Each side in Struthers church dispute to air views on call for secession

By Peter H. Milliken

The local church finds the national church too liberal.

YOUNGSTOWN — Each side in a theological dispute will be able to address members of Struthers Presbyterian Church before they vote Sunday whether to secede from the Presbyterian Church USA and its Eastminster Presbytery.

Lawyers for the Struthers church and the presbytery reached an agreement Friday afternoon, under which each side will have 10 minutes to present its views in a congregational meeting that will immediately follow the 11 a.m. Sunday service.

The Struthers church’s session, which is its board of trustees, unanimously recommended last month that the local church become independent and sever its affiliation with the national church and the presbytery “for theological reasons of conscience.”

The church’s 12-member session was elected by the congregation to be its governing body. The presbytery, which includes 54 northeast Ohio congregations, is a Mineral-Ridge-based regional body of the national church.

The Struthers church finds the national church too liberal concerning marriage and other issues, including the divinity of Jesus Christ, said Atty. Forrest A. Norman, the local church’s Cleveland lawyer.

The national church’s general assembly has repeatedly rejected ordination of homosexuals to the ministry and clergy-officiated same-sex marriage, by “closer and closer” margins, and narrowly affirmed Christ’s divinity in votes over the last 20 years, Norman said.

Under Friday’s agreement, the presbytery may make “reasonable” communications with members of the Struthers church before and after the vote, and the presbytery is permitted to communicate with the media.

“It shows that the parties are willing to work together. This gives both sides the ability to make a presentation to the congregation members,” Atty. Janice T. O’Halloran, the presbytery’s lawyer, said of the agreement.

“It gives us an opportunity to speak with the congregation, to communicate our concern for them and our concerns with them, and we want them to be able to make an informed decision,” said the Rev. Dan Schomer, general presbyter of the Eastminster Presbytery.

“We have a valued relationship, a longstanding partnership. ... We have enjoyed and valued the mission work that we have supported together,” he said of the relationship between the Struthers church and the presbytery.

The agreement “preserves the integrity of ownership that we initially asked the court to ensure,” Norman said of the local congregation, which claims sole ownership of its financial assets, land and edifice. “It allows the congregation to continue its vote unimpeded and under reasonable terms.”

The temporary restraining order the Struthers congregation obtained Tuesday from Judge James C. Evans of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court remains in effect under the agreement.

That order bars the 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.

Located at 110 Poland Ave., Struthers Presbyterian Church was founded in 1804 and joined the Presbyterian Church USA in 1983. The Struthers congregation is now without a permanent pastor and is temporarily using visiting clergy.

“The current plan is for it to go through a period of independence while it evaluates possible affiliation with other Presbyterian denominations, such as the Evangelical Presbyterian Church or the Presbyterian Church in America,” Norman said.

milliken@vindy.com