In the case of The Presbytery of Middle Wyoming v. The Schismatic and Purported Covenant Presbyterian Church of Landsburgh…

Having had some time to digest the legal papers from the PC(USA) headquarters that the Presbyterian Layman received, I am now ready to make a few observations that really don’t differ much from my previous observations.

From a secular point of view these lawyers sure seem to have done their job:  They have put together a couple of professional legal documents that outline civil and ecclesiastical legal strategies in a way that seems to cover most of the bases and in a way that is understandable by legal professionals and by other educated people.

OK, now back to reality…  We are not in a secular dispute here and this is not Jones v. Smith.  This is The Presbytery of Middle Wyoming v. Covenant Presbyterian Church.  As children in Sunday School we are early on taught that the church is not the building but the people of God that worship there.  Implementation of these legal strategies in a ruthless, “no holds barred,” or “take no prisoners” manner could very well win them the property but will not get them the church (Church?).  As I said in a previous post, it will win the battle but lose the war.

In case you need evidence of the state of the church and it’s property on a global front I point you to cases in the US,  Canada and Scotland (and another article) where there are a surplus of church buildings, particularly presbyterian church buildings, now in private hands for secular purposes.  If the PC(USA) were to address this as primarily a legal challenge to schismatic churches they will need to add a real estate lawyer to the legal staff.

I hope and pray that the GA, synods, and presbyteries do not address this as simply a legal matter but as a pastoral matter where the “exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the World” (one of the “Great Ends of the Church” for the non-PC(USA) readers) really matters.  But at the same time I hope and pray that individual congregations within the PC(USA) will express their distress and disappointment with the authoritative interpretation from the PUP report in respectful and constructive  terms and do try to have forbearance to help witness to the World the unity of the church.  This journey has a distance to go yet.

1. The Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church recommends that the 217th General Assembly (2006) strongly encourage

a. every member of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to witness to the church’s visible oneness, to avoid division into separate denominations that obscure our community in Christ, and to live in harmony with other members of this denomination, so that we may with one voice together glorify God in Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit;

[One additional side note for the true GA Junkie.  I recommend for reading the section of the civil legal strategy document that deals with the case law.  The development of the legal issues is interesting and deals not just with the civil law but with the structure of church government and church history including American Presbyterians.]