Covenant Presbyterian Church of Sharon, Pa., has decided to put their future with the Presbyterian Church (USA) to a vote this Sunday.

The session of Covenant Presbyterian Church of Sharon, Pa., has recommended that the 469-member congregation vote to leave the PCUSA and join the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC). The church has scheduled a congregational meeting for March 25.

“[The PCUSA] has evolved to the point that it is no longer a theological fit for Covenant,” the session stated in a recent statement to church members.

“The authority of Scripture and the deity of Christ are the key theological issues we must deal with,” the statement continued, adding “the PCUSA has blatantly rejected God’s authority given in His Holy Scriptures,” with the 2011 passage of Amendment 10A.

The amendment deleted the explicit “fidelity/chastity” requirement from the constitutional ordination standard, and now allows the PCUSA to ordain of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people as deacons, elders and pastors.

Following the passage of 10A in May, the session launched a nine-month study concerning denominational concerns.

“[We] emerged from [the] period of discernment and voted unanimously to seek dismissal from a denomination that has chosen to ignore our theological Reformed roots. The PCUSA denomination has left us,” the session stated.

A timeline of dissatisfaction
Covenant’s conflict with the PCUSA’s theological drift goes back to the 1980s when the church stopped sending per-capita payments apportioned to the General Assembly – to the tune of between $3,000 and $4,500 per year.

In 2001, the church joined “The Confessing Church Movement” in opposition to the PCUSA’s “departure from historic standards of the Biblical faith.” [Editor’s note: the original URL (link) referenced is no longer valid, so the link has been removed.]

Launched on March 13, 2001 by the session of Summit Presbyterian Church in western Pennsylvania, the public confession of faith stated “Jesus Christ is the world’s singular saving Lord. No one comes to the Father but through Him. The Bible is God’s holy Word. Christians are called to live a holy life, which includes the Biblical standard of chastity in singleness and fidelity in marriage.”

Covenant’s disagreement with the PCUSA included what the church called the General Assembly’s refusal “to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord — rather, it affirmed that He is ‘a Lord.’”

The church also noted that the PCUSA did not “reject a report on the Trinity in favor of using metaphors such as Compassionate Mother, Beloved Child and Life-giving Womb; Rainbow of Promise, Rock of Salvation and Dove of Peace; Sun Light and Burning Ray.”

Despite the church’s dissatisfaction with the denomination, Covenant Senior Pastor Christopher Mathewson pointed out that the Presbytery of Shenango had been “nothing short of amicable, open minded and understanding of Covenant’s decision to move forward with the dismissal process.”

Mathewson added that Shenango’s Executive Presbyter David Dawson, had also been “immensely resourceful in both offering his concerns about CPC’s decision, but also his prayerful support knowing that the session of CPC is acting on its own prayerful conviction.”

In May of 2011, Shenango voted against Amendment 10A and has since been viewed by many churches as being sympathetic towards departing congregations.

“The churches of Shenango Presbytery have every reason to be distraught about how the situation in the PCUSA has changed,” Dawson stated in a recent statement titled “What Do We Do Now? Reflections on Our Situation in the Presbyterian Church (USA).”

According to presbytery documents, nine churches are in the dismissal process in Shenango.

In January, the session of East Main Presbyterian Church of Grove City recommended in January to begin the dismissal process with the presbytery. The church is one of Shenango’s largest with 670 members and it will hold a congregational meeting on April 29.

Read More.

[Editor’s note: Original URLs (links) referenced in this article are no longer valid, so the links have been removed.]