Jim Berkley [Letters, September 10, 2007] makes some very good points in his letter concerning the Book of Order trust clause references. I am very pleased to say that our church is the recipient of Christian attitudes and actions on the part of our presbytery (Muskingum Valley) which, during this past summer, dismissed us to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.

As our session and the administrative commission sat to discuss the details of our dismissal, there was a wonderful sense on the part of the administrative commission that we were trying to determine God’s call on our congregation. When they finished their research, they decided that we were indeed being called to another denominational affiliation, that we could (and would) be dismissed with property and all assets, and that no money in any amount needed to be transferred or even considered.

As our session had predetermined, we said in our final agreement that we would continue our missions pledge for 2007; we believed that budgeted amount was appropriate to forward as scheduled. And we said we would consider a “love gift” to be given to the presbytery. The final agreement (available on the presbytery’s web site) neither demands nor suggests anything other than “consideration of a gift.” And, at this point, our session is still pondering what that gift may be or how it may be given … some time in the future … and no one is pressing us to make it happen from any quarter. A ransom need not be the way of doing business!

To the credit of the administrative commission and the presbytery, they conducted themselves in a manner worthy of our respect and we departed with a strong sense of Christian fellowship, simply headed to a different calling. The administrative commission was absolutely within the guidance and provisions of the Book of Order in their decision.

I so wish and pray for other presbyteries to come to that same understanding. To be so tied up over material goods when the world is going to hell and is need of a Savior is such a blemish on the Christian community.

Maybe when stories like ours and the few others get more publicity, more presbyteries will also understand that they have great liberty to dismiss in myriad ways. And maybe they will also decide they can really be “Christian” about how they do their business.

Rev. Tom Sawyer
Pastor, Middle Sandy Presbyterian Church
Homeworth, Ohio

Resources
- Final Exit Guidelines for Beaver-Butler Presbytery
- Covenant of Dismissal

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 20th, 2007 at 11:25 am and is filed under New Wineskins. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.