A New York church is celebrating after successfully fighting for its right to exist. On March 31, Jermain Memorial Presbyterian Church of Watervliet, N.Y., signed a property and separation agreement with the Presbytery of Albany, ending a two-year battle in which the presbytery tried to shutter the church and liquidate its property and six-figure assets.

Disproving the presbytery’s claim that it was time for Jermain to “die with dignity,” the church reached an out-of-court agreement that will allow it to keep most of its property and funds as well as obtaining a de facto dismissal from the Presbyterian Church (USA). The church, known throughout its community for several service projects including a thrift store, reorganized under the name Jermain Memorial Ecumenical Presbyterian Church.

“I’m at a loss for words,” church elder Jeanne Kippen said, speaking about the agreement.

Her only misgiving concerns a provision allowing the presbytery to keep the church’s manse – a four-bedroom house valued at an estimated $140,000, according to Kippen.

“That, I’m not happy about,” she said. “But that’s our cost.”

Under the agreement, the presbytery agreed to return all the land it took over after deciding to close the church in November 2009 with the exception of the manse. In return, Jermain agreed to cease identifying with the PCUSA in any way and agreed to turn over all church records (going back to its foundation in 1874) to the presbytery in exchange for copies of the entire collection.

Letting go of its PCUSA identity will not be a burden, Kippen said, adding the church has no plans to affiliate with any denomination.

“We won’t give anyone else the ammunition to close us,” she said.

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