4 Ohio Churches Leave PC(USA) Over Gay Clergy Policy

[billiefan2000]

4 Ohio Churches Leave PC(USA) Over Gay Clergy Policy
By Michael Gryboski | Christian Post Reporter
Text Share RSS Print E-mail

Fallout over the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s decision to allow noncelibate homosexuals to serve as clergy continues as four Ohio churches have voted to leave the denomination.

All four congregations voted overwhelmingly to leave the Miami Valley Presbytery of PC(USA), which is headquartered in Dayton, Ohio.

First Presbyterian Church of Greenville was one of the four that left, with 92.3 percent of its congregation voting to disaffiliate with PC(USA).

“We chose to leave the PC(USA) because of theological and governance issues within the PC(USA),” said John Person, pastor of Greenville, to The Christian Post.

Person said that “changes in the constitution of the PC(USA) regarding ordination and installation vows have now opened the door for actively gay and lesbian people to become ministers of word and sacrament, and leaders within the church.”

“This change is a dramatic departure from the historic traditions of the church and from biblical authority.”


For decades, conservative Presbyterians have been leaving PC(USA) over what they believe was a growing liberalization of the denomination’s theology.

In May, a majority of PC(USA)’s 173 district governing bodies (or presbyteries) voted to amend the denomination’s constitution to allow for non-celibate homosexuals to become clergy.

Backlash to the vote has involved several churches voting to split from PC(USA), either forming their own denominations or by joining pre-existing conservative Presbyterian groups.

Three of the four Ohio churches that voted to break away from PC(USA), for example, have decided to join the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.

Person offered many reasons why his congregation wants to be part of the EPC, including that “it is part of the Presbyterian family of faith.”

“[I]t believes in the authority of scripture; it holds to the ordination of women; and sees Jesus Christ as the one and only Savior of the world,” said Person.

Founded in 1981, the EPC presently has around 300 churches belonging to it. According to their website, they are “rooted deeply in the Protestant Reformation and especially the theological and pastoral work of John Calvin.”

“Our desire is that every one of our congregations will be an outpost of the Kingdom in post-Christian America with every member viewing himself or herself as a missionary on a mission.”

While the Ohio congregations withdrew from PC(USA), another conservative breakaway group, the Fellowship of Presbyterians, is preparing for a major conference in Orlando next year.

Known as the “National Covenanting Conference,” it will involve a gathering of several Presbyterian congregations who feel disaffected by PC(USA) leadership.

The Miami Valley Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) did not return comment by press time.




4 Ohio Churches Leave PC(USA) Over Gay Clergy Policy, Christian News

[arapahoepark]

“[I]t believes in the authority of scripture;

If it believes in this then....

it holds to the ordination of women...

It wouldn't believe in this

[arapahoepark]

They should have gone to the PCA, not EPC. the PCA is far more conservative, and evangelical, than either of those two.

[billiefan2000]

They should have gone to the PCA, not EPC. the PCA is far more conservative, and evangelical, than either of those two.

I agree. a well known EPC church here in Omaha that has a radio show on sundays is a ex-PC USA church and a ex-willow creek association church



(I btw have yet to see much fruit that any ex willow creek association churches in Omaha have renounced the willow creek association agenda.


many of them are still seeker driven to some or a large extent.

[arapahoepark]

I agree. a well known EPC church here in Omaha that has a radio show on sundays is a ex-PC USA church and a ex-willow creek association church



(I btw have yet to see much fruit that any ex willow creek association churches in Omaha have renounced the willow creek association agenda.


many of them are still seeker driven to some or a large extent.

Yeah I still don't understand it. Evangelicals are committed to scripture, yet allow women elders....makes no sense...they try to be all inclusive too. This is generalizing of course, certainly not all, but a few do. Unfortunately, allowing women elders leads to liberalism...the opposite of evangelical.
If they hold to the teaching of Calvin, why would they allow women pastors as well? Have they not read his commentaries?

[mattfivefour]

I am not wanting this to turn into a "woman's place in the church" debate. We have had enough of those. But a full study of scripture on the subject indicates that women indeed in Paul's day served in every capacity within the Church and with his obvious blessing in that he commends them to others. So while some, upon viewing some scriptures (though clearly not all), may interpret them as forbidding such a thing, others (using the fullness of scripture) interpret them in the opposite manner. I think that the latter are more in keeping with God's Word than the former. However, rather than arguing the subject in generality, let us each live according to the teaching of God's Word on subjects such as this as it is revealed to us, prayerfully asking Him for His instruction and guidance on the matter.

And let us not hijack this thread from what it was intended to be: news that even Presbyterian Churches are disassociating themselves from their governing body over the issue of homosexuality. God showed me many years ago, which I spoke to my church, that in these last days He was placing a line down His Church, and those on the one side would cleave to His Word, would draw closer to Him in obedience, would seek to please Him and not themselves. These would be given more and more and would grow stronger in Him. Those on the other side would find His Word tiresome and His ways oppressive. They would seek their own pleasure and not God. He said that these would grow weaker and weaker in the faith until that little which they had been given would be taken from them. This, I believe, is the judgment that begins at the House of the Lord. God is even now separating His people out from among the false. Those who are willing and obedient (Isaiah 1:19) will confirm by their fruit that they are indeed of God's true House. Those who are unwilling and disobedient will confirm that they were never of His House. (Isaiah 1:20) Blessed be the Great God of all Creation! His ways are great and far above ours. Let us serve Him in the humbleness of obedience and manifest to Him the love He has showered on us and which He has placed into our hearts.

[billiefan2000]

Yeah I still don't understand it. Evangelicals are committed to scripture, yet allow women elders....makes no sense...they try to be all inclusive too. This is generalizing of course, certainly not all, but a few do.

I dont understand it either why these "evangelical" in their name denom.


like the Evangelical Covenant Churches

the Evangelical Free Church movement

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

or the Evangelical Presbyterian Church


can be liberal at times and have their denom. 's member churches to be seeker and emergent sympathic to say the least, and yet call themselves evangelicals