20 January 2016

Wednesday, January 20, 2016, 22:00

This news item was posted in Presbyterians Week category.

“But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.” [Ezekiel 33:6]

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” [Ephesians 6:12]

Presbyterians Week Headlines

[1] Session of Central Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) in Athens, Georgia Sent Packing by Northeast Georgia Presbytery ahead of Secession Vote by Congregation

[2] News from the Deepest Recesses of Hell

[3] Raging Heathen and Vain Imagining

[4] The Religion of Peace

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[1] Session of Central Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) in Athens, Georgia Sent Packing by Northeast Georgia Presbytery ahead of Secession Vote by Congregation

A 17 January 2016 Athens Banner-Herald article by Lee Shearer titled “Central Presbyterian Church Leaders Ousted after Scheduling Secession Vote” reports that the entire session of Central Presbyterian Church (Presbyterian Church (PCUSA)) was ousted by the Northeast Georgia Presbytery just ahead of a scheduled 24 January 2016 vote by the congregation to leave the PCUSA to join the Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians.

Central Presbyterian Church has for several months going through the PCUSA’s “discernment process” about whether or not to leave the denomination, and had scheduled the vote for 24 January. The presbytery dissolved the Central session after they refused to pledge their loyalty to the PCUSA. The presbytery says that no matter the 24 January vote, Central will remain in the PCUSA along with all church property that the presbytery insists is the PCUSA’s property held in trust by the church.

A number of church members believe that the presbytery’s heavy-handed actions have to do with the high value of the church property that is located in a thriving commercial district. Central Presbyterian Pastor Bob Bohler commented:

“What has made our people sad and angry however, is that our presbytery decided the issue for the congregation before the discernment process had been completed. The presbytery came in and dissolved the governing board midway in the process. They told the board that they were going to stop the period of discernment and take over its role of leadership in the congregation because the Session would not pledge its allegiance to the denomination. We have tried to be open and fair in the process and other congregations who have left or are in the process have not been treated in this way. I have spent the last week of my time, fielding calls and talking to a lot of very angry people. This is too bad because this process did not have to be so adversarial! A number of our people suspect that were our property not so valuable our presbytery’s hand would not be so heavy.”

+ Athens Banner-Herald, 1 Press Place Athens, Georgia 30601, 706-549-0123, scot.morrissey@onlineathens.com

+ Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202, 888-728-7228, Fax: 502-569-8005

+ Northeast Georgia Presbytery, 186 Ben Burton Circle, Suite 100, Bogart, Georgia 30622, 706-353-2533, Fax: 706-353-2916, tgp@negapby.org

+ Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians, 8134 New LaGrange Road, Suite 227, Louisville, Kentucky 40222, 502-425-4630, email@fellowship-pres.org

[2] News from the Deepest Recesses of Hell

— U.S. Supreme Court Blocks Arkansas Law Banning Abortions after Baby’s Heart Starts Beating

— Video Exposes Planned Parenthood Trying to Cover Up Its Sales of Aborted Baby Parts

— We’re Heading Towards the “Extinction” of People with Down Syndrome Thanks to Abortion

— Spanish Women Aborted, Faked Car Accidents to Claim Compensation for Babies’ Deaths

— Houston, Texas Student Gives Birth in High School Bathroom, Leaves Dead Baby for Janitor to Discover

— Canada: 216 Babies Born Alive after Failed Abortions Left to Die

— LGBT Mafia’s Latest Battle Is Forcing America to Accept Boys in the Girls Restroom