Enid Presbyterian church is in the midst of split

OK News ^ | 20 October 2011 | Carla Hinton

[Cronos]

The majority of members of First Presbyterian Church of Enid have decided to sever ties with the nation's largest Presbyterian denomination.

About 200 of the church's 250 members cast votes on the issue Sunday, said James Bellatti, presbyter of the Cimarron Presbytery, a regional affiliate of the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Bellatti said 131 church members voted to leave the denomination, while 69 voted to stay. The nonbinding vote was simply a tally to determine who wanted to stay and who wanted to go, he said.

Two days later, the church's senior pastor, the Rev. Roy Schneider, resigned from his post. In a letter to the congregation, Schneider referenced Amendment 10A to the denomination's constitution, which would allow persons in a same-gender relationship to be considered for ordination or installation as deacons, elders and ministers.

Bellatti said the Cimarron Presbytery has elected an administrative commission to work with the church members who want to remain affiliated with the denomination. Bellatti said those who choose to leave the denomination may do so, but they must negotiate with the presbytery if they want to retain use of the First Presbyterian Church of Enid property. Under a trust agreement, the denomination retains the rights to the church building, property and any assets, he said. \

[Cronos]

The PCUSA's decision to allow gay-marriages is resulting in rapid disintegration

[BenKenobi]

Good for the congregation in Enid to leave. I’ve always marvelled how the men and women who built the building have their hard work stripped away by one little legal document.

[CitizenUSA]

The denomination apparently controls the church's assets. Don't think for a moment the PCUSA won't come down hard on those who don't like homosexuals running things. It means leaving church properties behind. I sympathize. Some might say the church is just a building, and it is, but the members have had weddings, funerals, and other significant life events on those properties and might have spent decades maintaining them through their donations and work. Leaving is the right thing to do, but again, I sympathize. They certainly aren't going to get any sympathy from the pro-sodomite factions.

[CitizenUSA]

I have some friends who were members of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. They had to leave everything behind in order to follow Christ. That’s really what’s at stake with these votes. These denominations are practicing heresy in direct defiance of scripture.

[athelass]

"The PCUSA's decision to allow gay-marriages is resulting in rapid disintegration "

Good. These liberal churches need to break up. Church leadership is just as far from their people as politicians are from theirs. Time is long past for us to get out of our denominations and our expensive buildings and just be the Church.

When I was a young Christian I couldn't understand the parable of the wedding feast. Now I think it is the people still sitting in pews who will say, "Lord, Lord", and he replies, "I never knew you."

[BenKenobi]

I left myself. Haven’t looked back. It’s sad, it really is, that the folks who have done nothing but stick to Christ are the ones getting kicked out.

But you do what you must. Aim for Christ and you get the world thrown in...

[Lee N. Field]

Don't think for a moment the PCUSA won't come down hard on those who don't like homosexuals running things.

From what I gather, it varies from presbytery to presbytery. (Presbytery is a regional association.)

My brother tells me of a church locally who left for the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (the current destination of choice), amicably and with the property. It probably helps, too, if there's a sizable debt on the building.

I keep hoping my father's and siblings' church, where I grew up, will follow suit.