POTE, for those of you outside the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, stands for “Presbytery of the East.” We met yesterday in Circleville, New York, and had the privilege of bringing five new congregation into our fellowship. Memorial Park EPC in Pittsburgh, Chippewa United Presbyterian in Beaver Falls, Covenant EPC in Ligonier (all Pennsylvania), the Church at Ridgebury (NY), and a mission church, North Point, in Beverly Massachusetts. We were also honored to admit to the ranks of POTE teaching elders from Memorial Park, Covenant, and Chippewa. It made for a long and exhausting meeting, but also a joyful one, as we saw new brothers and sisters proclaim, in the Rev. Dean Weaver’s words, that they had “come home.”
We’ve got more than a dozen more former PCUSA churches coming our way in September and January, and after the PCUSA General Assembly gets through in June, may have even more. Please pray for our presbytery as we work through the complicated but rewarding process of providing a home for evangelical Presbyterians who wish to minister alongside like-minded believers.
April 26, 2010 at 8:25 am
And a warm “Welcome!” to all of the new congregations! Leaving the old denomination is no easy thing – I well remember the toll it took when we left Fairlington years ago. Yes, one has to “count the cost.” Looking back from today I realize it was truly a bargain and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat!
April 26, 2010 at 10:43 am
Any new open pulpits???
April 26, 2010 at 10:50 am
Well, there is one among the new congregations, but it’s at the Church in Ridgebury, which only has 16 members, and certainly will not be paying a full-time pastor. The EPC Opportunity List is still the best place to find such information.