“We haven’t been able to leave,” said Proschold, who started as the parish associate in 2002 and has been New Life’s stated supply pastor since 2006. “The presbytery won’t even recognize our new name. We’re supposed to be brothers and sisters in Christ, and they don’t seem inclined to show us that respect.”

A small mountain church in northern California remains stuck in a presbytery that won’t even acknowledge that it has changed its name.

New Life Community Church, formerly Covelo Presbyterian Church, is located in the eastern part of Mendocino County along the northern California coast. The 34-member congregation has been trying to leave the Presbyterian Church (USA) since a unanimous congregational vote in 2011, but the Rev. Penny Proschold said the Presbytery of the Redwoods has made departure difficult.

“We haven’t been able to leave,” said Proschold, who started as the parish associate in 2002 and has been New Life’s stated supply pastor since 2006. “The presbytery won’t even recognize our new name. We’re supposed to be brothers and sisters in Christ, and they don’t seem inclined to show us that respect.”

The church changed its name in April 2012 after a period of prayer, discernment and input from members to signify a new beginning with another denomination, to open the church to all members of the community and remove the stigma of being associated with the PCUSA.

Presbytery of the Redwoods is comprised of 52 congregations and located along the northern coast of California, stretching north of San Francisco to the Oregon border. The web site still has New Life listed as Covelo on its page showing congregations in the presbytery. There also is not a dismissal policy listed on the site, and that apparently is where the issue for Proschold and her small congregation lies.

“We were the first church in the presbytery to request dismissal (two years ago), and there was no policy in place,” Proschold explained. “The presbytery started considering a policy in the fall (of 2012), but there’s still nothing in place.”

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