Therefore the decision to dissolve congregations and require teaching elders to renounce jurisdiction, rather than dismiss was reached clearly in the interest of “doing no harm to the Church of Jesus Christ” – the commission feeling that the ordination vow to further “the peace, unity and purity” trumped any consideration of determining a process for dismissal that abided by the AI.

In the fall of 2011, four congregations in the Presbytery of the Miami Valley each decided to hold congregational meetings on Reformation Sunday to seek “disaffiliation with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).” Each of these congregation occupied significant places in the life of the presbytery; each of their pastors served in some presbytery leadership capacity; and many of their ruling elders and members had various roles in the presbytery ministry.

These departures, now complete, have been difficult for this presbytery, bringing not only a loss of resource and talent, but also significant sadness in the loss of collegial connections. Perhaps the most difficult part of all of this was the realization that in our theologically diverse presbytery, where for many years we seemed able to weather the storms of denominational crises, our relational bridges were not strong enough to withstand the rising floodwaters of the tempest.

While no doubt we would like to think our troubling experience unique, with a few exceptions, presbyteries across this denomination, to varying degrees, have suffered as much as the Presbytery of the Miami Valley. Congregations have departed, or are in the process of doing so. But while the outcome is essential the same – loss – the process undertaken by this presbytery is significantly different in one major respect: we have not dismissed any congregations or teaching elders to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) or to the Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians (ECO), choosing instead to dissolve.

This is neither a distinction without a difference, nor is it some kind of legal strategy, but rather, it expresses our understanding of living in fidelity to being Presbyterian.

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