Sumner Presbyterian votes to leave national Presbyterian denomination

Sumner Presbyterian votes to leave national Presbyterian denomination

By DANIEL NASH
Bonney Lake-Sumner Courier-Herald Reporter, Reporter
November 15, 2011 · Updated 5:14 PM
The congregation of Sumner Presbyterian Church voted Sunday to leave the national Presbyterian Church because of changes to the denomination's constitution designed to allow non-celibate homosexuals into the clergy and lay leadership.

The Sumner congregation voted in favor of secession by a margin of 90 percent, with 6 percent voting against and 4 percent undecided, Executive Pastor Mary Hendrickson said.

Hendrickson clarified that, although the changes to the Presbyterian Church constitution were prompted by the issue of allowing homosexuals into church leadership, the vote was strictly concerned with the change to the constitution and that it was not a vote regarding homosexuality in the church.

"For Sumner, the vote was more about the change in the book of order from leadership being 'obedient to scripture' to 'guided by scripture.'"

The Presbyterian Church voted nationally last spring to give its regional governing bodies--presbyteries--the option to ordain gay and lesbian clergy and to allow said persons into lay leadership positions such as elder and deacon.

The Presbytery of Olympia opted out of ordainments. Lay leadership appointments were left up to individual congregations.

Sumner Presbyterian was joined Sunday by Chapel Hill Presbyterian of Gig Harbor. Both churches joined other recent departure-elect congregations, such as First Presbyterian of Tacoma and Evergreen Presbyterian in Graham.

Tomorrow, Thursday, the Presbytery of Olympia is expected to elect a commission to negotiate the terms of congregation departures from the denomination, Hendrickson said. Once terms are negotiated, the congregations will vote to accept or deny them.

Sumner Presbyterian will change its name and join the Evangelical Covenant Church when the separation process is complete.

Contact Bonney Lake-Sumner Courier-Herald Reporter, Reporter Daniel Nash at dnash@courierherald.com

Sumner Presbyterian votes to leave national Presbyterian denomination - Bonney Lake-Sumner Courier-Herald

So how many churches is this now? Does some site keep a running total?

__________________
Sola Scriptura does NOT reject tradition; it simply limits its authority.

01001001 01100110 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100011
01100001 01101110 00100000 01110010 01100101 01100001 01100100 00100000
01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00101100 00100000 01111001 01101111
01110101 00100111 01110010 01100101 00100000 01100001 00100000 01101110
01100101 01110010 01100100 00101110

Here's one chart, I don't think it is complete or up to date though:

Churches Leaving the PCUSA

From what I heard at last session, most of the "tall steeple" churches in PCUSA are in the process of planning to leave within the next year, either to EPC, or affiliating with the new presbyterian denomination that is presently in the process of being formed.

I had to look up:
-----------------------------------------------------------
Lay leader - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A lay leader is a member of the laity in any congregation who has been chosen as a leader. Since lay leadership is not an ordained clerical office, the lay leader's responsibilities vary according to the particular tradition to which he or she belongs. Some organizations do not allow the lay ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lay_leader More results
-------------------------------------------------------------------

What happened to minister or paster? Is that included in this new happenings?

Long list for a brief peek. So whats happening this minute? Is it something like 5% has already left and a total 0f 10% by the end of next month? Are there any ballpark numbers? The PCUSA ought to know by the property deals. Do PCUSA own all properties?

Maybe it less than 1%

I though China was buying all of our properties and now we have gays buying all of our properties.

One odd thing I see in PCUSA is a video about gathering Christmas presents for children in shoe boxes. In the video Franklin Graham hosted or put together this miniseries. The odd thing I'm talking about is the the Grahams are stout arminians and the Presbyterians are what I think, Calvinist. I sort of appreciate mixing the two extreme theologies, Calvinism and arminians together. I find hyper Calvinism too extreme and the traditional Calvinism seems a little more pleasant to read and not so harsh toward those that believe in Jesus without saying how they got that belief.