National rule on gay leadership threatens divide.
Ed: This subtitle does not match the article.
Ed: A short version of this story is all over via AP.
- Fresno First Presbyterian - 900 members, Fresno, CA 93721
- WNCT TV9: Fresno meets Sunday
- This Weeks Sermon: "The Authority of Scripture and Our Denominational Predicament" - Matthew 5:17-20
- Jamie Evans' Pastoral Response to the Denominational Crisis
- Letter Regarding Recent General Assembly Decisions
- Trinity Presbyterian - 800 members, Clovis, CA 93619
- Hanford First Presbyterian - 250 members, Hanford, CA 93232
- 32 congregations
- 7,000 members
- Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera and Tulare counties.
The concern is that the national denomination is backing away from tenets that some believe are indisputably decreed by the Bible in favor of more vague guidelines. Evans doesn't think it's right that "they've reduced it to regions where it is a debatable issue." He said homosexuality "is a secondary issue."
University Presbyterian Church in Fresno, which has 350 regular attendees, wants to start a discussion about the "lightning-rod issue of sexual orientation," said the church's pastor, the Rev. Chris Erdman.
But some Presbyterian congregations in the Valley have already left the denomination over disagreements about the Bible and homosexuality.
- Sanger Community Church(FPC)in Sanger left in 2002 (? members)
- Millbrook Presbyterian Church in Fresno left in 2007. (165 members?)
Total left/leaving = 2350? 33%
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