“The presbytery grieves the loss of this congregation from its bounds, but is grateful for the amicable spirit displayed by those involved in the lengthy process,” stated a news release from the presbytery.
The terms include:
The congregation takes with it the church property, valued at $3.7 million, in exchange for payment of 30 percent of the appraised value of the real estate.
The congregation affirms that its departure from the PC(USA) to the EPC “is a step that it is making regretfully, but is also taking seriously. We recognize that our connectional roots have been deep within the PC(USA) and its antecedent bodies for over 120 years.”
The presbytery reserves the rights to the name of Rivermont Presbyterian Church and that the dismissed congregation will seek a new name.
The terms were approved by a 95 percent vote of those presbytery members present, according to the news release. It did not give attendance figures.
According to a report in the News and Advance, the property is appraised at $3,775,498. The commission proposed that the church pay an initial amount of $700,000 to the presbytery with the balance of $432,650 to be paid over the next five years.
The presbytery elected the administrative commission in 2002 in response to a request from the Rivermont session to be dismissed to the EPC.
On June 22, the Rivermont congregation reaffirmed its intent, voting 430-24 to leave the PC(USA).
Bob Smith, chairman of the presbytery administrative commission that worked with Rivermont, said the congregation’s decision to leave the PC(USA) was a long time coming — there were conversations about it over probably 20 years, he said — and reflected a dissatisfaction with the direction of the national church, not a disagreement with the presbytery.
“This is a longstanding issue for this church,” Smith said in a telephone interview. “It goes back decades in a sense that they have had a restlessness with regard to issues at the national level . . . It’s the front-page news kinds of issues that have troubled them” — things such as the continuing debate over whether the PC(USA) should ordain sexually active gays and lesbians — “and they have grown weary of the battle.”
Smith, pastor of First church, Roanoke, said he considers himself both evangelical and conservative, and he takes a different view from Rivermont. Because of his ordination vows, in which he promised to uphold the peace, unity and purity of the church, “I couldn’t leave,” he said. “I am in this for the long haul.”
But he pointed out that Rivermont is in Lynchburg, home of Liberty University, the independent Baptist school, and “Jerry Falwell — you’re in his back yard. There is an atmosphere in Lynchburg where . . . your community is looking at you as though you support these kinds of headlines, when you don’t. It’s guilt by association.” Even if the congregation didn’t agree with some of the positions taken by the national denomination, that is how the community perceivess it.
Smith also said that “the EPC was not guilty of trying to woo them away” — instead, the Rivermont congregation was looking for another Reformed body to switch to, and “it was kind of the closest theological cousin where they could feel at ease.”
Smith said he is saddened by what’s happened, because “the body of Christ is further divided.” But he said the administrative commission worked hard to uphold the PC(USA)’s Constitution, and also to respect the significant financial and ministry contributions of the current members of Rivermont, “who have given a lot of their time and energy and treasure to creating this facility and this ministry,” and “the saints who came before them,” who gave in the expectation that the Presbyterian tradition they supported would be continued.
In the end, Smith said, the commission tried to engineer a solution that all involved would see as fair.
When a congregation says, “Either we work something out or we walk,” then if something isn’t done, “you’re going to end up with an empty building,” Smith said. He said both the commission and the congregation tried to avoid “an awful fight” and “did really want to do the least damage to the body of Christ and the cause of Christ” as was possible under the circumstances.
John Mabray, Rivermont’s pastor, is on vacation and could not be reached for comment. Smith said Mabray had been pastor of Rivermont for about seven years and is a graduate of Columbia Seminary. Rivermont’s associate pastor, David Ethridge, a graduate of evangelical Gordon-Conwell seminary, said he is staying with the PC(USA).
Bert Murphy, an elder from Rivermont and a member of the congregation for more than 25 years, said the congregation is “very pleased with, very excited about and very thankful for” the presbytery’ vote, adding that “we have worked very hard for the last two years with the Presbytery of the Peaks to reach an equitable and fair and gracious settlement.”
For Rivermont, while there have been what he called “flashpoint” issues in the news that have been of concern, “the long-term issue was a question of authority of Scripture. We just felt the Lord was leading us to take these steps.”
The change will take place on July 26, Murphy said. On July 27, a Sunday, the congregation will gather for worship as Rivermont Evangelical Presbyterian Churc2
