Summary:
In June 2015, Liberty Corner Presbyterian Church voted to leave the Presbyterian Church in the United States [PC(USA)] denomination and join A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians (ECO), a new denomination formed in 2012.

In a statement to the congregation the session said, "This decision is based on a belief that moving to another Presbyterian or Reformed denomination will better support our congregation, its mission, and its unity, and is not merely a reaction to any one or two actions of the General Assembly."
There has a been a trend of churches leaving PC(USA) for some time. For various reasons. See below.

The Layman, a conservative presbyterian publication says Churches are leaving PC(USA) because of its drift towards "secular social activism and pacifism."

PC(USA) is still the largest presbyterian denomination with 1.5 million members but it has declined from 4.25 million members in 1965. See chart below.

1960s-90s:
Disagreements heated up in the 60's over involvement in the Civil Rights issues, in the 70's over ordination of women, in the 90's over the issues of ordination of gays and in the 21st century over same-sex marriages and many other social issues.
In 1973 a conservative group broke away from the PC(USA), mainly over the issues of women's ordination and a perceived drift toward theological liberalism and formed the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). They had 300,000 members in 2000.
1990-2010:
The General Assembly of PC(USA) adopted several social justice initiatives, which covered a range of topics including: stewardship of God's creation, world hunger, homelessness, and LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) issues.
2002 - General Assembly reaffirms the former PCUSA 1969 statement, "There is no necessary contradiction between Christian faith as expressed in our church's confessions and an affirmation of evolution as the means of creation."

Liberty Corner Presbyterian Church (LCPC) got complaints and lost a few members over this period.
2000-
Fundamentalist/Evangelical/Conservative churches started leaving PC (USA) for more conservative denominations (Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC), A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians (ECO), Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), ...), so the conservative side lost their support in the General Assembly (GA).

Splits are not new. From 1706-1983 there have been 17 splits and 8 mergers within the Presbyterian church in the U.S.

From 1984 - 2015 PC(USA) membership declined at an annual rate of 2.1% and was down to 1,500,000. Since 2010 the decline has been faster. This was a trend across most mainline denominations, Baptists, Methodist, Lutherans, ...
Half the Churches have less than 100 members, most with no full time pastor.

On August 12th, 2014 the LCPC Session held the first of 3 meetings to discuss the issues with PCUSA and General Assembly decisions with members of the congregation.
They announced our intention for dismissal from PC(USA).
One session member told me if we did not leave PC(USA) the church would be in dire financial straits because several large doners threatened to remove their support of LCPC t.

Many people thought it was the same sex marriage issue which prompted the action, but session has denied that was the primary issue.
At FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE PROCESS TO SEEK DISMISSAL TO ANOTHER REFORMED DENOMINATION they say,

"Following much prayerful study, discussion and listening to members of our congregation, it has become clear to the Session that the PCUSA continues to delve into many issues unrelated to strengthening local churches, which we believe should be the primary task of a church denomination. The issues have been, and continue to be, disruptive to the life of our church. Every two years the General Assembly takes some action that creates controversy and divisiveness within our church. And, we see little evidence of the PCUSA actively working to support our ministries and mission. "

The Elizabeth Presbytery has a Gracious Dismissal Policy which would allow us to leave with a minimum of rancor and cost.
It requires 80% of active members to vote to leave.

Result of Vote: June 2015
776 Active Members (They've been cleaning out the rolls for 2 years)
437 ballots issued Sunday (56% of members)
360 Yes (Leave PCUSA) 82.4% 
 65 No (Stay)         14.9%
 425 votes
 12 Ballots not accepted* or not returned       2.7%
* Apparently Presbytery changed their mind and did not accept ballots picked up by members but left for another member to turn in.
My general take after attending the congregational meetings was that 30% felt strongly that we should leave PC(USA), 20% felt strongly we should stay and the other 50% just wanted a church with good teaching and lots of opportunities for fellowship, service and other activities and wished this bickering would go away.
About 10% left after the vote, many to Basking Ridge Presbyterian, 30% of my deacon class went to BR Pres.

Churches that are seeking to leave or have left the PCUSA for another Reformed body: | burtonsys.com has a history of votes.

First Presbyterian Church of Roseville, CA 750-10 98.6% $160,000 A church started by my Great Grandfather with 4 generations of my family as active members.

Menlo Park Presbyterian Church, CA 4,125 members 2024-158 93% $8 million from $17 M in assets


Liberty Corner Church is going thru a discernment process with the Elizabeth Presbytery leading up to a vote on disaffiliation from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

Contents: Organization of PC(USA) | History of Contention | Liberty Corner actions
A discussion group I created.

Organization of the Presbyterian Church USA:
General Assembly - the highest governing body of the PC(USA).
It consists of commissioners elected by Presbyteries and meets bi-annually, where denomination-wide policies are created or modified by vote.

Synod - A group of 3 or more presbyteries.
The Elizabeth Presbytery is one of 22 presbyteries in the Synod of the Northeast.

Presbytery - A group of congregations in a geographic area.
Liberty Corner Church belongs to the Elizabeth Presbytery, which serves 47 congregations in (roughly) Union, Somerset, and Hunterdon counties.
There are currently 173 presbyteries.

Session - A body of elected elders governing the local church.
9 Elders (3/year for 3 year terms), plus pastors Feurbach and Havrila.

See PC(USA) Structure and Governing Bodies


Following is a brief history of the contention in the Church.

55 AD:
Paul wrote to the Church at Corinth,
"I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas"; still another, "I follow Christ."

Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul?"
1 corinthians 1:10-13

The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?
1 corinthians 6:7

60 AD:
Paul wrote to the Church at Ephesus,
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Eph 4:1-6

1500s - The reformation, Martin Luther creates the protestant religious movement which breaks away from the Roman Catholic Church.

The Reformed Theology and the Presbyterian form of government are rooted in the theology and polity (or church government) of John Calvin, the great reformer in France and Switzerland, in the 1500s, along with his disciple John Knox of Scotland.

1730s-1740's - The First Great Awakening saw a controversy between the traditionalists ( Protestants who insisted on the continuing importance of ritual and doctrine) and the revivalists (who added emphases on "outpourings of the Holy Spirit"). Revivalist evangelicalism "sought to include every person in conversion, regardless of gender, race, and status."

1837: - Old School New School schism
In response to the Second Great Awakening, Presbyterians split once again over revivals1 and the Primacy of the Westminster Standards. At the General Assembly of 1837 in Philadelphia, representatives of the Synods of Western Reserve, Utica, Geneva and Genese were refused entry. They left to hold a separate assembly nearby, constituting the New School. One of the differences sited was,

The use of voluntary associations--tract and Bible societies, nondenominational missions agencies, organizations to promote moral reforms such as temperance and the abolition of slavery--to spread the benefits of Christian civilization.
The Old School, led by Charles Hodge of Princeton Theological Seminary, was much more conservative theologically and was not supportive of revivals.

Domine English, our first pastor, was from Princeton Theological Seminary and was a moderator of our presbytery, an old school presbytery.

In . 1840, the Morristown Presbyterian Church divided and some members established the South Street Presbyterian Church.
Albert Barnes, the the pastor of Morristown Presbyterian Church (1825-1830), served as moderator of the General Assembly to the New School branch in 1851.
He is quoted as saying: "There is no power out of the church that could sustain slavery an hour, if it were not sustained in it."

Believing slavery to be divinely-ordained, ministers separated from both New School and Old School to form the Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America in 1861.

With the southern churches gone, ecclesiastical and theological differences were ultimately trumped by the national division over slavery The the New and Old schools reunited in 1869.

See PC(USA) Issues at donsnotes.com

1. Revival in this case mean restoration of the church itself not an evangelistic meeting or series of meetings.

1861:
- Southern States split from the Presbyterian Church in the US.
The immediate cause was passage of the Gardiner Spring Resolutions by the General Assembly in May 1861. These declared loyalty to the United States to be a religious duty.
They reunited in 1983 to create the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A)
From 1706-1983 there have been 17 splits and 8 mergers within the Presbyterian church in the U.S.
See The Presbyterian Family Connections (break-ups and mergers )

Early 20th century:
Disputes between the Fundamentalist/Evangelical and Modernist Camps in the National Presbyterian Church have been around since the early 20th century.

1922 - Harry Emerson Fosdick, a modernist, pastoring a PCUSA congregation in New York City, preached a sermon entitled "Shall the Fundamentalists Win".

William Jennings Bryan launched critical debates in General Assembly to:
1. Prosecute Fosdick and his sermon.
2. Oppose Darwinism which had been reconciled with theistic evolution by most in the Church.

See PC(USA) Issues at donsnotes.com for a more detailed list.

1960s-90s:
Disagreements heated up in the 60's over involvement in the Civil Rights issues, in the 70's over ordination of women, in the 90's over the issues of ordination of gays and in the 21st century over same-sex marriages and many other social issues.

1973:
A large conservative group broke away (over issues like women's ordination and the inerrancy of the Bible) and formed the Presbyterian Church in America.

1983:
United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (UPCUSA) and the Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) merged to form the Presbyterian Church (USA). At the time of the merger, the churches had a combined membership of 3,121,238.

1991:
After 4 years of work the Special Committee to Study Human Sexuality published a 200-page report "Keeping Body and Soul Together: Sexuality, Spirituality, and Social Justice".

This report which proposed relaxed views of pre-marital sex, homosexuality and other contentious issues created a lot of controversy and seems to have best succeeded at offending almost everyone.

It was voted down 534 to 31.
The delegates voted to continue to abide by church positions on homosexuality, adopted in 1978 and 1979. While saying that gays and lesbians are "fully welcome" as members, they prohibit practicing homosexuals from being ordained as ministers or elders.
See more at PCUSA issues.

1990-2010:
The General Assembly of PC(USA) adopted several social justice initiatives, which covered a range of topics including: stewardship of God's creation, world hunger, homelessness, and LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) issues.

Liberty Corner Presbyterian Church (LCPC) got complaints and lost a few members over this period.

2002:
More than 800 laity, pastors, deacons, and elders gathered in Atlanta, Georgia for the first National Celebration of Confessing Churches. Participating churches affirm that Christ is the only way of salvation, that the Bible is infallible in its teachings, and that sexual relations are exclusively for marriage.

More than 1,300 of the denomination's 11,000 congregations have adopted such declarations and become part of a loosely knit Confessing Church Movement.

I asked Steve McConnell what we were doing. He said, we subscribed to their principles, but were not joining the movement.

2000-
Fundamentalist/Evangelical/Conservative churches started leaving PC (USA) for more conservative denominations (Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC), A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians (ECO), Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), ...), so the conservative side lost their support in the General Assembly (GA).

1985-2000 - Mainly general membership decline seen by most mainline churches.
2001-present - Disaffiliation of whole congregations starts.

Half the Churches have less than 100 members, most with no full time pastor.

Sources: Membership, 2001 to 2012 | pcusa.org and Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) - Wikipedia
(There were over 4.25 Million members in 1965 before the Evangelical PC and Presbyterian Church in America broke off)
See Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) - Who's joining the exodus?

The decline is a trend in mainline churches over the last several decades. The National Council of Churches 2012 yearbook reported declines from 2011 of 0.15% (Southern Baptist Convention), 0.4% (Catholic), 1.2% (United Methodist), 2.7% (Episcopal), 3.45% (Presbyterian USA), 3.95% (National Baptist Convention), 5.9% (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America).
In 1970 the mainline churches claimed more than 30 percent of American adults, today they are claiming approximately 15 percent. Source Wikipedia.
Increases were posted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), Assemblies of God, Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

2011:
PC(USA) allows Partnered Gay and Lesbian ministers.

2012:
A motion at the General Assembly meeting to change the definition of marriage as between "two people" was narrowly defeated by a vote of 308-338-2.
It was apparent it would pass at the next GA meeting.

From what I've heard the pastors and session (A body of elected elders governing the local church) got numerous complaints.
Session started looking into the process for leaving (dismissal from) the PCUSA.

2013:
Liberty Corner Church took several actions in anticipation of leaving PC USA.

Inactive members (20%) were removed from the rolls to improve the chances of getting a quorum in a vote on dismissal. See history.

The 2011 Belief Statement was updated to make a stronger case that the General Assembly was in conflict with our Beliefs/Misson. This would be the cornerstone of the leaders argument that we should leave. See Beliefs.

One elder told me they removed "Presbyterian" from our web page and started calling us "Liberty Corner Church" as part of this.
The official take on this now is that our web designer thought Liberty Corner Church looked better (simpler) than Liberty Corner Presbyterian Church. Another opinion,
"Maybe trying to look more contemporary. Lots of the newer churches have names that sound less formal/traditional -e.g. Liquid, Stonecrest, etc."
The sign out front still says Liberty Corner Presbyterian.

During this time there was some shuffling of session members. Only 5 of the original 9 original session members in the classes of 2014, 15 and 16 are left. 3 were replaced by 2013 members.

2014:
General Assembly (GA) voted to approve same-sex marriage (at the discretion of individual churches).
They also voted to divest themselves from stock in three multinational corporations that allegedly sell products to Israel to help promote violence in Palestinian territories.
These two issues gained national attention in the media.

On August 12th the Session held the first of 3 meetings to discuss the issues with PCUSA and General Assembly decisions with members of the congregation, but did not go into specifics.
The first meeting generally presented the issues voted on at GA. In addition to the two issues above there were several others many people felt were inconsistent with LCPC's beliefs.
The second meeting talked about the new belief statement and LCPC's mission and asked for comments.

On September 16 at a general church meeting, Session announced that they had voted to start the discernment process toward dismissal from PCUSA and had notified the Elizabeth Presbytery of this.


The main reason according to a statement by pastor Don Feurbach in the Bernardsville News is,
"These are a collection of decisions [by PC(USA)] - not on any single issue - that have been, and continue to be, disruptive to the life of the church, and are unrelated to what we believe should be the primary task of a church denomination - strengthening its local churches."

In a statement to the congregation the session said,
"This decision is based on a belief that moving to another Presbyterian or Reformed denomination will better support our congregation, its mission, and its unity, and is not merely a reaction to any one or two actions of the General Assembly."

In the same Bernardsville News Article, a church member sited several stances taken by the General Assembly as examples of the conflict,

  • Allowing its ministers to perform same-sex marriages.
  • Support for gun control legislation, including a ban on semi-automatic assault weapons, armor-piercing handgun ammunition and .50-caliber rifles.
  • Support for tax reform that promises a fairer tax system.
  • Divesting $21 million in church funds from three U.S. companies that sold equipment or technology tied to Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories - Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard and Motorola Solutions.
Note: The person who made those comments is NOT representative of the general membership.

The session lists the following general areas of contested resolutions:
" In the face of divided expert opinion, they have adopted particular and contested conclusions regarding climate science, economics, tax policy, national security policy, foreign and diplomatic affairs, and military tactics, to name just a few examples. "

See A Summary of Actions of the PCUSA General Assembly 2014
What You Need to Know about the PC(USA)'s 221st General Assembly - First Presbyterian Church of San Antonio


The Elizabeth Presbytery has a Gracious Dismissal Policy which would allow us to leave with a minimum of rancor and cost. It requires a series of meetings between a Presbytery Committee with Session and the membership.

On September 28th Rev. Don Feuerbach preached on the subject.
Go to Sermon Messages on the our web site to hear it.

On December 14, another meeting with the congregation was held after church.
They addressed the gay marriage issue, which many think is what precipitated this whole activity. Several session members said they were not opposed to gay marriage, and it was the involvement political issues which was the primary concern.

It seems we are most likely to go to The Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians (ECO) although there are several other options under consideration.

At the December meeting Session said they had looked at 28 reformed denominations and narrowed it down to 6, with ECO the leading candidate.
Session is working on a document to elaborate this process.
Dennis Nau asked if we had any problems with the 10 basic core values of ECO. Jack Frost said No.
See:
ECO Core Values
ECO Essential Tenets & Confessional Standards

On September 13th Session met with a group from Presbytery where they each answered two questions:
1. Why do you want to leave?
2. Why now?

My Notes:

  A brief history of conflict in the Church, General Assembly & PC(USA) Issues and Liberty Corner Church's reaction

  The history of the Presbyterian Church

See why I decided to stay then stoped attending.

See more at:
Denomination Affiliation (libertycorner.org/#/who-we-are/denomination-affiliation)
  Includes letters to the congregation and Informational Meeting Handouts.

Discernment-FAQ (libertycorner.org/#/who-we-are/discernment-faq ) - Whole FAQ

- The Presbytery of Elizabeth Process to Disaffiliate from PCUSA at Dunnellen Presbyterian 2nd edition 2011, current as of Oct. 2014
  A story of genuinely gracious dismissal by Jeff Wildrick, pastor of Dunellen PC - The Layman

  Liberty Corner Presbyterian Church considering deaffiliation - Bernardsville News
The Presbyterian Family Connections (break-ups and mergers 1706-1983)
Calling Presbyterians anti-Semitic a tactic to silence Israel critics | Communities Digital News
- PC(USA) Issues at donsnotes.com
Mainline Protestant - Wikipedia
Mainline Churches: Past, Present, Future, by William B. Bradshaw

Discerning to Stay - December, 2014 Presbyterians Today


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last updated 15 Apr 2015