“I said for years that when we look at the interpretation of Scripture, there’s not one single group that can claim to have the corner on the market on the correct interpretation,” he said. “But I always said I had to draw a line in the sand when it came to the lordship of Christ. Unfortunately, our denomination has ordained people who deny the lordship of Christ. It just became very evident that we were just going to move further and further in that direction.

While area Episcopalians and Anglicans have seen their theological differences lead to lawsuits and battles over property disputes, Presbyterians have taken a different tack.

Six Presbyterian churches, including Trinity United Presbyterian in Modesto, quietly have been dismissed from the Stockton Presbytery, the denomination’s equivalent of an Episcopal diocese. The presbytery had 21 churches from Vacaville in the north to Merced in the south, and from Tracy to Columbia. The requests to leave were introduced in August and became final Oct. 23.

The departing churches include Central Presbyterian in Merced; Orestimba Presbyterian Church, Newman; Lincoln Presbyterian Church, Stockton; Delhi Community Presbyterian Church; and Escalon Presbyterian Church.

Instead of a property fight, the presbytery asked the churches to pay a fee to support ministry to individuals who did not wish to leave the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The fees, determined by a formula based on the value of the church’s property, the number of members in each congregation and other factors, ranged from $3,600 to $65,000. In return, the presbytery signed the deeds for the properties over to the departing congregations, who recorded them under their own names and promptly joined the Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians.

“The six churches left because of a theological drift in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) over the years, centered around three main things: the lordship of Jesus Christ, the authority of Scripture and the foundation of the confessions,” said the Rev. Dave Kerr, pastor of Trinity United Presbyterian. “In a nutshell, it’s because of the biblical theological stance of the (national) church.”

The same issues are at the heart of most disagreements in mainline denominations, including the Episcopal-Anglican split and rumblings in the United Methodist Church, among others. The splits often are attributed to a national church’s actions, such as the ordination of gay clergy or a change in marriage policies, but Kerr said the local Presbyterian churches did not leave because of social issues.

“I said for years that when we look at the interpretation of Scripture, there’s not one single group that can claim to have the corner on the market on the correct interpretation,” he said. “But I always said I had to draw a line in the sand when it came to the lordship of Christ. Unfortunately, our denomination has ordained people who deny the lordship of Christ. It just became very evident that we were just going to move further and further in that direction.

Read More. [Editor’s note: the original URL (link) referenced is no longer valid, so the link has been removed.]

Read here about a PCUSA church in Mobile that is leaving for the ECO.

Read College Hill Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) in Cincinnati leaves PCUSA for ECO