Dear Friends,
The Presbytery meeting is over and our contract together stands! It was wonderful to be surrounded by a number of Montclair folks as the item was pulled from the Consent Agenda and someone stood up to ask how COM could have approved the contract when it is known that I am in a same sex relationship and I was part of one of the couples married by Rev. Janie Spahr. Rev. Karl Shadley did a beautiful job of stating that because I am a minister in good standing in this Presbytery the COM didn’t have to debate that point. When the vote was taken there were a number of no votes voiced but the motion carried to approve it. As we were getting up to hug each other, someone in the body asked for a hand count. The hand count was taken and there weren’t many who were against it! It appears those who voiced “no” were just doing it pretty loudly! Rev. Mary Naegeli then went up to the clerk and tried to file a stay of enforcement. By the end of the night she didn’t have enough signatures so it was simply filed as a dissent.
Much later in the evening the body gathered talked at length about the Danville Presbyterian Church leaving the denomination to go to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. There was a great deal of pain expressed and a fair amount of disagreement over the terms that were agreed upon by the Church and the Gracious Dismissal Team. One pastor pointed out that their property and buildings are conservatively worth at least 25 million dollars and probably closer to 50 million in actuality. Danville’s financial responsibility to the Presbytery and the denomination is simply their per capita payment for the next five years and some missionary support (less than $50K) for the next five years. In the end, their request was approved by a fairly large margin. Many people are afraid a dangerous precedent has been set for churches wanting to change denominations.
Thank you for your emails and calls of encouragement and for showing up in person as you were able! I feel so privileged to be walking this journey with YOU!
Beth