My prayers are with you. I was once an elder in a PCUSA church and gained visibility into the workings. Radicals have taken over the denomination and they are not guided by God.
I left, which was hard but I felt it was the only choice I had.
This is indeed an attempt to keep more of Christs flock tied to PCUSA's apostasy.
Our story is that after more than spending lifetimes in the Presbyterian Church (it wasn't called PCUSA when we began as babies really) my husband was an Elder, leader of the Session and all other offices, etc., we made the decision that there was no hope of saving our church from its self!
We both spent some time "church shopping" and finally found some that preached and believed the bible in its entirety!
From day one, we didn't feel guilty as the same denomination that embraced "the mother's right to choose," also began with "gay friendly" gatherings and moved to "blessings of gay unions," to endorsing gays to leadership roles, all of which is against the teachings in the scriptures both Old and New Testaments!
My advice is to locate your local representative of the Alliance Defending Freedom network and they can either help you or direct you to someone who will help you.
As in some Episcopalian churches locally,the congregation had to gather donations, seek loans and purchase property from the denomination as a last resort.
The PC(USA) not to be confused with the other Presbyterian Church, is nothing more than a libtard factory from the top down. Even got into an argument with a “Pastor” when she declared Angels were not in the Bible....
While I am not a Sola Scripture, or literal reader by any stretch, to be so completely factually wrong on a basic and verifiable item causes me nothing but wonder about what it takes to be ordained in that “faith”.
The leity at that church were fine enough fellows, but its clear the entire church is corrupt and blasphemous from its core.
This was also the same pastor who would read a letter from Paul to whoever by making sure to add feminine adverbs and adjectives to the Gospel readings.... “When I was a boy or girl I engaged in boyish or girlish things”... And no I’m not making this up. I tried to point out that PAUL was most definitely never a GIRL.. adding “or girl” to the reading made no sense whatsoever... but fell on deaf leftist ears.
It aint your grandpappy’s presby church anymore. Satan’s little servants have subverted and taken it over. Pull out (and if they attack, defend as best you can). Just get out
In reading the BCO, however, I think the local congregation does indeed have a strong argument: there are clauses that make the local congregation responsible for buying, insuring, paying for, and maintaining property. However, paragraph G-4.02 is written contrary to this and declares that no matter who holds the mortgage - even if it is a corporation acting in the name of the local church body - the PCUSA claims is as being held "in trust" for their purposes. Nice to be able to claim something that they have no financial interest in. I suspect that this is counter to the corporate laws of most states, so a lawyer will be required to fight this battle -- for sure the national general assembly will want to fight it.
Also, there is a clause that the local church must get written permission from a presbytery before buying property. If this was never done, then I would expect that the national org would have even less of a claim.
Anyway, here is the BCO, for what it's worth.
One thing I would do if I were an elder is to calculate the total amount of dollars ever directly paid by the PCUSA either via Presbytery or General Assembly to that church, add interest, and then subtract all monies ever paid from the local congregation to those overseeing bodies. If the amount is greater than $0.00, send them a check for that amount with a letter that declares what it is for. If they cash it, then they could argue in court that the action indicated acceptance of the letter's terms. :D
here are a a couple more articles of possible interest.
it appears that the PCUSA headquarters is in the Property Acquisition (or confiscation) business... maybe they’ll convert your church into a nice big gay bathhouse or Nazi party headquarters, consistent with their new political theology?
If I were in PCUSA I’d get out immediately. but insofar as the property is concerned it may be worthwhile to study this problem, issue a bit first... to see if there may be a way to salvage your building there?
but if the Devil gets the building, so be it.... get out of PCUSA it has gone to the Other Side.
sorry to say.
very sorry to have to say.
all the best,
fhc
this one may be the first article to read?
http://www.pewforum.org/Church-State-Law/Churches-in-Court%282%29.aspx
http://www.christianpost.com/news/presbyterian-battle-over-property-churches-intensifies-33002/
http://www.christianpost.com/news/pcusa-breakaway-megachurch-in-calif-in-property-dispute-72015/
http://www.appeal-democrat.com/articles/presbyterian-73282-church-property.html
http://www.layman.org/newsc45b/
Hate to say, but what you folks need to do is to bite the bullet and leave the PCUSA. If they have legal title to your church property then this is all you can legally do.
Of course, in another time believers would’ve marched on Louisville, seized the lesbians who run your denomination and then burn them at the stake like they deserve. Naturally, this is the 21st Century so I am not advocating the kind of Biblical response that is called for in this circumstance.
ps:
if your congregation tries to keep its church,
get a knowledgeable lawyer FIRST before taking any actions or votes or writing any letters even.
and
forget all about Judeo-Christian agape. You will be going up against a very well-lawyered, aggressive money-grubbing and now-very-anti-Christian gang that wants the property, all of it, (and doesn’t give a rat-s ass damn about you, your parishioners, or Christian faith principles).
The much-maligned money-changers are no longer just sitting on the front steps offering acceptable sacrifices for sale to faithful pilgrims ... they’ve infiltrated and taken over the very Temple itself.
Check out the Anglican resistance. One place to start is the Virtue Online website. Somewhat different theology but similar legal questions. Unfortunately Satan seems to have the better lawyers.
Of course seek legal counsel. Probably but not certainly, you will lose the building. Prepare to start meeting somewhere else.
The elders I suppose can start a new bank account and start putting collections in there to get ready to leave.
Suppose you lose the building, what is the PCUSA going to do with it? Probably put it on the market in a while. Unless they can get a unbiblical false church work going there.
Once it’s on the market, have someone buy it back. Voila.
It will be tougher going than your church is used to for a few years, but (easy for me to say) you will probably all be the better for it. Pioneer times, standing for Christ, sticking together, sacrificing. It’s all good.
On a personal note, we recently visited the cute little country PCUSA church down the road. Without getting into much detail it was a chaotic multicultural circus rather than a worship service. I am not proud to admit that for the first time ever we left church before the service was over. There were a few old souls in the back pews that smiled knowingly at us as we left. I guess they are just hanging around so they can be buried in grandpa's church. It was heartbreakingly discouraging.
If you look at churches that have broken with them, usually now PCA or OPC, you will notice that many of the churches are very basic, newer structures. That's because they left the PC(USA) with nothing and had to start over from scratch. There are some exceptions.
I see this as part of the persecutions that all true believers will have to undergo. If you want to worship as outlined in Scripture you will have to pay.
Blessings,
[signed]
Yes, there is help. Go to www.layman.org and click on the “Discern” page if you’re looking specifically for information about churches departing the PCUSA for more conservative denominations. There is a chart of more than 200 churches that have realigned their denominational affiliation in the past 5 years and there are links to resources that churches are using to navigate the waters. Yes, most churches are having to pay their presbyteries in order to get “out.” We can talk more about that if you’re interested.