Six churches located along the panhandle of Alaska were dismissed from the Presbyterian Church (USA) during a Presbytery of Alaska meeting that took place April 6, and their departure leaves the presbytery below the required minimum number of churches. All six of them were dismissed to join ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians.

Six churches located along the panhandle of Alaska were dismissed from the Presbyterian Church (USA) during a Presbytery of Alaska meeting that took place April 6, and their departure leaves the presbytery below the required minimum number of churches.

All six of them were dismissed to join ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians. The churches that have left the presbytery and PCUSA are Chapel by the Lake in Juneau, Haines Presbyterian, First Presbyterian in Skagway, Frances Johnson Memorial in Angoon, Kake Memorial and Hoonah Presbyterian.

The dismissal of the six churches leaves the Presbytery of Alaska with just nine congregations, one less than the minimum number of 10 for a presbytery as designated by the Book of Order.

As a result, the Seattle-based Synod of Alaska-Northwest has assumed jurisdiction and charged the presbytery with continuing to oversee day-to-day operations of the remaining churches and mission work for now.

According to G-3.0103 in the Book of Order (BOO), a presbytery is described as a council serving as a corporate expression of the church within a certain district and is composed of all the congregations and teaching elders within that district. The presbytery is responsible for the government of the church throughout its district, and for assisting and supporting the witness of congregations to the sovereign activity of God in the world, so that all congregations become communities of faith, hope, love and witness.

Citing that passage from the BOO, PCUSA Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons indicated the synod acts for congregations that remain in the presbytery.

“When a presbytery falls below that number it is the equivalent to falling below a quorum for a meeting,” Parsons wrote in an email to The Layman. “The synod must now act for the congregations until new boundaries can be drawn and approved. A presbytery should prepare for this transition at its last meeting when it still has the minimum required.”

The responsibility of the synod in regard to such issues is found in the Book of Order, G-3.0403 (c.), noting its function of “organizing new presbyteries, dividing, uniting, or otherwise combining presbyteries or portions of presbyteries previously existing,” among other duties to meet the mission needs of various congregations.

Dr. David Dobler, pastor to the Presbytery of Alaska, said the presbytery continues to function as is for the moment after the Synod of Alaska-Northwest – comprised of seven presbyteries, approximately 260 churches and 58,000 members in Alaska, Washington and northern Idaho – passed a resolution during an April 24 meeting that gave it jurisdiction over the presbytery.

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