Posted on 05/04/2007 10:17:35 AM PDT by PAR35
A small congregation in Mississippi has been granted its request to be dismissed from the Presbyterian Church (USA) with its property.
But the dismissal comes with a price: a $30,000 gift to be "placed in an appropriate fund," according to St. Andrew Presbytery.
By voice vote, presbytery commissioners agreed at their stated meeting May 1 to dismiss the 94-member French Camp Presbyterian Church in French Camp, Miss.
The vote comes nearly nine months after the session made a written request to the presbytery to be "graciously" released with its property.
The French Camp church will be received into the smaller, more conservative Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church next month, said Fred Davenport, a French Camp elder.
(Excerpt) Read more at layman.org ...
The former First Presbyterian Church of Cedar Grove, Wisconsin, paid $150,000 to buy its way out of the PCUSA. It is now part of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church as First Evangelical Presbyterian. The Presbytery started at $450,000, but finally settled for $150,000.
The Wisconsin church has about 70 members and a budget of less than $50,000.
I am unfamiliar with why these local churches need to "buy" their way out. Did the PCUSA pay for their property, or regularly support these small churches?
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