This
past Saturday I had the privilege of attending the March meeting of Twin Cities
Area Presbytery. Kate O’Brien-Soltau
attended the meeting with me. Kate has
participated at Chain of Lakes for over a year.
She is in the final stages of being ordained. She will be an outstanding chaplain.
We
arrived early to set up a table for Chain of Lakes Church, a ministry of the
Presbytery. As always I enjoyed speaking
to people and sharing what is happening at Chain of Lakes.
The
meeting started with reports from the officers.
Moderator David Colby shared that with all of the changes happening in
the Presbytery this is an opportunity for the Presbytery to set priorities and
then to do ministry based on those priorities.
In her report, Presbytery Leadership Team chair Barbara Lutter shared a
first draft of possible areas to which future monies from departing
congregations could go. She acknowledged
that it is awkward to talk about this when these congregations haven’t left
yet. However having a clear plan is
essential. The first draft of this plan
can be found at one of the links at: http://www.presbyterytwincities.org/PresbyteryPacket
The
big item of the day was the report of the Hope Church Administrative Commission
(AC). They have been working with the
church for the past 18 months. The four
members of the AC spoke. General terms
for Hope’s departure were shared. The
terms can be found at the link that I shared above.
The
bottom line is a significant number of people at Hope Church in Richfield want
to leave the PC(USA) and join the Evangelical Covenant Order (ECO).
Leaders
from Hope spoke. David Lenz, lead pastor
from the church, said that when leaders from the church started the process
they didn’t imagine they would have to pay the amount that is being proposed—1.2
million, plus AC expenses plus the Oliver Building. He said that the Session had met for nine hours,
praying and discerning over these terms.
At the end they unanimously voted to accept them.
The
conversation on the floor of the Presbytery was refreshingly pastoral and
healthy. No debate, no vitriol, mostly
compassion and sadness. Important
questions about the general terms were asked.
But it became very apparent that the AC had done an outstanding
job. They had covered all the bases they
could imagine regarding Hope’s departure.
I
hate to see Hope leave the PC(USA). I
believe that the churches who are thinking about leaving have an important
voice within our denomination. They have
many lessons to teach about growing churches.
I have friends who go to Hope. I have many memories of attending Presbytery
meetings and other events at Hope.
But
in Hope’s case the differences apparently are too big to overcome. The divorce language of irreconcilable differences
seems to describe the relationship between the Presbytery and Hope. Though it’s hard to accept the divorce, it
seems the best thing to do is finalize the terms while continuing to pray for
both Hope and the Presbytery as they and we go our separate ways. As the AC shared the objective is gracious separation for both Hope and the Presbytery.
The
Presbytery almost unanimously approved the general terms. The almost unanimous vote was a reflection of
the outstanding work done by the AC. The
next step will be a final vote on final terms of the agreement by the Presbytery in May.
The
meeting felt a bit anti-climactic after that.
I attended a Presbytery conversation on electronic giving. The meal is always one of my favorite times
of Presbytery and that was the case again.
I was very impressed by the hospitality shared by the folks at Valley
Community Presbyterian. One person told
me that 68 people from the church helped in some sort of way on Saturday.
The
Presbytery has six churches who have requested an Administrative Commission to
explore departing the PC(USA). This
takes a lot of energy and time away from other priorities of the
Presbytery. Perhaps this past Saturday’s
meeting is a first step in moving ahead in a healthy way.
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