Published: December 18, 2007 12:15 am            

Local church to split from national group

SOMERSET — After months of “prayerful consideration,” members of St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church voted overwhelmingly Sunday to split from the Presbyterian Church USA.

With more than half the church’s members present at a meeting between services, congregants voted 173-10 to request dismissal from the national church with its property.

The Rev. Keith Fink, St. Paul’s pastor, has said the national church has been straying further from the local church’s more conservative beliefs.

Yet Fink and other church leaders are keeping mum, a decision upheld by the Rev. Douglas Holben, executive presbyter with the Redstone Presbytery. The presbytery, comprising 85 congregations in four counties, is a middle governing body in the national group.

“The issue needs to stay among us,” Holben said.

Church Elder Hank Vogt said the tally was no surprise.

“We have been concerned about the direction (of the Presbyterian Church USA) since the mid-1980s,” he said. “We couldn’t seem to effect a change with the PCUSA, so we’re leaving.”

Members have indicated they would like to join the more conservative Evangelical Presbyterian Church USA. The EPC, founded in 1981, includes 10 churches in the state.

A looming question is the fate of the church property. The Redstone Presbytery is scheduled to meet in March, when it may consider the Somerset church’s request.

“I see our congregation now moving forward in our attempt to glorify and worship our God,” Vogt said.

        

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