‘A sense of inevitability’
Washington church agrees to presbytery terms in latest dismissal
The Layman, March 12, 2012
A large, Washington-based church became one of the first in March to sever final ties with the Presbyterian Church (USA) due to theological differences.
On March 1, the congregation of Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church (CHPC) of Gig Harbor, Wash. voted unanimously to accept a dismissal agreement with the Presbytery of Olympia allowing the 1,600-member church to keep its property in exchange for $283,908 in four annual payments of $70,977.
“We are excited about the vision that God has set before us,” CHPC session members said in an earlier statement, quoting Jeremiah 29:11: “I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you; plans to give you hope and a future.”
The church’s journey to dismissal began last spring following the passage of Amendment 10A by a majority of PCUSA presbyteries.
The amendment to the denomination’s Book of Order deleted the explicit “fidelity/chastity” requirement from the constitutional ordination standard, and now allows the PCUSA to ordain of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people as deacons, elders and pastors.
Although the amendment’s passage may have been a deciding factor for Chapel Hill, the church had been concerned about the denomination’s direction for a few years.
“In many essential ways, the PCUSA has drifted from its historical theology and Biblical moorings over last 40 years,” Senior Pastor Mark Toone said in a letter.
In May, the session formed the Denominational Concerns Task Force to discern Chapel Hill’s future with the PCUSA.
“We were of one mind that a discernment process was necessary, but we still had various opinions about our denominational future,” Associate Pastor Jeremy Vaccaro said in a recent statement. “The journey has been full of hard questions, honest disagreements and heartfelt discussions.”
After a series of discussions and town-hall meetings, the session voted unanimously in November to seek dismissal from the PCUSA and to join the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. The congregation affirmed the decision in November by an overwhelming 820-47 vote.
“We are convinced the EPC will provide a wonderful home for our congregation — a denomination that is theologically, missionally and relationally aligned with us,” session members said in a letter to the congregation. “There was a tangible sense of the inevitability of our move to the [EPC],” a church web posting added.
Olympia approved an administrative commission at its November meeting and in the months that followed, both parties worked through the presbytery’s discernment process and came to an agreement to present to the congregation.
In 2008, Olympia initiated a gracious separation policy, Discerning God’s Leading Together,” that provided a step-by-step process for churches seeking disaffiliation.
Unlike some presbyteries that have made headlines after seizing church property under the disputed PCUSA trust clause, Olympia states in its policy that is assumes “a congregation seeking withdrawal from the PCUSA will be allowed to take the property, financial and any other assets held in trust for the PCUSA on their behalf, and that there will be a negotiated monetary stipulation.”
Olympia has in the past agreed with Chapel Hill on issues concerning Scriptural authority and changes in PCUSA theology – the presbytery voted down 10A by a vote of 39-78, for example.
The final agreement stipulates that Chapel Hill will pay what its regular per-capita requirement would have been over the next three years as well as supporting some of Olympia’s mission work during that time and making a small gift to any local church within Olympia’s jurisdiction should it accept a transfer from a Chapel Hill member within the next year.
Payments will be made in four annual installments of $70,977, which is around $17,000 over what CHPC had already been paying in regular per-capita. Chapel Hill officials say the increase can be “managed without sacrificing any of our present programs or mission support,” adding that the church will not be expected to pay per-capita to the EPC until they have paid off Olympia.
The agreement will still have to be approved during Olympia’s April meeting and, if passed, Chapel Hill expects to celebrate its first service as an EPC congregation in June.
In an earlier statement, session member Karen Leland said that the challenging work of discernment would have an ultimate reward.
“The difficult decision to seek dismissal … demonstrates our resolve to uphold God’s Word as our ultimate authority and Jesus Christ as the way, the truth and the life,” she said.