Voting with their feet: The largest parish in NY leaves TEC
‘Mrs. Jefferts Schori, the Episcopal Church’s Presiding Bishop has repeatedly said that the theological division, and the theme of conflict represents a "relatively small part of this church."’ David Virtue
How long will KJS be able to keep fooling herself and others? When will ‘reality therapy’ kick in and the denial become too obvious to ignore?
TONAWANDA, NY: Largest Parish in NY Votes to Leave The Episcopal Church: 1,000 members relocate to purchased synagogue with three times the space By David W. Virtue www.virtueonline.org 10/8/2008
The largest Episcopal Church in New York has voted to leave the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Western New York and affiliate with the Province of the Southern Cone, saying the National Church has strayed from the authority of Scripture and the Lordship of Christ as the besetting issues.
The Rev. Arthur Ward, rector of the 1000-member St. Bartholomew’s congregation, said they plan to vacate the property at Brighton and Fries Roads in Tonawanda before the end of the year. "We are very excited about the future. 99% of the congregation is leaving. We have the overwhelming support of everyone.
The future never looked better. Where we are going is three times the size of the present property. We will have room for growth that we would not have had if we had stayed where we are. God is good. Now we can grow and expand free of a denomination that no longer believes in the uniqueness of Christ and His saving message"
Ward spoke with Bishop Garrison telling him the congregation and its leadership will officially leave TEC on Sunday, December 14. Ward told VOL that the bishop was gracious and thanked us for giving him the lead time.
"He also granted our request to write dimissory letters for our five clergy (three priests and two deacons) and one of our retired clergy, to transfer us to the Diocese of Argentina. Our congregation of over 1000 strong will be leaving for the new location, a former Jewish synagogue, Temple Beth El, less than a mile away. We are looking forward to the move. We will close on the deal shortly. We will have a very manageable mortgage," Ward told VOL.
"I am glad that we can now put the conflict and division of the Episcopal Church behind us. God’s Word is clear – truth is more important than unity and principle trumps property. We now look forward to exchanging the negative energy of division with the positive energy of building a new church and spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ unhindered by the revisionist constraints of the Episcopal Church."
The parish ranks 111th largest in the Episcopal Church. There are 7,300 parishes in TEC. Their departure is a major blow to the Diocese of Western New York and Bishop Michael Garrison’s weakening grip on the diocese. St. Bartholomew’s is fully 10 percent of church going Episcopalians in the diocese – and represents a major financial loss to the diocese.
Read it all here:http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=9160
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
