Comments for Montreat Church: Presbytery votes to divide into two congregations at http://pres-outlook.net , comment 1 to 4 out of 4 comments http://pres-outlook.net Sat, 04 Jul 2009 18:27:50 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://pres-outlook.net/news-and-analysis/1-news-a-analysis/4655.html#comment-3310 My wife was having surgery on the day Western Carolina Presbytery met to consider the request of a large number of Montreat Presbyterian Church memebers to leave the UPUSA and become part of the EPC. I regret having had to miss the meeting. I had hoped the Presbytery would vote to deny the request, permitting individual members to request transfer of membership to wherever and whatever denomination/congregation with which they chose to align themselves. Presbyteries are not usually in the business of dismissing congregations. Members are dismissed by Sessions. I am never against reconciliation but when it is evident that the other party has no interest in putting back together torn places, then the appropriate action is to honor the intent to leave but not send the individual(s) forward with best wishes. There is a significant difference between 'genuine acceptance' and 'winesome license'. It seems to be the action of the Presbytery was the later and not the former disposition. I assume that Mr. White will transferring his ministry to the EPC since he has been in support of the actions and attitudes of the dissenting majority and their determination to leave the UPUSA. One issue over which many hands are being wrung is the notion of a another congregation being organized and established in Montreat. 'Sacred ground' may be true in both memory and emotion for thousands of us but the fact remains that Montreat is an incorporated town. I can not imagine a Town Council ruling to allow only one congregation to exist within the incorporated limits of the town. That reality for me adds only to the pain and unimaginable heart-break of this very sad turn of events. Bob Martin, Retired Minister Summer College Worker, 1953-54 Met wife in summer of 1954;married 1957 Conference Double Quartet, Summer '57 First Summer Chaplin, Summer 1965 Director/Trustee: Montreat College and Montreat Associaton, 1965-1975 Resident of Black Mountain, NC since 2000 - Bob Martin Fri, 18 May 2007 12:00:00 +0100 http://pres-outlook.net/news-and-analysis/1-news-a-analysis/4655.html#comment-3274 Oh, I pray that no one is leaving simply to find a route--magic or otherwise--to church growth. I agree with Brother Hawkins: there lies trouble. No, the only faithful reason to leave is because God has called the congregation to play a new position on the Heavenly Choir Nine. And if that is why you go. . . 'if you build it, they will come.' (Any movie buffs out there?) Mac - Michael Mccarty Fri, 04 May 2007 12:00:00 +0100 http://pres-outlook.net/news-and-analysis/1-news-a-analysis/4655.html#comment-3272 In regard to churches leaving the PC(USA) and joining the EPC: It's not necessarily the "magic" route to church growth. Our church, Covington Presbyterian, experienced a split in 2000. Seventy percent of the congregation left and formed an independent church that joined EPC several years later. Now approximately half or more of those who left us in 2000 no longer attend the EPC church. Easter Sunday attendance there was 84 while our Easter attendance was 202. Our church's blessings include God sending us a wonderful pastor in 2002 and financial support and real Christian friendship from our Presbytery, the Presbytery of South Louisiana. ... My advice? Look before you leap! Three cheers for our grand old PC(USA)! - John C. Hawkins Fri, 04 May 2007 12:00:00 +0100 http://pres-outlook.net/news-and-analysis/1-news-a-analysis/4655.html#comment-3254 Maybe I'm missing something here. 'Dismissing' only part of a congregation, and that without name or property, isn't 'dismissing' at all. What the Presbytery actually did was to invite the staff and 323 members of Montreat church to quit. Allowing the 'dismissed' group to meet at the retreat center is a small sop - the same privilege almost certainly would have been extended to, say, a Haitian Baptist congregation that asked to use the facility. Apart from the use of the conference center, how is this 'yes' vote appreciably different from a 'no'? Would the Presbytery NOT have allowed people to quit? - John Scott Thu, 26 Apr 2007 12:00:00 +0100