The Presbytery of Philadelphia has decided to dissolve its relationship with a controversial Messianic congregation, Avodat Yisrael, as of July 1.
Starting July 1, Avodat Yisrael will no longer be formally related to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and will receive no additional funds from the denomination, although it’s possible the congregation could try to make a go of it on its own.
Denominational funding of Avodat Yisrael has provoked furious debate over the last two years, both within the presbytery — which has voted repeatedly on the matter — and at the national level. Last summer, a General Assembly committee discussion revealed deep disagreement about whether Presbyterian evangelization of Jews is proper and should be encouraged; about whether Messianic congregations are clear enough about being Christian or are deceptive; about interfaith relations and whether new church developments ought to be pursued that target particular religious groups.
And Avodat Yisrael provided what turned out to be the opening measures of a symphony of discontent in Jewish-Presbyterian relations — which built to a crescendo after the General Assembly decided in July to authorize a process of selective, phased divestment in some companies doing business in Israel.
As angry as Avodat Yisrael made some Jews in Philadelphia, “Avodat Yisrael has pretty much been on the back burner” since last summer, Edward Gehres Jr., executive presbyter of Philadelphia presbytery, said in an interview. Now, “they are much more upset about divestment and the (security) wall than they were about starting Avodat Yisrael.”
Philadelphia presbytery voted March 29 to stop providing support for Avodat Yisrael as a new church development not directly because of the controversy, but because the congregation was not showing sufficient progress — it was not meeting goals it had set for itself for membership growth, worship attendance and particularly congregational giving, Gehres said.
That means the presbytery will end its relationship with Avodat Yisrael three years early — just two years into a five-year plan for the new church development. The vote came at the recommendation of a presbytery administrative commission that has been working with the congregation.
While exact figures weren’t available, Gehres said that on a typical week only about 25 to 35 people typically came to worship services at Avodat Yisrael — and while some of them gave generously, that wasn’t enough. It became clear that “they’re not going to make it,” Gehres said.
Avodat Yisrael still could continue on its own, if its members chose to do so, and will be allowed to continue to rent worship space, if the congregation wishes and can afford to do so, at Church on the Mall, a Presbyterian congregation that’s located in a shopping mall in the suburbs northwest of Philadelphia. The presbytery will forgive any debts the congregation owes it.
And Andrew Sparks, the ordained Presbyterian minister who is Avodat Yisrael’s worship leader and was ordained by Philadelphia presbytery, will continue in a validated ministry of the presbytery as executive director of Messiah Now Ministries, the outreach effort through which Avodat Yisrael was birthed.
The assembly voted 260 to 233 last summer in Richmond not to stop PC(USA) funding of any additional Messianic congregations, despite pleas from some who argued that such congregations were offensive to many Jews.
The assembly also directed PC(USA) national staff members to “reexamine and strengthen the relationship between Christians and Jews” and to consider the implications of that for Presbyterian evangelism and new church development. But it refused to suspend funding for any new Messianic congregations while that study, due to be completed next year, is underway. Some commissioners argued that Presbyterians are clearly called by Jesus to spread the gospel to all people in all lands.
One of Avodat Yisrael’s difficulties, Gehres said, was that its leaders said they were not trying to proselytize Jews, but that the congregation existed “primarily to serve people in mixed (Jewish-Christian) marriages, former Jews who now follow Jesus, and people who are searching” and want to do so in a Jewish environment. “It’s a pretty limited niche market,” Gehres said.
Clifton Kirkpatrick, the PC(USA)’s stated clerk, released a statement March 29 in which he said “the presence of Avodat Yisrael has prompted an important conversation for us as a denomination,” and he referred to “our call to share the good news of the gospel and to respect the common roots we share with our Jewish neighbors.”
A PC(USA) study paper, which the General Assembly approved in 1987, said in part that “we must always acknowledge that Jews are already in a covenantal relationship with God.”
In an interview, Kirkpatrick said “I am deeply convicted that we’re called to share the gospel with all people . . . But we’re also called to do it in a respectful way.”
And Gehres said the dialogue between Jews and Presbyterians initiated by the fight over Avodat Yisrael helped when divestment became such a hot issue.
“We were at least a year ahead of a lot of the Presbyterian church in having established the dialogue over Avodat Yisrael,” Gehres said. “The lesson in all this is dialogue would be better beforehand” — building interfaith relations before an issue explodes — than waiting until after.
