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Struthers church faces tough decision
Struthers congregation may secede from national Presbyterian Church USA.
STRUTHERS — Members of Struthers Presbyterian Church are expected to decide Sunday whether to secede from the Presbyterian Church USA and its Eastminster Presbytery.
Sunday’s congregational meeting follows last month’s unanimous recommendation from the church’s 12-member session that the local church no longer be affiliated with the national church and the presbytery “for theological reasons of conscience.”
The session is the congregation’s board of trustees, which was unanimously elected by the congregation to be its governing body.
The resolution containing the recommendation says the congregation’s long-term best interests would be served by its “continued independence,” and it does not make any reference to the church changing its name or seeking another denominational affiliation.
The presbytery, which includes 54 Northeast Ohio congregations, is a Mineral Ridge-based regional body of the national church.
“Struthers Presbyterian would rather not engage in political infighting within the denomination, but would rather be about the business of being the church serving the local community and Christian missions,” said Forrest A. Norman, the Struthers congregation’s Cleveland lawyer.
“The whole traditional marriage issue is roiling under the surface” of the rift between the Struthers church and the national church, Norman said.
The Struthers church supports the inviolability of traditional marriage between a man and a woman and finds the national church too liberal concerning marriage and other issues, Norman added.
Although the national church’s general assembly has voted in the last 20 years to reject various proposals to allow ordination of homosexuals to the ministry and to allow clergy to perform same-sex marriages, the votes on these matters have been getting “closer and closer,” Norman said.
Norman said the Struthers church supports the inviolability of the divinity of Jesus Christ and believes this is a fundamental tenet of faith that shouldn’t be subject to a vote; but, in a close vote, the national church recently upheld Christ’s divinity.
Located at 110 Poland Ave., Struthers Presbyterian Church was founded in 1804 and joined the Presbyterian Church USA in 1983.
On Tuesday, the Struthers church obtained from Judge James C. Evans of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court a temporary restraining order barring the Eastminster Presbytery from conducting business on behalf of the Struthers church, interfering with the session’s business, replacing the session with another governing body, interfering with Sunday’s meeting, or attempting to assert control over the local church’s real estate or financial assets.
A hearing on whether to extend that order is expected in about two weeks, Norman said. The order does not mention any specific expiration date.
In requesting the order, Norman cited a Presbyterian Church USA strategy paper, which advises church officials on methods they can use to prevent local congregations from seceding.
Struthers Presbyterian Church has sole ownership of its financial assets, and owns its land and edifice “free and clear of any liens, trusts or other interests from Eastminster Presbytery or the PC (USA),” Norman wrote in his court filing.
Representatives of the presbytery have been invited to observe Sunday’s vote, Norman said.
Norman said he hopes any differences between the Struthers Church and the presbytery can be settled out of court after the congregation votes.
Gary Houck, clerk (chairman) of session for the Struthers church, declined to comment.
The Rev. Dan Schomer, general presbyter of the Eastminster Presbytery, could not be reached to comment. Officials of the Presbyterian Church USA did not respond to a request for comment.
milliken@vindy.com