The proposal says the financial settlement must enable the congregation “to carry on its desired mission post-dismissal with its property intact.” The settlement can’t make the presbytery responsible for any debt. A majority of the congregation must approve the settlement, as must a majority of the presbytery.  

Pittsburgh Presbytery is poised to vote on a plan that would allow congregations to leave the Presbyterian Church (USA) with their buildings if they first engage in an open discernment process and negotiate a settlement with the presbytery.

About 170 people attended a discussion Tuesday night in Bethany Presbyterian Church, Bridgeville. The plan will be voted on Sept. 15. Four churches asked for such a policy: Mt. Lebanon United Presbyterian Church, Lebanon Presbyterian Church in West Mifflin, Bellefield Presbyterian Church in Oakland, and Round Hill Presbyterian Church in Elizabeth Borough.

Over the past decade the Presbyterian Church (USA) has lost 195 theologically conservative congregations in disputes over biblical interpretation and sexual morality. Up to 600 are estimated to be in process to follow them, according to The Presbyterian Lay Committee, a conservative group. The denomination has 1.9 million members in 11,000 congregations.

In 2007 Pittsburgh Presbytery lost three congregations to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. Since then a new body, the Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians, has formed with a different style of government. Under church law, the only way a departing congregation can keep its property is if it joins another denomination in the Presbyterian tradition.

The Rev. Sheldon Sorge, pastor to Pittsburgh Presbytery, compared schism to divorce, expressing hope for reconciliation.

“Should we come to parting company, let us do so in a way that nothing we do or say brings shame to Jesus … or makes it impossible for us to be joined again,” he said. “Any parting between followers of Jesus is only temporary. … It is our destiny to be joined again.”

At the end of the meeting the Rev. Lowell Meek, pastor of Round Hill, questioned the divorce analogy. The Bible, he said, speaks of the church as the bride of Christ.

“When we talk about our relationship with one another, we are referred to as the children of God,” he said. “I have eight children, most of whom are grown and have their own homes. We did not negotiate a settlement when they left the house.”

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