes placed a copy of the deed on the church’s door in October to the cheers of other church members.
Those actions may have been prophetic because the church will now get back most of its property and endowment funds, subject to approval by the New York Attorney General’s office.
As for the future, Kippen says the church plans to rent some of the church’s office space to local groups, open an adult daycare, re-open a pre-school, serve fellowship dinners every Saturday night and, most dear to her heart, open the thrift store to once again serve the community’s needy.
Perhaps fitting for a resurrected church, Jermain hopes to be ready for worship by Easter.