(By Jim Morrill, Charlotte Observer, N.C.) The congregation of Steele Creek Presbyterian Church [PCUSA] voted Sunday to explore a merger, beginning a process that could mean abandoning the site that’s been its home for 257 years.
Steele Creek, Mecklenburg County’s second-oldest house of worship, finds itself in the path of a constantly expanding Charlotte Douglas International Airport.
Members voted 94-43 to pursue a merger with one or more of the other Presbyterian churches in the Steele Creek area. No deal would be final until the congregations vote on a firm proposal, a process that pastor Jeff Pinkston said could take up to 18 months.
That could lead to the sale of the church’s sanctuary building, built in 1889, and its 40 surrounding acres. In a separate vote Sunday, church members voted to sell their manse and 16 acres of nearby property to the City of Charlotte for nearly $1.6 million.
Along with its historical significance, Steele Creek Presbyterian once boasted of its size. In the 1970s it was the largest rural Presbyterian church in the United States, with well over 1,000 members.
But as the airport grew, membership shrunk. It’s now 351.
“We’ve been greatly hurt by expansion of the airport already,” Pinkston said Sunday. Jet noise finally stopped the church from holding services on its expansive front lawn. And burial services in the adjacent cemetery are often drowned out by the noise.
For Pinkston and others in the church, the vote was a realization that airport growth is inevitable.
“I have mixed feelings, he said, citing the church’s long history. “I’m also concerned about our future if we’re basically surrounded by an industrial park.”
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The airport may be a part of it, but most likely members have left because of its affiliation with the PC(USA).
make sure you have a quorum when the big day happens – our church did not press hard enough tho calls went out and after two years, we could not even vote!