Church worships together for last time

Midland Reporter Telegram (TX) ^ | 5/30/2005 | Elise Rambaud

[MeanWestTexan]

Members of St. Nicholas' Episcopal Church and supporters from churches around the city, state and nation began to fill the pews nearly an hour before Sunday's service. By 7 p.m., chairs spilled out into the sanctuary's foyer until there was standing room only. It was the final Sunday many of St. Nicholas' parishioners would gather together in the building they built only four years ago. Nearly 90 percent of the congregation is leaving St. Nicholas' to begin Christ Church Midland (Anglican Communion) after Bishop Wallis Ohl of the Episcopal Diocese of Northwest Texas told those who were dissatisfied with the direction of the national Episcopal Church to leave the St. Nicholas church building by June 1. Controversy has been over Biblical teachings and the denomination's election of a gay bishop and stance on same-sex marriage blessings.

[jec1ny]

Did your church leadership ever consider the Reformed Episcopal Church? I think they are to EPCUSA what PCA is to PCUSA: an evangelical alternative denomination.
rudy45 is correct. There are basically two most likely homes for an evangelical Anglican (American) church leaving ECUSA. The REC is one of those (and their coverage includes Texas, too). The other is affiliation with the AMiA, whose coverage also includes Texas. (Both groups are predominantly Eastern/Midwestern. Neither is well represented out here on the West coast.)

(It's "ECUSA" now, used to be "PECUSA.")

I am seeing a lot of alternatives for the disaffected of ECUSA. I would guess the direction that the Christian faithful wish to go in will depend on the orientation of their parish. If it was low church evangelical then those are good suggestions. But if they are more High Church of the Anglo-Catholic stripe then perhaps they should consider one of the continuing Anglican communions.

http://www.acahome.org/tac/

[Alia]

I guess it depends on your issue. In CA, during Prop 187 (illegal immigration reform) I came across a hot bed of nuns in the Santa Rosa area who'd been "under the table" getting green cards for illegals. That royally peeved me. And then meeting another group of RC nuns in the south Bay who worked and worshipped at the alter of a feminist and also Amnesty International. I found this to be very offensive.

Nonetheless what you say about ECUSA is very true. And part of the reason it all remains a mess is because ECUSA is very mushy about what their real agenda is; therefore, many parishioners are very unclear about what is going on underfoot in the ECUSA and "part ECUSA/Part Not-ECUSA" churches they attend.

At least the RC nuns got in my face directly with what they believe and what they support. You got a point, jeclny.

[BelegStrongbow]

My own take on the ECUSA issue is that their canons and ordinances still look orthodox. They simply ignore them, so one is forced to look not at what is supposed to govern that church but what actually happens. That's the fraud, IMHO, and why so many people have remained so faithful to them so long.

[Alia]

You nailed this perfectly. Succinctly.

[zerosix]

Good for you and your friends. My husband left a church after being a member for 35 years - with no regrets after witnessing the "baptism" of his granddaughter by a feminist clergy who refuses to use the words "In the name of the Father (to patriarchial for her.)

I had refused to attend this so-called church years before after witnessing a sermon extolling the virtues of "choice" then the nauseating pronouncement that the "pastor" would relish performing a "wedding" of a same-sex couple.

[AppyPappy]

We have an Anglican Communion church starting in our area.

[MeanWestTexan]

"I have no doubt that you'll be able to buy your property back, in a few years, for about ten cents on the dollar . . . "

Maybe. But there is now some very bad blood, so I would not be surprised if it gets sold to someone else just out of spite.

It would be nice. While the church is just a building, it was build with bequests by loving family members. The baptismal font was iterally chisled by hand. The landscaping lovingly grown from seedlings and carefully watered during the hot West Texas summers.

It is more than a building. Lots of love went into building it. Lots of memories (weddings, funerals, baptisms, even family remains buried there) occurred.

And many who stay are staying not because they are apostates, but because they hate surrendering their church to the apostates.

While unquestionably the right thing to do, leaving was very difficult.

[MeanWestTexan]

You know, I don't know.

We will be directly under the Bishop of Uganda --- a missionary church family we supported and a Bishop who himself was tortured and imprisoned by Muslims.

Bread upon the water coming back.

[sionnsar]

I am seeing a lot of alternatives for the disaffected of ECUSA.

There are a lot. Take a look at the page in my tagline, you'll see them.

[righttackle44]

". . .we took the high road."

God bless you for your witness in doing so.

[sionnsar]

"I have no doubt that you'll be able to buy your property back, in a few years, for about ten cents on the dollar . . . "
Maybe. But there is now some very bad blood, so I would not be surprised if it gets sold to someone else just out of spite.

That is exactly what happened with St. Augustine's, Chico CA. ECUSA refused to sell it to the new APCK parish, and finally sold it to someone who turned it into an upscale Chinese restaurant, bar and nightclub. After about 5 years the venture collapsed (to the relief of the police) and it went on the block. The university wanted it, but the earthquake codes prevented them from buying it. The APCK parish was then able to buy it and return to their historic old church building.

As an interesting note, when they removed the interior restaurant facades they started finding lttle crosses secreted into the walls and elsewhere, apparently by the workmen who put up the facades.