The Session has called for a meeting of the congregation to vote on the matter Jan. 29, 2012 at 10 a.m. The letter indicates that “in order for the vote to be valid, we must have 50-percent of our membership in attendance.” For FPCO, that means that 1,826 people need to show up in person to vote.

The unanimous recommendation of the session of First Presbyterian Church of Orlando (FPCO) to the congregation that they seek dismissal from the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) and align with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) came as a surprise to many but FPCO documents assure that the decision is the result of decades of study and “nearly two years of faithful prayer and earnestly seeking God’s guidance.”

In a letter to the congregation the session says, “This process of prayer and discernment has been ongoing in our church since the late 1980’s, and these recommendations are the culmination of hundreds of hours of study and prayer given by your elders through those years.” The session informs the congregation of its conclusion to recommend dismissal to the EPC and that the “decision and recommendations to you come after the realization that the theological foundations and missional purposes of First Presbyterian Church, Orlando, no longer align with those of the PC(USA).”

Those divergent paths are outlined in an accompanying entitled “Discerning God’s Way Forward.”

Therein, the session outlines the core theological values that not only differentiate FPCO from the PCUSA but also compelled the session to recommend separation from it.

Those issues are the authority of Scripture and the Lordship of Jesus Christ. The document contends that, where FPCO holds to the traditional Reformed understanding of Scripture, “an increasing number PCUSA congregations and leaders hold equally firm” to progressive theology.

Different approaches to Scripture
“Progressive theology regards the Bible as having a measure of authority. However, as it is fundamentally viewed as the experience and insights of human authors rather than divinely-authored truth, its principles must be reinterpreted and applied in each new cultural setting. It is not absolute truth, but instead, an ever-changing one,” the document says.

FPCO’s session is committed to “traditional Reformed theology,” which it describes as accepting “Scripture as the only written revelation of God.

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