(By Lisa Wangsness, The Boston Globe). Some members of the Newton Presbyterian Church thought their denomination was drifting away from fundamental tenets of their faith, such as the idea that Jesus actually rose from the dead, and that evangelism is essential. They longed for something more contemporary, more vivacious. A church with a sharper focus on mission and scripture, less on politics.
And so the congregation in January voted 107 to 26 to abandon the Presbyterian Church (USA) and join a small but growing evangelical denomination. They put a sign on the lawn to proclaim the congregation’s new name: Newton Covenant Church.
But now, the Presbyterian Church wants its church back. Its local authority, the Presbytery of Boston, has sued to regain control of the $5.6 million Vernon Street building and return it to members of the Newton congregation who want to remain Presbyterian, a minority they say represents the “true church.”
The denomination says the 11 Newton church leaders named in the lawsuit knew the January vote was unauthorized and in defiance of the denomination’s rules.
The lawsuit accuses the “breakaway faction” of removing the church sign, hijacking the church’s old website, and seizing control of the church’s bank accounts. It seeks unspecified damages. But most importantly, say the plaintiffs, who also include the remaining Presbyterian congregants, it demands the return of their church.
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“Many families, the plaintiffs say, were uncomfortable with ‘the evangelical approach championed by the conservative faction who took over the church.”
It’s does look like an up hill battle for the majority, but the 11 anti-evangelical people should be able to maintain the church, because I’m sure they are great tithers, or from my experience they let the evangelicals pay the bills, and do most of the work, and they set back and complain how evangelicals are destroying the pcusa. Revisionist don’t tithe, they rely on other peoples money, dead peoples money, and grants from the presbytery, that’s been my pcusa experience, and given revisionist are pretty much the same around the US, I suspect if they do win, that’s how this church will turn out.
If truth be told, the real reason behind the PCUSA’s inane policy of “You pay for it but it’s ours” is power and revenge. They want evangelicals to SUFFER. I have known a PCUSA church that pulled out many years ago. The Presbytery said they would send a team to take over the building and finances. When this team came to town they found church members barricaded inside and left. When they found out that the church had a mortgage a liberal got up at a Presbytery meeting and said “We’ll get them out of the building and we will bill the ex members for the mortgage!” This is the kind of insane thinking of the depraved minds inside a once great denomination.