The Presbytery of Santa Barbara acted incorrectly when it authorized the creation of a union presbytery that would be jointly affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians, a synod court has ruled.
The permanent judicial commission of the Synod of Southern California and Hawaii ruled Nov. 10 that Santa Barbara’s action last June to create a union presbytery promoted division and schism in the church.
And it also ruled that ECO, a new denomination, exists “beyond the boundaries of what it is understood to be Reformed,” because ECO advocates adherence to a set of essential tenets.
The judicial commission ruled that “it is the current understanding that the Reformed Tradition rests on a clear understanding that Jesus Christ alone is Lord of the conscience,” and that “membership in any worshipping body that claims the label ‘Reformed’ has as its only membership requirement one’s personal faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. The preponderance of evidence demonstrates that the requirements of ECO are otherwise . . . ”
The commission also determined that ECO’s Presbytery of the West can’t be considered a “comparable council” with which Santa Barbara presbytery can form a union.
And it found that that creating a union presbytery would amount to “defiance of the church’s discernment that categorical exclusion of gay and lesbian Presbyterians is improper.” The PC(USA) constitution now permits, although it does not require, the ordination of sexually active gays and lesbians – with the ordination decisions to be made on a case-by-case by presbyteries and congregations.
The standards adopted by ECO, which would not permit the ordination of gays and lesbians who are not celibate, would be “a means of circumventing the stated ordination standards” of the PC(USA), the court ruled.
The court’s decision ruled the action of Santa Barbara to create the union presbytery last summer to be “null and void.”
When the vote was taken, the presbytery voted 73 percent in favor of creating the union presbytery, after the presbytery council presented a report concluding that ECO did meet the requirements of being doctrinally consistent with the essentials of Reformed theology and of being governed by a polity consistent in form and structure with the PC(USA).
A memorandum of understanding explained some of the reasons for supporting a union presbytery, stating that some congregations voiced a desire or intention to leave the PC(USA) while still wanting to remain part of the Presbytery of Santa Barbara.
“This plan seeks to allow individual churches to follow their conscience while staying in union with the presbytery and partners in its mission and ministries,” the memorandum stated. “The alternative, as seen nationally, is a contentious separation causing damage to congregations, breaking of relationships, and threatening the viability of congregations, presbyteries and their mission. Our goal is to avoid this.”
The presbytery could appeal the synod court decision to the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission, the highest court in the PC(USA) system.
