Posted on 05/31/2005 2:44:43 PM PDT by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at mywesttexas.com ...
We had great preachers to see us off --- from Petacostal to Roman Catholic.
The best, though, (after a charasmatic Robert Smith -- who pointed out that Jesus was drawing a line in the sand and we were going to be forced to chose which side of the line we were on) was the Bishop of Ft. Worth.
Apparently, it is bad form for one Bishop to give a sermon in another's diocess without permishop. Accordingly, this Bishop gave announcements.
His first "announcement" was that "Jesus was Lord." The second was "The Bible provides the Word of God, not the general convention."
Wonderful service. We left, shaking the dirt off our feet.
HA! Shaking the dust off your feet! A well-applied phrase from the Book of Acts... All the best to you and your fellow parishioners....
Luv, I thought you might be interested in this.
My church split like this.. about half of the people joined a Reformed Episcopal church.. the sad part is that the local church opposed what is happening with the Episcopal Church of America, however, the church itself cannot change as they don't own the property..
What kind of deal is it when 90% of a congregation are forced to leave the church they just built with their money because they insist on adhering to the core beliefs that the other 10% have just decided are outmoded? The Episcopal hierarchy will end up with all the buildings and none of the people. Perhaps that is their objective - they will then sell the churches back to the faithful and retire to Key West or San Francisco on the profits.
What a money grab. Who retains possession of the church's assets once 90% of the congregation leaves? Where is Eliot Spitzer when you need him?
Ping
We could have sued. After all, being Episcopal, we have all the lawyers in town in the congregation. LOL.
However, given what Paul said about lawsuits among believers, we took the high road.
I pray for the parishioners peace and strength. I went through this tearing apart of a church in the 80s. Hope and pray to never go through it again. And what was it over? Basically, same issues your church has just faced and dealt with. West-coast "episcopalians" were taloned and clawed apart, first; and it all began so soon after the 1978 prayerbook "update". God's Strength to you.
Thanks for pinging me! Yes, I have followed it closely, since I work in Midland. A girl I work with is a member there, and she said the last service they had was very emotional and that there was lots of support in the community for the stand that they took. She told of all the other denominations having their preachers there in support, some of whom spoke (Bob Smith being the best of all, she said!)
well, I for one, applaud your strength. Not an easy thing to do and this is just what is going to be called for in times like these. Cheers to you and your fellow Christians down Texas way!
I'm so sorry it's come to this. Prayers that Christ Church Midland succeeds.
GODBLESS YOU AND THE OTHER BELIEVERS!
If your ever up northern n.y.,way stop in for service at a good reformed baptist church and we'll break bread!
GODSPEED!
if the physical plant of the church was built on those parishioners' pledges that haven't been completed, maybe the dioses didn't get such a great deal, after all
What I don't understand is why the congregation went through the expense of building a brand new church within the last 4 years? Even though Gene Reynolds was only made Bishop last year, these problems have been manifest for the last 10 yrs. or so. I would have thought they'd hold out a little longer, if they could have, so see how things were going to shake out.
Follow God not men, you did the right thing!
Cool to see an article from MRT, I'm from there.
BINGO! YOUR POST -- that's exactly what happened in the SF Bay Area... Names.. Melvin Belli, Bishop Swing ring any bells? Oh yes, Spong, fer sure. It was about real estate.
May God bless your new congregation.You have done the right thing.
And for those posting, what about the building? The church is people and not the building. Most denominations determine what is the official "position" of the church. So if you disagree you have to leave their ball field.
In this case. They may have the field, but I feel this congregation won the ballgame.
I suspect this will happen in Episcopal churches all across America. And it will come to a denomination near you in the near future.
I'm so happy for you, that you are able to continue in the Anglican tradition and are staying close to God.
I finally left my Episcopal church and do not have an Anglican community meeting nearby, so I am planning to move to where there is one.
It's not only about an openly gay bishop, by any means. The ECUSA promotes broad interpretation of scripture, if and when credence is given to scripture and the church truly has been taken over by leftist secular political agendas.
Now, you have June 5 to look forward to with excitement. Will your community have a midweek eucharist also?
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