Posted on 02/04/2016 10:13:08 AM PST by SeekAndFind
A Texas megachurch that recently voted to leave Presbyterian Church (USA) over theological differences agreed to pay its former regional body approximately $1.5 million to maintain control of its church property.
First Presbyterian Church of San Antonio announced Sunday that it reached a settlement with Mission Presbytery over retaining ownership of its name and property.
"Under the terms of the settlement, FPC will provide $1,525,000 to the denomination. Mission Presbytery will contribute $125,000 of this amount to the John Knox Ranch Summer Camp," read the announcement.
"The contribution to the camp provides one quarter of the $1 million being raised for the hall's reconstruction. Anyone interested in helping can visit www.johnknoxranch.com."
In an interview with The Christian Post, FPC San Antonio spokesman Hank Cherry explained that the settlement was viewed by the church as preferable to a lengthy legal battle with the presbytery over property rights.
"We believe it was in the church's best interest to resolve an issue that has been hanging over this church for over 30 years, which is whether or not FPC owns its property free and clear of any claim by the PCUSA," said Cherry.
"While we believe we had a good legal position, the time to get a court resolution, the cost of the litigation, the uncertainty to the congregation, and the cost to the church in time and distraction from its real mission, all warranted in favor of a resolution of the dispute."
Last November, FPC San Antonio voted overwhelmingly to leave PCUSA and join the Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians, a smaller, more conservative reformed body.
In a letter sent out last October, FPC Clerk of Session N. A. Stuart, III, MD argued that "our denomination is not what it once was, and it has wandered from its biblical and confessional moorings."
"Ultimately, after years of prayer, discussion, and input from our members, on Oct. 12, 2015, the Session of FPC voted to recommend to the congregation that we leave the PC(USA) and join the ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians -- a rapidly growing Reformed Presbyterian denomination," wrote Stuart.
"In contrast to the theological concerns and membership declines within the PC(USA), we find ECO to be a vibrant, growing Presbyterian denomination which shares this church's historical vision for teaching, evangelism and mission."
However, there were certain procedural issues with the congregational vote that made the regional body declare it invalid, according to Mission Presbytery Interim Stated Clerk William C. Poe.
"I communicated with the Session, or local council, of the church on more than one occasion prior to the day of the vote to inform the church's officers of this constitutional difficulty, but they chose to continue with the meeting anyway," explained Poe to CP last November.
"Presbyterian Ruling Elders and Teaching Elders take vows at their ordination to 'be governed by our church's polity,' and to 'abide by its discipline.' That was not done in this case."
Another point of contention centered on PC(USA)'s "trust clause," which is found in the PCUSA Book of Order G-4.0203 and states that "All property held by or for a particular church … is held in trust nevertheless for the use and benefit of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)."
The provision notes that this property includes not only for "a particular church" but also "a presbytery, a synod, the General Assembly, or the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)."
The trust clause is connected to the dismissal process and involves a departing congregation paying a certain sum to its former presbytery to keep their property.
When asked by CP about how the two parties came to the amount of $1.525 million, Cherry of FPC San Antonio explained that the amount "was simply the result of negotiation, and was not tied to any kind of formula or policy."
"Furthermore, we wanted to have some of the settlement going to a mission project that both the church and presbytery had historically supported," added Cherry.
"With the loss of the dining hall in the 2015 Memorial Day floods, we all thought John Knox Ranch Camp was a good choice."
The date for the settlement payment is on or before March 21. Once paid, FPC San Antonio and Mission presbytery will issue a joint statement.
why is this news?
Good for them! It’s sad that the big PCUSA mothership gets $1.4M when the members of the church paid for everything over the years, but at least they are free from the homo-loving abortionists who have abandoned the Confession and the Gospel.
It’s dated Feb 2, 2016. That’s only 2 days ago.
Our church is starting the process of leaving PCUSA. Wisely we used the lead-up years to set ground rules within the local Presbytery. Instead of having to buy our real estate we put in a rule that a church that is leaving must pay the equivalent of three-years’ per capita (currently about $32/member) in all it will cost us about $45K to leave and we’ve already had a group of members offer to cover it.
:: there were certain procedural issues with the congregational vote that made the regional body declare it invalid ::
[SIGH] !
Why would any church want to become part of a denomination that owns the property they accumulate over the years? Is there some benefit from the PCUSA the church gets in its early years which makes an association like this beneficial when the church is first starting out?
We left the PCUSA in 2000. They are pro-choice, in favor of gay marriage, and anti-Isreal. They even give pastors abortion coverage in their medical benefits.
That’s great news. We have a PCUSA church near my home ( I attend a PCA church) that has been trying to escape for 4 years, but the local presbytery is demanding more money that the property is even worth to get free. So they’ve settled into a kind of Cold War with the presbytery.
I’m glad you are getting away so easily.
Seems unchristian to blackmail the church into submission or else be executed by law suites.
God help the church of faithful people seeking to do unto others as we would have them so unto us.
God is good, God is great let us THANK Him for His grace, loving kindness, tender mercies, and His testimony as to His plan ... for Salvation, and forgiveness for sins.
PRAISE GOD!
>>Why would any church want to become part of a denomination that owns the property they accumulate over the years? Is there some benefit from the PCUSA the church gets in its early years which makes an association like this beneficial when the church is first starting out?
The Presbyterian type of church makes it part of a larger church. For 300 years, the Presbyterian church in the USA was one or two denominations that eventually reined to become the PCUSA. Since the idea of a mainline church turning into what they’ve become in the last 40 years was simply preposterous, no one had a problem with joining under the property rules.
When the PCA was formed in the 1979s, one of the defining rules of the new denomination was that each congregation owns its own property. This way, if the leftists manage to get their hooks into the denomination leadership, the congregations can get out fast, leaving only an empty Progressive she’ll behind.
This is why member churches should own their own property independently
Ping
The PCUSA holds the deed to a church property even though an individual Congregation pays for it. I encountered this in the 90’s when I was a church elder. It is how the PCUSA maintains control of individual Congregations. Several former PCUSA congregations have bought themselves out through the years.
Churches have to pay the denominations to leave their clutcjes. That’s why many remain within the fold.
Presbyterianism is a system of connectedness and democracy. WE are all part of a larger entity. When the liberals took over the process of determining church dogma that broke the connectedness with the many, many small hometown conservative churches. That is why there have been over 200 congregations leave in the past year.
“Is there some benefit from the PCUSA the church gets in its early years which makes an association like this beneficial when the church is first starting out?”
Um - free land.
The demonination also helps with loans for the buildings, and may help pay for some of that cost as well. Does make it a mess when the church wants to leave though. In downtown Seattle there is a PCUSA church that wants to leave - but not willing to pay the price on the expensive piece of prime real estate.
I think most churches leave with not much of a problem and negotiate a reasonable price with the PCUSA.
Trump's claim to being a "Presbyterian" may, or may not, be a plus.
THE PC-USA has LONG been pro-abortion also...to the point of going on decades where they paid insurance premiums to cover abortions for their church-workers.
The PC-USA wouldn't want a baby Lassie from "Rev. Lucy" if it might interfere with her career plans, ya know!
Well, a couple of thoughts on the story.
First, $125,000 isn’t a quarter of a million dollars. It’s a half of a quarter.
“Mission Presbytery will contribute $125,000 of this amount to the John Knox Ranch Summer Camp,” read the announcement.
“The contribution to the camp provides one quarter of the $1 million being raised for the hall’s reconstruction.”
Second, it isn’t a megachurch (commonly defined as more than 2000 weekly attendance).
Latest available data from 2013 shows while the membership is 2,123, weekly attendance at worship is only 794 - less than half of what constitutes a megachurch. (As late as 2006, attendance was over 1000. In the same period, Sunday school enrollment has dropped by half, suggesting it is the young families that have fled). Annual contributions are $4,752,407, which is high for that sized church.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.