The largest Presbyterian church in the Lehigh Valley has begun a process that could lead to a split from the most visible national denomination — a move initiated after a survey showed most of its congregants disagree with church positions, including those allowing same-sex marriage and the ordination of gay ministers.
The leadership of the First Presbyterian Church of Bethlehem voted on June 15 to enter the discernment process to leave Presbyterian Church (USA), or PC (USA), and seek affiliation with ECO: a Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians after spending years considering the move.
The 140-year-old church on Center Street in Bethlehem has 2,609 members and would be the largest congregation to leave the Lehigh Presbytery, the group of congregations covering seven counties in eastern Pennsylvania.
But it's certainly not the first to do so.
SATURDAY, JULY 3, 2010
New Moderator of PCUSA: Elder Cindy Bolbach
This is always important in getting a sense of the tenor, or the temperature, of the General Assembly of the PCUSA: Elder Cindy Bolbach is Moderator.
She has been supportive of LGBTQ concerns.
For some of us in the Church, this is great news. The GA body is set to continue the trend, the arc, of restoring justice to the Church body.
But the hard work--if this is a pro-LGBTQ assembly--comes to the Presbytery meetings, which will have to ratify any amendments to the Constitution of the Church.
The hard work is before us. I've seen this play, this movie, before.
Hard work.
As for me:
Back from the beach after days of reading and rest and therapy for one of our dogs, Toby, who had a mini-stroke in his hip last Sunday.
Pace!
