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To: Timber Rattler; NoCmpromiz
NoCmpromiz can tell you much more than I can when he gets on later.

The Layman Online does cover churches that are leaving PCUSA.

Guinston congregation overcomes two delayed votes for dismissal from PCUSA

7 posted on 05/08/2013 7:17:49 AM PDT by DJ MacWoW (My faith and politics cannot be separated)
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To: Timber Rattler; DJ MacWoW
Another PA congregation leaves PC/USA...Grove City church gets new start in ECO

Much depends on the laws of your state. Some states do not recognize the 'trust' clause of the PC/USA in the case that PC/USA failed to modify the deed for the local property and thus the name on the deed is the local congregation. (See for instance this US Supreme Court decision as pertaining to Indiana law.) I would suggest that your pastor contact The Presbyterian Lay Committee (The Layman Online) for starters. PLC would have a better record of churches and the terms of the dissolution agreements that I could find.

There is a procedure within the Book of Order that covers a congregation wishing to be released from the main body, usually to affiliate with another Presbyterian body. We are seeing many of the 'conservative' local churches leaving PC/USA for affiliation with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church and other bodies that are not as antiBiblical as the PC/USA has become.

As a generality, what has happened is that the regional presbytery upon agreeing to allow the local body to dissolve the relationship will 'suggest' (translate: demand) a 'tithe' (translate: extortion payment) of ten percent of the value of the properties in question - which can amount to a bit more than small congregations can afford.

In my neck of the woods, the first local church that tried to flee the PC/USA and the ultra liberal Presbytery of the Hudson River was saddled with the 'tithe' stipulation. Many other local churches, and not all were Presbyterian, sent this congregation donations to help meet the extortion payments need. A second local body was required to pay the equivalent of either five or ten years (forget which) of per-capita assessment to a mission fund. A third local church tried the legal route that their name was on the deed and thus the 'trust' clause didn't apply. They won the initial legal skirmish, but Hudson River Presbytery appealed, and the local body lost on appeal. They are now in a really tough situation. A forth local body has just started the process by requesting to be released from PC/USA with their property to affiliate with Presbyterian Church in America. Not sure how that will play out.

Don't know if any of the above is of any help or consolation... If you have any questions that I might be able to answer, ping back. (Disclaimer: While I am an ordained Elder from one of the churches mentioned above, I was not on Session during the approximately two year span that it required to be free from PC/USA, so I am not exactly in the loop as to all the meanderings that took..)

26 posted on 05/08/2013 2:17:10 PM PDT by NoCmpromiz (John 14:6 is a non-pluralistic comment.)
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