Free Republic

ISTANBUL – American Pastor Andrew Brunson, whose detention in Turkey has sparked a tense standoff between Ankara and Washington, will likely be released following a hearing scheduled for Friday, according to his lawyer. “There is a good chance he could walk free,” Brunson’s lawyer, Ismail Cem Haravut told Yahoo News. Brunson, a Christian preacher from North Carolina, became the center a diplomatic row between Ankara and Washington after Turkey jailed on terrorism charges. Ankara accuses Brunson of having links to groups guilty of orchestrating a failed coup attempt in 2016, through the small evangelical he has run in the coastal...

EPC religious organizations demand attention for other reasons than sheer numbers. First, EPC churches draw people together on a much more regular consistent basis than other types of civic organizations, such as ethnic advocacy groups. Some EPC adherents in our study attend services or Bible studies four times a week throughout the year. Second, an EPC pastor or religious leader is more than a trusted community to their church or temple members.

The unbelieving world will always do “cool” better than the Church. When the Church adopts coolness and relevance as its corporate values, it slavishly agrees to follow, lagging always one step behind the world. (This is why Christian music always ends up ripping off the sounds and styles of their secular counterparts, while Christian film always has a cheesy “cringe factor”).

The Evangelical Presbyterian Church is set to have the record number for their 33rd General Assembly, which will be held at Cherry Hills Community Church in Colorado.Dana Cadman, director of communications and information services with the growing conservative Presbyterian denomination, told The Christian Post that 1,180 people, more than 620 of whom are voting commissioners, will be attending."This year's attendance is 50 percent greater than last year's; we have 35 percent more voting commissioners than last year," said Cadman. "I think that it is wonderful to have so many people worshiping and serving together."The 33rd General Assembly will be a...

Like something out of the Old Testament, an affliction from on high has rained down on Faith Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Fairfax County: golf balls. One smashed the rear window of Pastor Bob Barnett’s Honda Odyssey on a Sunday. Another crashed through a church office window, and a third plunked the youth director on the head, knocking him down as he worked with a group of children. In all, 2,637 balls pelted the property during a recent year-long period, the church claims. Members know because they collected each one. The source is not divine, but the adjacent TopGolf, a state-of-the-art...

The Evangelical Presbyterian (E.P) Church, Ghana, on Sunday joined the growing condemnation of homosexuality in Ghana, saying attempts to justify the abominable behaviour were unacceptable. The Reverend Joyce Kofi Kodade, Moderator of the West Volta Presbytery of the E.P. Church, said the explanation that homosexuality could be biological, psychological, or social behaviour is untenable. He said: “If you know you are sick, go for treatment, see a doctor, if you think it is psychological, see a counsellor. Don't justify homosexuality by the laws. “According to the law you may be right but according to the will of God, you are...

A small but fast-growing Presbyterian denomination meeting this week in Memphis resolved long-standing theological and constitutional conflicts over the ordination of women that have vexed and divided evangelical Christians for decades. A record-setting 460 delegates to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church's 31st General Assembly voted to allow congregations to call women to ordained ministry, even if their presbytery (governing body) objects for theological or doctrinal reasons....

The Pastoral Search Committee of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., announced on January 18, 2009 their choice for their next pastor: William Graham Tullian Tchividjian, 36, pastor New City Church (EPC) in Margate, Fla. Tchividjian is a grandson of Billy Graham.

In a move that echoes a division in the Episcopal church, at least three Valley Presbyterian churches are taking steps to move to another denomination over differences about the Bible and homosexuality. Officials at Valley congregations say they are at odds with Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the nation's largest Presbyterian denomination, over its decision to drop a church standard that potential ministers, deacons and elders live in "fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness."

Tulsa, Okla., September 9, 2008 – Tulsa County District Judge Jefferson Sellers ruled today that the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) and the Eastern Oklahoma Presbytery of the PCUSA (EOP) own the Kirk of the Hills property at 4102 E. 61st Street, under the denomination’s constitution... The Kirk of the Hills paid for the property over the last four decades and the deeds are in the Kirk Corporation’s name. ... The Kirk has been in a legal battle over this property since the Kirk withdrew from PCUSA denomination in August 2006. ...

A third lawsuit has been filed involving Peters Creek United Presbyterian Church, whose members voted 207-26 last year to leave the Presbyterian Church (USA) for the more theologically conservative Evangelical Presbyterian Church. On Monday the minority, who Washington Presbytery has declared the "true church," sued the majority, asking the Washington County Common Pleas Court to remove the officers of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church and return all property to control of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Last year the majority sued Washington Presbytery, the local governing body of the Presbyterian Church (USA), for the right to keep all property. Last month Washington...

A legal complaint pitting a Mississippi congregation that left the Presbyterian Church (USA) against the Presbytery of Mississippi has been returned to state court by a federal judge. Grace Chapel Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Madison, Miss., is seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent Mississippi Presbytery from violating a final declaratory judgment that resolved a property ownership lawsuit that the church brought against the presbytery in March. Mississippi Presbytery moved the church's request to U.S. District Court within 30 days of its Aug. 29 filing, saying there was a federal question about the free exercise of religion under the First...

CANONSBURG, Pa. (AP) — Washington Presbytery officials are expected in court on Friday to contest a claim to church property by a western Pennsylvania congregation that voted to leave the national church. A property dispute arose after members of the Peters Creek Presbyterian Church voted in November to leave the Presbyterian Church USA and join the Evangelical Presbyterian Church based in Livonia, Mich.

Two of the largest churches in Sacramento Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church (USA) will leave the denomination with their properties for the Evangelical Presbyterian Church on Jan. 1, now that their dismissal requests have been approved. Presbytery commissioners agreed at their stated meeting Dec. 4 to dismiss Fair Oaks Presbyterian Church in Fair Oaks, Calif., the presbytery's largest with 2,286 members, and First Presbyterian Church in Roseville, Calif., the presbytery's third-largest with 1,143 members. The vote totals were 146-18 for the Fair Oaks Church's dismissal, said Bill Cole, an elder and spokesman for that church, and 153-11 for the Roseville...

First Presbyterian Church of Quincy and the Presbytery of Great Rivers have reached an agreement that will allow the church an orderly transfer to a different denomination while keeping its building and grounds. First Presbyterian will pay the presbytery $196,000 on Jan. 9, a figure that allows the church to be sole owner of the property and facilities at 1027 S. 24th. The agreement also releases both parties from any future claims, damages or demands. *** First Presbyterian Church also will change its name before March. Part of the agreement with the presbytery allows First Presbyterian to temporarily use that...

A magistrate in Summit County Common Pleas Court has ruled that the property at Hudson Presbyterian Church belongs to the faction of the congregation that voted to leave the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Magistrate John Shoemaker on Friday rejected the argument of the Eastminster Presbytery that all property of the church is held in trust for the denomination as outlined in the PCUSA constitution. - snip - He also said that the presbytery's attorney is filing objections to the magistrate's ruling because it contradicts the denomination's constitution.

One of south Louisiana’s largest Presbyterian churches is splitting with the nation’s largest Presbyterian denomination. Baton Rouge’s First Presbyterian Church announced in an e-mail Sunday that its members had voted 425-61 that morning to end a 25-year association with the Presbyterian Church (USA) -snip- Also, First Presbyterian, a church of about 1,500 members with Sunday attendance of about 700, plans to continue financial support to the presbytery during a five-year transition period.

Beverly Heights Presbyterian Church was dismissed from the Pittsburgh Presbytery yesterday so it could join a more conservative denomination -- the first of what could be several votes over divisive theological and ecclesiastical questions. - snip - According to the settlement between the presbytery and the 400-member church, Beverly Heights will keep its building and land -- together valued at more than $1 million -- and the rights to its name. In exchange, it will pay the presbytery $250,000 over 10 years and forfeit $46,655 in a trust account. - snip -

Two of the largest churches in the Sacramento Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church (USA) are requesting that the presbytery dismiss them to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. Fair Oaks Presbyterian Church in Fair Oaks, Calif., the presbytery's largest congregation with 2,286 members, and First Presbyterian Church in Roseville, Calif., the presbytery's third-largest congregation with 1,143 members, held congregational votes Oct. 14 on seeking dismissal. At Fair Oaks, 1,179 voted to request dismissal and 39 voted to stay in the PCUSA, the church's Web site stated. About 1,700 members were at the worship service that preceded the vote and 1,218 of them...

SOMERSET — With a growing frustration with the national organizations that oversee them, many congregants at two local churches are considering cutting ties with their national groups and forming a new church. Church leaders at St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church and St. Francis-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church said they have been talking with members about the direction of national church groups they are affiliated with. -snip- If both congregations agree, members would split from their denominations and erect a new building in Somerset Township where worshipers would come together as members of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.