07344
June 8, 2007
Pittsburgh Presbytery's largest church votes to seek dismissal from PC(USA)
Memorial Park church wants to join conservative EPC
LOUISVILLE — Memorial Park Presbyterian Church, the largest congregation in Pittsburgh Presbytery, has voted overwhelmingly to seek dismissal from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and affiliate with the smaller, more conservative Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC).
Members of the church in Allison Park, PA, voted 951-93 on Sunday (June 3) in favor of a proposal to ask to be dismissed from the PC(USA). A “yes” vote by 761 members was needed to ratify the secession plan.
Memorial Park claims more than 1,600 members, but the presbytery and the congregation agreed on a smaller number of active, available members from which to calculate the majority needed for the vote.
Memorial Park officials have said they are concerned the PC(USA) has downgraded biblical authority and compromised traditional Christian doctrines such as salvation through Christ alone.
“Over the years, this church has stood firm for biblical truth in the midst of a denomination that has consistently moved away from historic Christian teaching,” the Rev. Dean Weaver, pastor of Memorial Park, said in a statement.
Weaver is also co-moderator of the New Wineskins Association of Churches (NWAC), a conservative movement in the PC(USA) that seeks partnerships with Presbyterian churches that hold similar views of biblical standards.
Toward that end the New Wineskins voted unanimously on February 9 to petition the EPC to create a non-geographic, transitional New Wineskins presbytery for churches wishing to leave the PC(USA).
It is time to “realign ourselves with other Presbyterians in our country and around the world who believe the same things we do and have the same passion for evangelism and for missions,” Weaver said.
The vote took place during a worship service and congregational meeting that replaced all four normal weekend services at Memorial Park.
An overflow crowd watched by closed circuit from other rooms, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. Volunteers from nearby North Park Evangelical Presbyterian Church — which is affiliated with the denomination Memorial Park hopes to join — parked cars.
There was brief applause when the vote was announced, the newspaper said.
“We are saddened that Memorial Park members and leaders have elected to separate from the Presbyterian Church,” the Rev. James Mead, pastor to Pittsburgh Presbytery, said in a statement. “However, we believe that wrestling with such painful issues is part of God’s redemptive plan for the world. It is our prayer that as we move forward, our Christian love for each other will shine forth into our community as a witness to the risen Lord.”
Mead said that the presbytery and the session would work together to provide pastoral care for those Memorial Park members who do not wish to leave the PC(USA).
“We will work with each individual to help him or her find a new church home where they can continue to grow in Christ and to participate with the Spirit in the mission God gives,” Mead said.
Negotiations are to begin to allow the church to keep its property that church law says is held in trust by Pittsburgh Presbytery, which must approve any settlement.
On April 22, the Beverly Heights Presbyterian Church also voted to leave the Pittsburgh Presbytery, citing concerns over biblical authority and Christian doctrines. That church is also negotating to keep its property.
The Post-Gazette reported Friday (June 8) that preliminary agreements have been reached in which the Beverly Heights congregation will give Pittsburgh Presbytery $250,000 over 10 years. That and other details will be voted on at a future presbytery meeting.
The vote by Memorial Park church also comes after East Tennessee Presbytery’s decision on May 29 to approve the dismissal of Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church along with its property to the EPC.
Also the largest in its local presbytery, the 1,800-member church in Signal Mountain, TN, had voted 1,082-10 on Jan. 28 to request dismissal.
Considering such an overwhelming majority vote to leave, an appointed administrative review committee said Signal Mountain church is not in schism and thus “with deep regret and sorrow” dismissed the church “with all its property, real or personal, without condition.”
Signal Mountain church leaders said the congregation had become increasingly dissatisfied with the PC(USA) over the past two decades, citing differences with the denomination over the recognition of the absolute Lordship of Jesus Christ and scriptural authority.
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