Maybe I was too wrapped up College baseball , but I have seem to have missed a good many of this stories in the national Press. Stand Firm has Greenville South Carolina’s First Presbyterian Church Leaves PCUSA, Joins ECO , and Two PCUSA Presbyteries Shed 30% of Membership.
Of particular interest is that last link which deals with Florida and Mississippi
...One of the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s largest Florida presbyteries will be losing almost a third of its membership after the 57-church Presbytery of Tropical Florida approved the dismissal requests of nine churches Tuesday.
The departure represents about 3,800 members of the 13,525 Presbyterians within Tropical Florida – a 28-percent loss
And then in Mississippi
...With five motions and five unanimous votes, a Presbyterian Church (USA) presbytery lost five congregations from its rolls—losing almost a third of its membership. But, according to its leaders, those that stay and those that leave will keep a common bond.
The Presbytery of Mississippi voted without dissent to approve the request of the congregations – representing about 1,400 members—to leave the PCUSA and join the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC), leaving 37 churches with a total of about 2,900 members.
The presbytery agreed to dismiss the First Presbyterian churches of Vicksburg, Pascagoula, Ocean Springs, Port Gibson and Yokena Presbyterian Church of Vicksburg....
Those are some established Churches.
As a former Presbyterian with parents still involved in PCUSA congregations, I find the especially interesting. I wonder why the Mississippi congregations chose EPC over PCA, which is big here. (My guess is women's ordination). Also, I'd never heard of ECO before.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting.