Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church dismissed to EPC with all its property
By Craig M. Kibler, Staff Writer, May 31, 2007
Expressing “deep regret and sorrow,” the Presbytery of East Tennessee has voted overwhelmingly to dismiss the 1,965-member Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church from the Presbyterian Church (USA) to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church with all its property.
“Considering and weighing all factors, including the absence of any identifiable PCUSA remnant in Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church,” an administrative review committee stated in its report to the presbytery, the committee “concludes that the Presbytery of East Tennessee should, with deep regret and sorrow, dismiss Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church with all its property, real or personal, without condition.”
In response to what they called an overwhelming vote during a called presbytery meeting May 29 at Farragut Presbyterian Church in Farragut, the elders and trustees of Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church said in a statement posted on the church’s Web site that:
“Most of all, we thank our Lord and our God for His continued leading of Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church in all times past and throughout this process. In Him we find our strength, our hope, our comfort, our peace and our salvation, and we give Him all honor, glory and praise for our new place in ministry.”
“The goal of the presbytery and Signal Mountain Church during the entire process,” the elders and trustees stated, “was to discern the will of God and to respect and bless one another as the Body of Christ in seeking His will.
“Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church will now begin the process of being received into the EPC to continue her call to share the Good News of Jesus Christ from her home on Signal Mountain to the far corners of the earth.
“The elders and trustees express our deep appreciation for the prayers of the congregation and others, and we ask you to continue to pray with us for the Lord’s guidance as we move into a new era of ministry for Signal Mountain Church.”
Final report
In its final report to the presbytery, the administrative review committee stated that, “We wish to acknowledge the cooperative spirit and non-confrontational approach evinced by the session of Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church, and especially the clerk of session, Steve Frost, in their interactions with the administrative review committee. Every request from the administrative review committee to the session for information and records were met in a timely and gracious fashion.”
“The character of conversations,” the committee stated, “moved quickly from cautious to cordial to trustful. This alone distinguishes the current situation with most other dismissal requests in the denomination, which have been characterized by hostility, distrust and, oftentimes, aggression.
“The administrative review committee has tried to find a different way that, while recognizing our obvious differences with the members of Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church, emphasizes our commonality resulting from being a part of the Body of Christ. If we have succeeded, it is due in no small measure to the like-minded approach taken by Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church’s session. … We thank God for these, our brothers and sisters in Christ.”
For their part, the elders and trustees of Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church stated that, “The elders and trustees of Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church expressed thanks to the East Tennessee Presbytery, and particularly the administrative review committee appointed by the presbytery that made the dismissal recommendation, for the pastoral and grace-filled manner that was exemplified in the process.”
Congregation’s vote
On January 28, the congregation of Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church voted by an overwhelming majority – 99.1 percent (1,082-10) – to seek dismissal from the PCUSA to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. This overwhelming vote, the administrative review committee concluded, means that the congregation, “per se, is not in schism. Since SMPC is not in schism, identifying the ‘true church,’ an important consideration for resolving property disputes when a particular church seeks dismissal, is completely unnecessary.”
Furthermore, the administrative review committee said in its report, it wrote to every member household of Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church “seeking to determine the level of interest in maintaining a PCUSA presence in Signal Mountain. Only two affirmative responses were received. There is, therefore, no ‘remnant” upon which a PCUSA New Church Development could be built.”
The five recommendations, all requested or offered by the session of Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church to the administrative review committee, that were approved by the Presbytery of East Tennessee are as follows:
“1. That Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church be dismissed from the Presbytery of East Tennessee, Presbyterian Church (USA), with property, real and personal (i.e., all assets), to the Presbytery of the Southeast of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, effective immediately upon receipt by the stated clerk of the Presbytery of East Tennessee of notification of acceptance of Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church by the stated clerk of the Presbytery of the Southeast of the EPC; said dismissal being contingent upon no other conditions.
“2. That the Presbytery of East Tennessee accept the following covenant: That after dismissal, Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church will, without condition, continue to provide mission support to the Presbytery of East Tennessee in the amount of $500,000, payable over a period of five years, as follows:
- 2007 – $150,000.
- 2008 – $125,000.
- 2009 – $75,000.
- 2010 – $75,000.
- 2011 – $75,000.
“3. That the Presbytery of East Tennessee accept the following covenant: That Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church honor the terms of call, in their entirety, for any associate pastor(s) who wishes to remain in PCUSA, for a period of time not to exceed one year, from the effective date of dismissal, or until such time as said associate pastor(s) secures a call to another congregation or ministry, whichever time is less.
“4. The administrative review committee will recommend to the presbytery’s Committee on Ministry that any associate pastor(s) remaining in PCUSA be granted a time of transition to work at Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church, for the period from the effective date of dismissal until no later than Oct. 1, 2007; said period to allow for completion of previous obligations and tasks; graceful farewells, etc.
“5. That the congregation of Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church be allowed to retain the name, ‘Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church.'”
Craig M. Kibler is the Director of Publications/Executive Editor of The Layman and The Layman Online. He can be reached at cmkibler@layman.org.